HIDDEN IN A VAULT

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 284, 4 January 1930, Page 3

HIDDEN IN A VAULT

A REMARKABLE ROMANCE .TREASURE FOR A WOMAN Trunks full of jewels and antique treasures aud a bank deposifc of over £50,000 are fcatures of a remarkable roinauce, in whicli a London woman is the heiress. The riches were the property of the late Sir John McLeavy Brown, who had a long and distinguished career in the Chinese Customs Serviee. From 1898 to 1906 Sir John wns Ohief of Customs and Controller of Finance under the old Korean Government, but when Japan finally annexcd the peninsula after the Russo-Japaiiese War. he loffc the Far East and returned to London. He was not permitted to take nis treasures with him, however. They were deposited at the old guards' quarters near the great Seidaimon Gate of ancient Seoul, the capital of Korea. The money was in the Seoul Bank. On his return to London Sir John, then an elderlv man, tried to recover his property, but during tbe protra cic-d uegotiations betvveen London and Seoul many unforeseen difficulties arose, and as time slipped b.v Sir John's hope of successfully recovering the treasures and money became more and more remote. Then it was reported that all trace of the valuables had disappeared. Now a dramatic tui'n of fortune's wheel has again brought tlio .treasures to iight, and the qu.estion of their ownership lias been satisfactorily settled. While engaged repairing the old guards' building, J'apanese officials came upon the property, packed. and hidden away in an undergrouiul vault. They investigated the matter, with the result that the genuineness of Sir John's claim to the property has at lasfc been admitted. Sir John died some two years ago, and it is understood that the right to the treasures and bank deposit will now be lianded over to his niece.