The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-04


 on what appears to be very good author- ity, namely London bobby. that one of
 the crooks picked the picket of a dc- tective on a bet, and then got pipe fru of tobacco from him after taking hs
 watch. London detectives are such se-
 rioua persons moving about buried in deep thought as if the weight of the eni-
 pire' rested upon their shoulders. so that 1t Is easy to commit crime right before
 their eyes. All one must do to throw
 London detective off his guard is to sa-
 lute him.
 By the re-swearing of the immense es-
 tates of Charles Morrison. and Mir. AL fred Bett the former leaving close upon LOGO, eco and the latter eS000,Oo0 the treasury has made tremendous haul. The late MT. Morrison of Harley street, w., died in May, 1909, and a month later the value of his estate was returned at
 the record figure of e6, e6666e It has been resworn at e10,950,666, an increase of R4, 27o,000, and possibly the full extent of the fortune is not definitely ascertained yet On the figures of this re-sworn val l nation the estate duty alone amounts to
 e1e4o,5oo, and the total levy of the ex
 duty, succession duty and settlement estate duty will probably amount to about | e2,GGo,000. It is probably the largest | tate in the country of which anyone has | had absolute disposal. MT. Morrison in | herlted from his father in 1857 e 000,0 GOO,
 and the l,0oo,000 which he left repre- sents little less than the sum to which
 his original inheritance would have ac- cur1ulat ted with compound interest at
 per cent. Mir Morrison who was in his 92d year. was the son of poor Hamp-
 shire man, who came to this city and
 made a fortune as a draper He believed
 in small profits and quick returns" In | herting a large sum of money, the late Mir Morrison engaged a tinancier, promoting all kinds of enterprises and ready to buy anything and sell anything. | Dressing shabbily, he often lunched on
 an apple or bun. eaten as he walked along
 the street. At the age of S he published
 Ia book entitled, t;Douhts About Darwin~
 ism by a sen-Darwinian.N Although | one of the wealthiest men in wealthy l city. he was known to very few and the extent of his vast fortune was never realized.
 l Alfred Belt was of course, member | of the firm of Messrs Wernher. Belt X | Co. His estate was sworn not long after his death. in 1906, at f3,000.00o, but it has been re-sworn at what is presumably the | inai figure of e2,0496l6 0s. sd. He be-
 queathed G2OOO,00O for public uses, of which e1.200.000 was left to the trustees | for the development of communication in | Africa.
 The estate comes under Sir William | Harcourt's act of 1894. for the purpose of
 death duties, and the estate duty amounts to f643,969 Property to the value of f2,- | 500,p, pays legacy duty at the rate of 10
 per cent, and 3 per cent Is payable on the balance. making the total exchequer lev, about e1,050,000. If Mr Belt had died
 after April, 1909 his estate would have | had to pay about 91,208, ,000 in estate duty while the total duties would have amount | ed to about e1 800, 000, or an increase un- der Lloyd Georges scheme of about | e750. eco as compared with the old rate | The value of the estate which passed or | the death of the Duke of Westminster in | 1898. exceeded that of either MT. Morri- | son or MT Belt, but the Duke of Vest
 minister was only tenant for life of the
 great estates, worth probably more than f14,000,000, which passed on his death 1 Just 562 years after it's adjournment law case which was originally inter rupted because Richard de Maundevhe | had to leave for the war in France has been resumed in the chancery court, The | point at issue is the right to hold market at Stowmarket. Suffolk, and the suit was originally brought by the Ao- | bot of St. Osyth, Essex, in the reign of Edward III. against Richard de Mapn- | devlle. The abbot claimed that Richard | had wrongfuIly obtained the grant of the
 right to hold a market ito the grave | damage of the said abbot Richard | claimed the Kings protection and event | uaI,N the case was adjourned sine die because of his departure abroad At the resumed hearing last week c. F. Howard, | the modern representative of Richard, | asserted that G. F. Woodward, the mod | ern representative of the abbot, had no right to set up a rival market. This as | sertlon was supported by Mir. Ogden, K.
 C., who cited the Domesdav book and | other books. When Richard de Maun- deville went abroad,'i remarked Justice
 Eve. ''he little forsaw that we would be fighting the same question 500 years
 afterwards The hearing was ad- | jouined.
 Sixty thousand pounds, nearly slO0,00o is the sum spent on the case of Wylcr | ct al., vs. Lewis Ct al, which has been | engaging the attention of the house of lords. And that only included expenses | prioi to the house of lords litigation. The | case arose out of dispute between two | groups of financiers.
 | Thirty-thtee days were taken up in the
 Kings bench, before Justice Phillimore, who wrote 100000 words in his notes, and | was eight hours summing up. Counsels | opening speeches contained 2s5 900 words | and Mir Wyler was II days in the wit ness chair Each day the hearing cost 1 sGo0 the shorthand record alone being | &5O daily. In the Is days hearing in the court of appeal the jury's finding was l reversed and the judgments ran to 35.00O | words. The evidence and Judgments, which fill 16 printed appeal books, had to be conveyed to tile house of lords ol l uuck In to date lhe litigation In -ilIe