THE HOBBS MILLIONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3794, 19 May 1928, Page 4

THE HOBBS MILLIONS.

QUEST OF A FORTUNE. OVER £4,500,000 INVOLVED. TOTAL OF 150 CLAIMANTS. A further meeting of 150 claimants to the supposed fortune popularly known as the Hobbs Millions was held at Parramatta, Sydney, recently, when it was decided to prosecute the search for the fortune, now said to exceed £4,500,000, to which amount, it is stated, the money, left by John Hobbs, a wealthy silk weaver, of Spitalfields, near London, who died in 1814, has accumulated. The claimants are descendants of the seven children of Robert Hobbs, a brother of John Hobbs, who was transported in 1701, and who settled at Pitt Town, on the Hawkesbury, after serving portion of his sentence. Great numbers of papers and documents bearing on the claim were handed to the committee representing each of the seven branches of th# family for investigation, and a document which, it was claimed, was a copy of the will made by John Hobbs before his death in 1814, was produced. This document, which is drawn up in correct legal form, contains the following passages: “I direct that, after my funeral expenses are paid, which I direct may be conducted at a decent walking pace in a plain, decent manner, and also my just debts are fully discharged and paid, my leasehold, stock-in-trade, and utensils of every description are put up to the public auction by tlie direction of my executors, and the money invested in 3 per cent, consols for the support of my . . . wife and Lvdia Dolfee, spinster, now living with me at Wlinehmore Hall, in Middlesex.” A sum of money for immediate expenses was subscribed, and the matter was left with the committee representing each branch of the family to prosecute the search for the fortune. A further meeting is to be held shortly.

It is understood that a local resident is a relative in the abovementioned family and a probable participant in the fortunei.