A ROMANTIC DISCOVERY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1109, 14 June 1913, Page 4

A ROMANTIC DISCOVERY.

,£I.OOO IN A SECRET

DRAWER.

A woman’s chrioaity about a quaint piece of furniture purchased at a Cardiff sale has led to a remarkable discovery, a secret drawer being revealed, which, contained papers revealing ..nearly i,doo in shares, tank’’.balance, and hbtise property. ' ? About November of last year, Mr ; Conrad Muller, who keeps ail antique and general furniture shqp at 35v City Road, ’Cardiff, sent an emplpyfee to an auction .being conducted at u house in, Mafeking Road, Roath Park, ’the vendor Lining a lady who bad been widowed six years previously, and was selling up the home prior' to leaving. Mr Muller’s man successfully bid for a bureau at a price of about - £s. When the purchase was removed to the City Road shop, Mr and Mrs ..Muller took a fancy to the article, and.'decided to retain it for the adornment of their own home.

Mrs Muller noticed .a peculiarity in the bureau in that 'two pillars at the sides of the centre drawer seemed fixed, whereas in an ordinary bureau they fare usually moveable.' ' Mrs Muller was examining this the otherfday, seeking to t find. an .explanation for the novelty, try’fo'move them,” exclaimed her husband, “you may break them.” Mrs Mrs Muller, however, continued to handle the bureau, .and at last accidentally came across a little buttpn, pressurejof which, to their astonishment, rel£a'sed"Bbth pillars and all. This revealed a Secret drawer containing papers and a bank-book. CONTENTS OF THE DRAWER. On the ensuing examination, these were found to comprise a security showing i.-tjjat close on had been invested in the Transvaal Government Three Per Cent. Guaranteed;; Stock in the name of David M»rris LfijWis, a„ bank book, recording deposits since 1900 amounting to £ii6g in Lloyds bank, Cardigan, and letters from Mr T. H. Williams, solicitor, Cardigan, indicting that the deceased had bought property in that district,, there being a . receipt for for a hoqse he. had purchased. >' As Mr Muller does not know where'the lady from - whom he bought the bureau now. is, he immediately put the matter into the hands of the police, who are making inquiries. If thelrightlul owner is-discovered it mjay: turn out that the papers did not belong ‘to the husband of the lady who sold the bureau, as he is to have died six years ag6, whereas the Transvaal Stock was issued in 1909-—four years ago.; It is possible she herself had purchased the bureau second-hand, and was unaware of its secret, now ■amdenfeliy.revealed;-, i The present value of the :Traus-' vaal Stock vvould v nqw Sbeii about £450. Transvaal'Government Three, Per Cent. Guaranteed Stock was' authorised fiq? 1:907, ,£4,000,000 being issuedjirf. January, 1909, at ahiaverage of ,£96-35 7d per cent., and ,£1,000,000 privately in May, 1910.' Thi present price is about 90 per cent. WHY THE DESK WAS SOLD. Further inquiries show .that the bureau* is claimed to .-have originally belonged to a Mr David Morris Lewis, whos,e widow sold it "after- his. death. ’ fpepeased 'bad some property, and bis relatives he left them so little. A married daughter. reporter that her father, to whom there was no doubt the desk belonged, died in 1997.' Their mother sold up the home, and it was,; agaipst-.the wishes of the family that she allowed the desk -to .go. .... . I Asked to explain why the 'documents' were hidden away, she said her father was;; ;wellrhaa, while her mother wasi'not, aud be did not tell her about.xuch things. She Claimedj however, that there was no doubt about tqe bwuership :of?tbe property.; ; ; • .