DISPUTED WILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 40, 17 February 1931, Page 9

DISPUTED WILL.

LATE SIR G. HUNTER'S ESTATE

EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE.

EFFECT OF SUGGESTION.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, Monday.

The hearing was continued to-day of the Hu'nter will case. Lady Hunter is opposing the grant of probate, for which the other two executors are asking. Mr. Justice Reed was on the Bench. Mr. A. Gray, K.C., with him Mr. L. K. Wilson, appeared for the plaintiffs, Cyril Paul Hunter, of Akitio, and Thomas Percy Hunter, of Porangahau. The defendants, Lady Hunter, widow .of the late Sir George Hunter, and her seven-year-old child Elizabeth, were represented : by Mr. G. G. Watson, with him Mr. H. J. V. James and Mr. W. Perry. Dr. E. W. Giesen, in further evidence yesterday afternoon, said it was quite consistent in Sir George's mental condition that he would be able to discuss land deals and other business matters that had been part of his usual life before his illness, but he would be* quite incapable of initiating business ideas or doing business involving complex sets of facts. Counsel for the plaintiff asked a number of questions dealing with the alterations made in the will, and proceeded to deal with the actual signing of the document. Does not the mere act. of signing' a will involve the disposition of a man's property? —No, not at all. ' So you did not have the responsibility of certifying that he was capable of signing a disposition of his. property 1 — No. All I wsa asked to do was to certify that he could sign a will without risk to his life. Counsel asked when witness had first, heard about the wills after Sir George's death, and . witness said that Lady Hunter had come to see him. ,; He thought this was about two days after she had seen Mr. Watson. She had toid witness that Sir George had made two wills after he had been taken ill, and liad asked witness what he thought about Sir George's ability or inability to do that. Counsel: Did she say what the two wills contained? —No. Did she make any complaint?— Obviously she was dissatisfied about it. Answering further questions, witness said that Sir George .had been prone to suggestion after his stroke.. In reply to' his Honor, witness said he thought ic likely a gift of 300 acres in favour of his. daughter .might have been the result of suggestion; .It was equally likely that the codicil he made revoking that clause, in the will had also been the result of suggestion. _ Dr. Giesen is still under crdss-examina'-' tion to-day. Among the replies he made this morning was that his estimate of Sir George Hunter's mentality was not made on his own observation on the occasion of his visits, but primarily on investigations made by Sir George Hunter's own medical man. \- "He was not my patient," declared witness. Dr. Giesen drew a distinctioif botweeil the, kind' of mentality required to discuss va'matter of the price of land and that required in the making of a will.: No one, he said, knew . the. value of his land better than did Sir George Hunter himself. "Idolised the Little Girl." Lady Hunter afterwards entered the witness box. She said her marriage with Sir George was in February, 1922, and the only ciiild of the marriage was bpm 15 months later. Sir George Hunter's feeling towards the girl was one of intense-and idolising affection. They both : lived for her. The Dixon Street house was bought after Sir George had declared the Bolton Street house was unsuitable for the child, and the Mooreliouse Street' house was bought because lie' wanted a comfortable home for his little girl. The house had formerly belonged to his great-grandfather. The whole house was altered and designed for the child. Lady Hunter said Sir George was very proud of wliat he liad done. All his life had been given to everybody else, and the purchase was his only extravagance. Witness alleged that after Sir George died, Mr. Dunn told her Sir George had made no intimation in his will regarding the house for Betty, and she had better put the child in a school and go to live in England. At the first meeting of the trustees they said Betty would get only £10,000 when she was forty, and would be lucky if she got that. "Sir George Short, or Money." Witness said she was substantially interested in all three wills. She had received no money from . the estate since her husband died. During their marfiecl life he iiad made no settlement on her, though he said he would. He was short of money during the last few years of his life, and her money and his was used as a common account. He promised to pay her back some time. At one time he owed Mr. Dunn £23,000, and was simply crazy about it. He lived really on selling pieces of land occasionally.

(Proceeding.)