TWO TRUSTEES SEEK RELIEF.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1570, 14 October 1912, Page 3

TWO TRUSTEES SEEK RELIEF.

IN SUPREME COURT. i) A DECLARATION. OF TRUST. t Two trustees, wishing to be relieved of 1 their duties under a declaration of trust, ' applied to the Supreme Court for such e relief, and the matter came up for con- J sideration on Saturday morning before the j Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout). 'J'he £ plaintiffs were Ernest Arthur Palmer, builder, of Wellington, and Sidney Henry Ross Dix, insuranco agent, of Wellington. The defendants were Rose Palmer, wife of E. A. Palmer, Gertrude Stanton Taylor, married woman, of Wei- | lington, Grace Irene Beck, spinster, of ( Wellington, and Peter Onslow Pemberton | Beck, of Wellington. ■ i Mr. W. H. D. Bell and Mr. A. Gray | appeared for the plaintiffs, while Mr. M. ' 11. F. Luckie appeared for Mrs. 'Palmer f qnd for the - two Becks. i Plaintiffs were trustees appointed under i a Declaration of Trust dated December I 18, 1900, and the defendants were bene- I ficiarics under the same Declaration of Trust. For certain reasons the plaintiffs desired to lie relieved of their trust, and they filed an originating summons 1 asking that they be discharged from their I duties, that the Public Trustee be ( ap- i pointed, and that accounts be taken. The application was made under the Trustee Act, 1908. I At the outset, Mr. Luckie, in answer i to a question by his Honour, intimated • that he only opposed' that part of the • summons which dealt with the proposal i to appoint the Public Trustee in place of the present trustees. He explained the minor difficulties which had given rise to the present, application, and said he understood that Mr. Dix (one of the plaintiffs) was now willing to go on with fame-other person to be appointed by the Court. ' His Hononr suggested, that if the parties could agree upon some points, the matter might be restricted for the present to the passing of accounts.^ After some little argument, his Honour adjourned the application for a fortnight. In the meantime, the parties might .affree upon certain points and then refer direct to the Judge. UNIQUE APPLICATION. . OVER COMPENSATION CLAIM. An application, said to be the first of its kind ever heard in New Zealand, came before the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) in the Supreme Court in Chambers on Saturday morning, when the Featherston County Council asked that a date be fixed for hearing a claim for compensation brought by Donald Couper Yule, who had since intimated that he wished to discontinue the claim.. Sir John Findlay, K.C., appeared in support of the application, while Mr. A. Gray, on behalf of Yule, raised opposition. In connection with the application, Sir John Findlay explained that on August 2, 1911, Yule sought to recover .£IOSO from the Featherston County Council, on the ground that protective works erected, by the Council on the Tauherinikau River would seriously injure his land. The claim was resisted by the statutory method, assessors were appointed, and the council went to considerable expense in collecting expert evidence. Then a. few days-before a date of hearing , would have been fixed, the. claimant (Yule) intimated that he would 'discontinue his claim." The County Council contended that there was no power to withdraw Ihe claim, and they ■ therefore asked that the Court fix a date of hearing in order that it might be decided that, the claim for compensation had not been sustained, and that costs' should be awarded the council. i ■ After hearing Mr. Gray, his Honour said he would take time to consider his decision.