THE WIRTH MILLIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 310, 23 May 1913, Page 8

THE WIRTH MILLIONS.

A BIG WINDFALL. DISTRIBUTION OF THE MONEY. Auckland, May 19. Sydney files to hand to-day by the Mabeno supply some -interesting information regarding the inheritance by the Wirth family of £4,000,000 left by an unmarried uncle who recently died in Chicago. About the year 1840 the five brothers left Germany to seek their fortunes abroad. Four of them went to Austra-, lia, and one, Gaspard Bruce Wirth, went |to America. That he succeeded eminently is shown by the fact that he left' such a huge fortune to be divided amongst his next-of-kin—he had no family of his own.- The other four brothers, j who came to Australia, predeceased him, j so that their share of the money goes to the children, who are the nephews andj pieces of the deceased. The son of one of these brothers, Mr. Phillip Wirth, who is engaged at the Proud jewellery establishment in will inherit the whole of his father's share, as he is the sold surviving child, but in the case of the other three families their share will be divided amongst a number. One of these families, that of Mr. Peter Wirth, lives at Toowoomba, and another, that of Mr. Jacob Wirth, is at Charters Tow--1 ers. In the family of the late Mr. ! George Wirth, the father of the circus proprietors, there are five members, Mr. Philip Wirth. Mr. George Wirth. Mrs. Christie (of Melbourne), Mrs. Martin, (of America), and Mrs. Kene (of Wagga), and they will divide a million among them.

Referring to their fortune the other, night, Mr. Philip Wirth said they were all naturally very much elated at their good luck. The cousin who bore the same Christian name as himself would, he said, get the biggest slice, but he had a family of ten children. Asked it the circus enterprise would cease to attract the attention of the present proprietary through the windfall, he gave the sugt gestion an emphatic negative. "On the other hand," he said, "we will devote some of our wealth to further developing that business. We hold a lease of 21 years of the present old market building near the railway station, and a good deal of the money will be. spent there, to a profitable purpose, I hope. You know, I love Sydney and Australia, and it has long been my ambition to set up a hippodrome here equal to the finest in the world. Taking the London hippodrome as a model, we hope to stage big equestrian dramas here, and as soon as any doubts about our good luck are set at rest, we will begin to extend our show connection in an unprecedented style."