RISE TO FORTUNE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2054, 13 November 1919, Page 2

RISE TO FORTUNE.

CURIOUS STORY OF WILL, ■ NEW ZEALANDER'S ESTATE'. A curious story is told concerning the late Mr John William “Rice, a New Zealander who was very successful in business in-. Melbourne, and who enlisted in 1017, says the Sydney correspondent ,of an exchange". When lie went into camp, Mr Rice made a will, under which various Church of England charities were to benefit. He was promoted corporal, but the officer of his battalion took his corporal’s stripes awar, and while at sea Rice wrote a codicil to his will providing that his estate should go to the church only on condition that this officer no longer held any position in the church. To-day the officer is a curate, and the will must come before the court to secure a ruling upon the effects of the codicil.

On February 27th Rice made a will which, after making provision for his widow, directed that the balance should, he'applied by his trustees to advertising the work of the Church of England Diocesan Mission to the streets and lanes of Melbourne, and similar missions in the other capital cities, the. Home Mission Fund, and educatioiTTtl organisations in connection with the church."' As a business man, he apparently realised that it pays to advertise, and his idea was not to give directly to the charities, hut to establish a fund for the purpose of making their needs and work widely known. This will when drawn up was witnessed by. the officer who was to lie referred to in the later codicil.

According to the statement of Mr Farmer, of Farmer and Turner, for many years solicitor to Rice, the merchant found the camp discipline irksome, and on one occasion was absent without leave. The officer took the usual action, and disrated Rice from the rank of corporal which he held. He could assign no other reason fqr the sudden change of front on the part of Rice, nor could the officer concerned. Shortly afterwards Rice left for the front with reinforcements for the 14th Battalion on the transport Nestor. The codicil was written on a piece of flimsy paper aboard that vessel, and is dated: “March 2(ith, at sea, bn active service.'-’ It directs that if the officer who witnessed the original will “be employed or holds orders-in the Church of England,” all his bequests to the church become void, and the-property is to be used by his widow “for the Empire's benefit.” While abroad Rice served at the front and suffered from shell-shock. He returned to Australia, and went to the Randwick (Sydney) Military Hospital for treatment. While he was on leave from the institution he went into a fish shop at Circular Quay, and while standing at the head of a flight of stairs became dizzy and tell to the bottom of the flight, lit l did not recover consciousness, and died on September Bth, at the hospital. There is something of the romance of modern business in the life of Rice. Born on the west coast of New Zealand, where his father was a Customs official, he was left an orphan at an early age, and he received his youthful training in the Burnham Industrial School, near Christchurch. When he left that institution he obtained employment at a draper’s shop, and subsequently saved enough money to go to Sydney. There he took up a position with Anthony Horderns’, giving it up to join relatives in a drapery business in Melbourne. After working for some years, ho made suffieient money to go to England, iuu| little was heard of him for some time. Eventually he returned to Australia as an agent for silk merchanls. A later visit to England led to his appointment as repre-sentative'of-cotton merchants, and he built up his trade to a remarkable extent. His offices were iu Chelford House, Russell Street, a line brick building, which lie erected. Trouble arose when the agency for the cotton . merchants was transferred, and Rice sought redress in the courts, a settlement being arrived-at by agreement. During the Avar Rice sold his line villa, and was Availing for a termination of hostilities to go to England and secure fresh agencies. Then he heard the call, and enlisted. Though his estate is valued for probate purposes at £20,040, his solicitors have stated that Avhen the liabilities and other matters have been settled up it Avill only slioav a surplus of betAveen £IO,OOO and £12,000. “Pluck aftd grit Avcre his characteristics, and ho climbed') Avonderfully in the business world,” said a friend. He was 44 years of age at the time of his death, and the strain of his service had had a Aveakening effect upon his constitution.