AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 307, 5 February 1910, Page 4

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

LOST HEIR AND TMPEUSONATIO.W SUPREME CO 11 IT PRO; KEDIXG3.. By Telegraph.—Press' Association. Wellington, Lust Night. . An extraordinary ease .. ; a lost heir and impersonation came ii. :oro the Supremo Court in banco t<; ,t:iy. on the petition of the Public Tni- -e for directions as to the disposal of €<loo held' by him on fiehalf oT Gtw;,. Tuckwell due under the will of Rirlnrd Tuckwell who died in 18S2. floors. t.h:> eldest eon, went to Australia two rears ltCfore, and has not been li M'<l of since ISS3. In 180.1 a letter purporting to befrom him reached a We'lmcitun solicitor, who accordingly exc.-uted a deed of conveyance and paid ovr a sum of money due to (Jeorpre Tn.-j:well. It is now quite clear that Tuckwrdl was j npersonated and the mone. olitained r oy fraud. Tuckwell's relatives in Xivr Zealand and Australia h long concluded that lie was dead, but "iiquiri's were being eontinuallv iva '•> :il>out his share in the estate by on Hubert Gillespie. wlio claimed to him ill Cobar. and who said he lin! i power of attorney from him to coll">-: ;V»legacy. Then in 10f>l a letter «i<rn<'d -ilco. Tuckwell." Imt which <;il!e~i>i" uft erwarls admitted to have writhe though at Tuckwell's dictation, elaiitvl die lejacy. The relatives by this timr- wey? thoroughly suspicious and ami other enquiries were made, utterly fnilin<* to reveal the whereabouts of Tuckwell. who appears to have i'"ol nnd been buried under an assumed name, as no record of registration of 'b'Hh can be found. The petition In- Ven before the Court tor five year-. To-dav Mr. Justice o>i>r> n r allowed the Public Trustee to "resume that Tuckwell died intestate. n"':iirrird,aTid without Tssue. awl order- 1 boit to pay to the next of kin, should :here be no claim "made on liehalf of nnorgp Tuckwell during the next six >» . eihs.