Judgment Given For Rowing Association

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30924, 3 December 1965, Page 22

Judgment Given For Rowing Association

(Ntw Zealand Brest Association)

WELLINGTON, November 2.

Judgment in favour of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association was given in the Supreme Court today in an action brought by the executors of the will of a man who made his sterling funds in England available for the import of English-made oars and other rowing equipment.

Mr Justice Haslam delivered the judgment. His Honour refused an application by the Perpetual Trustee Company, Ltd., Sydney, as executors of the will of Walter Cyril Beaumont, of Woollahra, New South Wales, for the recovery of £2652 alleged to be held by the association. Twelve members of the executive committee of the association and three trustees of the association’s property were named as defendants in the action.

Mr D. Perry appeared for the plaintiff company and Mr L. M. Greig for the defendants.

His Honour said the deceased died in England in 1962 leaving a substantial estate. Close Interest “Although the deceased had lived in Australia for a long period he had retained from his youth a close interest in the sport of rowing in both New Zealand and elsewhere.

“During his visit to New Zealand early in 1962 he felt moved by the warm welcome accorded to him by members <rf the sport throughout the country. He also learned of the difficulties which impart restrictions caused to clubs in acquiring badly needed oars and equipment. “He was horrified at the lack of facilities for oarsmen training at Lake Karapiro which had recently been selected as a national course

for rowing contests and training.

“Initially, he endeavoured through the Customs Department to obtain licences for the import of oars and equipment on the basis that he would pay in England from his own resources and be reimbursed 'by the individual clubs by payments by the consignee into his personal account with a bank in New Zealand.

“In conformity with official policy, the Comptroller of Customs rejected this proposal because experience had convinced officials of the Customs Department that such transactions meant an eventual export of funds from New Zealand and merely a postponement of the final date when the local credit was converted into foreign currency.

“The deceased decided that he would prefer to make a lasting contribution to rowing in New Zealand and informed the executive members of the defendant association of his intention to provide up to £3600 which they might spend in the erection of a utilitarian type of building on the shores of Lake Karapiro, this providing accommodation for racing boats, ancillary equipment and men on the training site. Orders to Firm “He arranged that the individual clubs requiring parts from Aylings (an English firm) should send their orders to that firm which would dispatch the goods and

send the invoices and shipping documents to the defendant association.

“The association was then to communicate with the club concerned to collect the sum for reimbursement

“The nature of the payments were such that the fund in the hands of the defendants was to be built up in instalment as received from the club.

“In my opinion the deceased intended each separate instalment to constitute a gift that would go to augment his total benefaction, as he did everything in his power to divest himself of all right to every debt payable by each club.

“While the required act of formality depends upon the character of the subject matter, in this case it is not disputed by counsel that the deceased effectivly directed each club to pay its purchase money, not to him, but to the defendant association.

‘The requisite intention on his part to make a gift in such instance and thus to rebut the presumption of a resulting trust to himself is established to my satisfaction,” his Honour said.