MYSTERIOUS MILLIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 332, 20 June 1911, Page 8

MYSTERIOUS MILLIONS.

SEARCH IXG AUSTRALIA FOR HEIRS, ESTATE OF- IXXOCKNT MAX, SHOT AS TRAITOR. Melbourne,. June 9. Dingwall, in Rosshire, is not a large town, lior is the district surrounding it very populous 'the total number of inhabitants in the parish and town being well under 5000. Yet for some time back it has been the scene of considerable excitement, since it is claimed that this little out-of-the-way place in the north of Scotland has produced two mysteries, multi-millionaires, and both, singular to say, of the name of Urquhart. The following paragraph from the last number of the Edinburgh Scotsman tells the etory as believed m Scotland:— Considerable interest continues to be manifested -in the inquiries connected with the two separate fortunes said to have been left, about the beginning of last century by two Urqullnrts, both connected with Dingwall. The one fortune waa left by General Urquhart, who was shot as a traitor in India, and whose innocence of the charge was subsequently established and acknowledged by the authorities. The money in this case is understood to be deposited in Edinburgh. The other case concerns a Dingwall man who made money in gold mining. One of the brothers, of whom their were several, had an hotet in Dingwall, and | another had a hotel at'Forres, and there are numerous decendants of these families. '

On -Saturday .Mr Warden, insurance actuary, Edinburgh, visited Dingwall, and met a large number of people of the name of Urquhart. Mr Warden took statements of family connections of different people to whom he gave interviews. These came from Delnie-s, Nairn, Cawdor, Inverness and the Black Isle, and from Delny, Kildory, Lower Seafleld, and down the Tain. The story of the Urquhart fortunes had great currency in the 'North 50 years ago, but probably the present investigations, which are being carried out by Mr Warden and several lawyers, have created a much more widespread interest. If the story but stopped there it would have but little interest for Australian readers. It appears, however, that some time ago advertisements appeared inviting applications from heirs to an Anglo-Indian officer of the name of Urquhart, who had left three millions, and who waa supposed to have a descendant in Australia. Action was taken by a Scottish solicitor to invite co-operation in the search for Australian heirs, but the whole thing was so vague that the matter f >ll flat. Now, however, there is a recru'lr-scence of the story of these mysteriivis millions since another solicitor has i ikon up the matter in earnest, and has ' -med specific instructions to Mr Thomas W. Uoyd, next-of-kin agent in Melboune, to ascertain all particulars respecting one Urquhart (no Christian name given) who came to Australia 75 years ago, acquired a large fortune in Adelaide, leaving a net little sum of thrpe millions—exactly the game amount at which the Indian general's fortune was assessed. This lucky ojd-time Australian had one brother, who waa married twice, and whose descendants are presumably still around Dingwall, so that it would seem that no less than six millions sterling are awaiting the tacky Urquharts who can prove their heirship to those dim ancestors of a century ago. Among the British papers that have taken up this case is the sedate London Times, which lakes the Australian story, at any rate, as perfectly correct, and claims to have accurate special information as to the identity of the true heir. The difficulty, however, will be, not to find the heir, since at least three-score Urquharts have started up to claim the Adelaide fortune, but to find the mysterious millions. No sucli amount as tliat has yet been left ,by any person m Australia, while the existence of any unclaimed large amount is always proclaimed from one end of Australia to the other by the Press, and the Urquhart millions would undoubtedly not have been overlooked.