WHEEL OF FORTUNE.

Otaki Mail, 3 September 1923, Page 3

WHEEL OF FORTUNE.

[ GARDENER BECOMES A LORD. " | £24,000 AWAITING AN OWNER. I , SYDNEY, August 1. Two revelations ol the past week go to snow that one never knows in Sydj ney's bustling crowds wliut man ol rank in buslnuau's clothes, or who oi ' lurtuue in penury's guise, on» may rub shoulders with. Nobody who knew' him suspected ' Jack Stuart, the efficient and hardworking heiSd gardener at the beatrtil'ul home oi the MacDowiell's, at Kiilara, one ol Sydney's select suburbs, 01 particularly great expectations. A muscular man, ol middle tjge, ho came io Sydney more than vi) years I ago, and took up land in New south j Wales, but adverse seasons pretty I well ruined him, and he roamed tile | world till the eve ol the war saw him j back in Australia, and the call lor I volunteers found him among the. first. A strenuous time in the ranks lull j j his health impaired, and on his re- ' I turn he sought an outdoor job, and l the MAicDuwell's engaged ihhn with the utmost satislactton w both parties. Day in and day out he was to be seen in his old cabbage-tree hat, Hard at work in the wen-kept garden, till one morning he awakes to mid himseli Lord Stiuart oi Baliater, with castle and estates in Aberdeensnire and a rent, roll oi £'2ooo a year. Lfut no suuden revelation in the wheel ol lorturte can turn Jack Stuart s head, .ana ne calmly goes on with his tugging and mowing, and will continue to do so until tne lamily solicitor, who is coming out on the Usterly, arrives. Such is the story oi a man who has gamed a fortune.. Anotiter nine days' wonder concerns one who has icit a lortune. Nonouy who knew the old u.aii ..taiun jjin.artt jjurke, wlio worked out a louuiy lii'e at a Darliiigkurst boarding-nouse, and was generally supposed to live on a small pension, suspected him oi possessing big bank accounts and scrip. When the old bachelor—he was over SO years oi age—became very ill a lew weeks ago, the people in the house were at a loss to know what, to do, and at length he was. conveyed to lite Royal prince Ailred Hospital, where tie subsequently died. He had no intimate lrjencls and no relations were known, so the Public Trustee took over what wcrt: believed to be Hie small possessions ol the. intestate, 'the young clerk who went to lake charge ol the effects, however, soon became astonished at wnat he tound, and reported to his office facts which resulted in letters of administration being granted hist Friday to the* Public Trustee over an estate valued at just under £40,000 m shares and bank deposits. Little is known of the old man's hist.orv, or how he acquired this large sum. The Public Trustee believes that iie can trace his place of birth in Ireland, and will search lor his next of kin. Burke is supposed to lmvii come to Australia nearly hull a ceiiturv ago, and was lor years in the j

io.-lal service, buiitgi postmaster at a small branch ofliee in Sydney when ic retired .