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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 157, 20 November 1912, Page 3

It seems likely that the estate of the late Mr. T. 0. 'McCarthy will prove to be much less than was stated at the time of his death (says Frank Morton, the well-known .writer). The theory then was that, making an allowance of £15,000 a year to his widow during her lifetime, State charities would benefit to the tune of some £BOO,OOO. Now there arises a serious doubt. It is understood' that the Public Trustee estimates that there will be £OOOO yearly for ttie widow and another £6OOO for charities. On the widow's death, everything willgo to the public. So far as one can judge from the figures cited, the estate ■is worth £240;000, and not £BOO,OOO. At the outset, there was' a tendency to exaggerate. Indeed, it is not yet proved that the income from the estate will be £12,000 a year. There is a lot of nonproductive property, including certain old hostels that 'have lost their licenses. There is the old brewery in Tory street, which is not likely to return very much under the new conditions. In town, there is only one freehold hotel, and one leasehold hotel with about three years to go. Then there is one hotel at Petone, one at Shannon, and one at Picton. In Masterton there is the old Princes of Wales' —no license; there is a hotel at Alfredton—no license; there is the old Grosvenor in Taranaki street —no license. As a rule, hotels that have lost their licenses are the deadest of dead properties. Then there is the brewery. While he lived, Mr. McCarthy, who was a man of astonishingly frugal habits, did his own brewing, malting, hook-keeping, collecting and bottling; he was not above cleaning out casks in the yard at times. For all these tasks now, men have to be paid. All of which means reduction of profits. The gift will eventually bo a quarter of a million at most, so far as one can hear. That is an admirable gift, but a gift by no means unexampled. And there have been much greater fortunes made in New Zealand. The Hon. Walter Johnston left his widow £850,000.