DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 102, 24 January 1936, Page 10

DISPOSAL OF PROPERTY

Testamentary Styles

SOME EARLY NEW ZEALAND WILLS

Wills are curious documents, and all the more curious when laymen, good honest souls, resolve to express in iuk their present wishes to take effect upon their demise. Some interesting examples are to be found in Wellington for the payment of a search fee, and a few hours’ browse among the huge volumes of folios of old documents copied and certified,- for registration against the land they affected according to the old deeds system under the Property Law Act. Highlights and lowlights nre thrown upon the life of early residents in New Zealand. “On board the schooner Lady Grey, at sea. Tuesday, October the fourteenth. 1856. Latitude 39deg. 35min. south; longitude 170 deg. 58miu. -east. I. James , being sick, do consider myself nigh unto death, and wishing to prevent any disputes which might arise about niy property, I do hereby and herewith bequeath unto my well-be-loved wife, , late of Liverpool, al! and the whole of my personal effects, also fifty acres of country land situated in the district of Wanganui, also town section 359 in the town of Wanganui, together with one cow and calf at present under the charge of Sergeant William , of Wanganui, aforesaid. The title deeds of the land will be found in the name of James Edward . This is my last will and testament. “We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that James is sound of mind and in his right senses, and thai he has heard this will read, and furthermore that it has been written at his dictation, and that he has subscribed his name hereto. Archibald Kennedy, master; John Campbell, mate; Harmon Lamenson, seaman.” Plain Man’s Precision. Another piece of simple precision by a plain man reads in the main as follows:—“I make this hasty will as a precaution, but to be binding unless 1 make another. I am to be buried in my own ground. Religious ceremony I neither court nor mind; no array, or invited followers. I give, devise and bequeath the whole of my estate, both real and personal, unto my present wife Sarah, with whom I have lived for upward of 20 years, absolutely.”

The sea and mal-de-mer seem to induce melancholy thoughts and dispose people to make their wills. Another early will was executed on board the barque Sir Edward Paget, of which Andrew Barclay was master and Messrs. Withers and Co., of Crosby Square, Bishopsgate, London, charterers or agents, and which left England for New Zealand in August, 1850. A real farmer’s will is dated October 22, 1860. "In the name of God amen. Know all. men by these presents that I, William of Tawa Flat, Porirua Road, Wellington, New Zealand, farmer, being of perfect mind and memory but knowing that it is appointed unto all men once to die, and not knowing the day and hour when I may be called by God to quit this world, and as touching my worldly property wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this life, I give and dispose of the same in the following manner. . . First all to wife unless remarriage: second 50 acres to be divided between sons.

“Also I bequeath io my sou George one cow and one heifer; also to, my son James, one heifer; also to my son 'William, one heifer; also to my daughter Lucy, one heifer; also to my daughter Nancy, one heifer; also to my daughter Alary, oue heifer; and that the produce of the said heifers be under the ananagement of my trustees for the use and benefit of the above named children. “I will that my wife do give unto each of the above-named children as each attains the age of 21 years, or is previously married, in lieu of the heifer one cow with a calf by its side. Thirdly, I hereby give and bequeath to my eldest son, Arthur, one steer, also to my daughter, Matilda, one heifer. . . ” Postman’s Brief Verse. A retired letter-carrier has recorded a rare tit-bit of brevity, rather suggestive of reaction to weary trudges with heavy burdens in shine and shower. He must have been grip but not humorless. - "All earthly goods I have iu store To my dear wife I leave for evermore : I freely give, no limit do I fix; Tliis is my will and she executrix. As witness ray hand,” etc. The letter-carrier’s brevity is counterbalanced by the largest bundle of parchment in the Deeds Registry, Wellington—a sheaf of wether skins, indeed, weighing together 61b.! It is a nobleman’s will, lodged in the Deeds Registry Office, because of the fact that the testator owned some land iu the Nelson district, against which the will needed to be recorded as an instrument of disposition following granting of probate.