DUTY ON CHARITABLE BEQUESTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 253, 1 November 1897, Page 2

DUTY ON CHARITABLE BEQUESTS.

(By Telegraph—Press -^Jilalion.)

WELLINGTON, this day,

The case of re Carter, deceased, before the Court of Appeal, is an appeal by the Public Trustee as executor of the late Mr C. R. Carter, of Wairarapa and Wellington, from the assessment of duty by the Commissioner of Stamps, the case being removed by consent into the Court of Appeal. The question involved is whether a devise and bequest by the testator to the Public Trustee for the purpose of erecting and maintaining an institution to be called the Carterton Home for Aged Poor Men is exemot from duty under section 2 of Charitable Gifts Duties Exemption Act, 1883. The will provides that the institution to be established shall be for the gratuitous support of aged men of good character, not under 65 years of age, and who have been resident five years before admission within a defined district surrounding Carterton. The management is given to a local committee. The points raised are : First, whether the Act of 1883 exempts only gifts to existing institutions; and, secondly, whether the proposed home is a public institution within the meaning of the Act. The Commissioner held the bequest was not exempt. Mr Hislop is appearing for the Public Trustee in support of the appeal from this decision. Mr Gully appears for the Commissioner. The Court reserved its decision.