The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-01-30
A RIVAL OF ROTHSCHILD.
AN a AUsTRALIAN WHO rs WORTH
TWO HUNDRED HaILLIoHs.
How Eis Great Wealth was Amassed
Living i'm n House that Cost
$4,000, ,OOO-IRis BeneVOIcnce.

How EFis Great Wealth was Amassed
Living i'm House that Cost
$1,000, ,000-IRis BcneVOIcnce.
About forty-six years ago, says Mel
bourne correspondent, a farmer named
Clarke left the shores of England for
Tasmania, for the purpose of farming,
taking with him considerable capital, and
being, in addition. remarkable judge of
sheep and cattle. He appears to have
failed in that island, and as the Tasma-
mans were forming new settlement on
the shores of the great Australian conti-
nent, near Port Philip, he determined
to try his fortune there. Where the queen
city of the south, Melbourne, with its
400, ZOO inhabitants, now stands was
then a waste, inhabited by the sayages
and the kangaroo. Clarke at this period
received from distant relative a consid-
erable sum of money, which he immedi-
ately invested in land in the vicinity
of Melbourne, then called "Baregrass."
Asthe colonial government of New South
Wales granted special surveys of 80, 900
acres at the uniform price of five shillings
per acre, Clarke Immediately invested his
legacy in one of these immense blocks,
and thus laid the foundation of his gi-
gantic fortune. This was in 1910, and
for several years he continued to farm
and to take up sheep and cattle stations
in the then uninhabited regions of Aus
tralia Felix, now the colony of Victoria.
He always attended the government land
sales, and bought largely in the Ballarat
districts, where the richest gold mines in
Australia are situated. The discovery of
gold at Mount Alexander and Ballarat
increased his growing wealth, as he ex-
acted rigidly tribute or royalty for per-
mission to mine on his coveted lands, and
he thus obtained immense sums.
Never were riches more worthily
bestowed. He continued till the
time of his death, 1864 to buy
lands, sell merino wool and deal in
cattle. His son succeeded to this vast
inheritance, which comprised at his
fathers death, $500, 900 merino sheep,
800, 900 cattle, and nearly 5000, 600 acres
of freehold lands, and leasehold of
crown lands equal in area to that of Eng
land. The probate duty paid to the v@-
rious colonial governments was calcula-
ted on an estate valued at $50, 600, 600,
though that was not more than half its
real value. His son, the present Lord
Rupertswood, has by his care and atten'
ton quadrupled this vast fortune. When
the Duke Of Edinburgh and the sons oi
the Prince of Wales visited Australia,
they were feasted right royalty at Ru
pertswood, the family seat, and Queer
Victoria created him Baron Rupertswood,
of Rupertswood, in the colony of Victo
ria, and peer of the United Kingdom
Without any exaggeration, the Australian
is worth 5000, 900, 600, and the influx o
population is adding daily to his wealth
His generosity is unbounded. TIT
charitable institutions of Melbourne anc
the colonies owe him great debt of graf
itude for his liberality. Rupertswood
the seat of this bucolic Australian, is su
perb, and can compare with any residence
in the old or new world, its estimated
cost being $4, 900, 900.