WILLS AND CODICILS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 147, 19 December 1930, Page 12

WILLS AND CODICILS

SIR G. HUNTER'S ESTATE MR. WATSON'S LONG ADDRESS

EVIDENCE FOR DEFENCE

Continuing his address for the dcfenco so far as Lady Hunter is concerned in the Hunter will case in the Supreme Court this morning, Mr. G. G. Watson said that hi addition to the funds mentioned by him yesterday £5500 would bo required to pay debts and amounts owing by the late Sir Geoa-ge Hunter. P-BOUD AND FOND OF CHILD. Another reason, said counsel, for Lady "Hunter's objection to the November, will was that there was no provision in it-for a home for the ( child until, she was 21 years of age. It had been (Suggested during the case that possibly (■] ir George depended on Lady Iluiiter having the Bolton street property to v.-hich sho could take the child. The licetion in Bolton street had been lbought by Lady Hunter with hor own money, Sir George providing the money with which to build a small house. It was found subsequently, however, particularly after the birth of Betty, that the house was unsuitable, especially on account of the erection of the Medical Chambers right alongside. Lady Hunter and Sir George decided to move out, and the house had since been converted into two flats. The evidence for the defence would show that Sir George was not only^ inordinately proud and fond of the child, but repeatedly stated his desire that she should carry on the Hunter name in a Hunter home, either at Porangahau or in Dixon street, and repeatedly also both in the earlier years of the child's life, and right until his death, Sir George expressed a strong desire that Betty should be brought up in infancy in close contact with country life. He was very desirous that Betty should not lose contact with station life at Porangahau. THE LEMON GROWING.. A certain amount of ridicule, continued Mr. Watson, had been indulged in in the case for the plaintiffs on the point that portion of the property at Porangahau should be devoted to lemon growing. It was not intended to dovote 300 acres to the growing of lemons, but only a part, so that sho and Betty would have a pleasant and not unremunerative hobby. Counsel contended that there was no provision in the will giving either Lady Hunter or the child the right to occupy the Dixon street property during the child's minority. THE WILL-MAKING. "When "Lady Hunter heard of Sir George's desire of making a will in October, 1929, she had expostulated with him and even went to the extent of communicating with a firm of solicitors to see if something could not be done. After the will was made she urged Sir George to make another will undoing what she believed to be wrong. Lady Hunter's attitude was to benefit the child even at Lady Hunter's own expense. It was certainly an altruistic and unselfish attitude. Lady Hunter would not deny that she influenced and dominated Sir George in the making of the second will, not with any idea of benefiting herself, but to undo the harm she believed to have been done to the child in the earlier will. "It is to be remembered," added Mr. Watson, "that at that time she was a woman acting under great stress and anxiety— anxiety for a desperately ill husband to whom she was devoted, and ajnxiety for the protection of her cMYtl—and that her frame of mind in tlusse circumstances was a background to the action that she took at that time. She worked out her own ideas.as to how to benefit the child. .. " Mr. Watson submitted thai; it was apparent that after the Nov-oimber will was signed Mr. Dunn was o£ the opinion that the gift of Porangahau was not a bad gift and advised Sir George to leave his will as it was. j EXECUTION OF WIX.LS. There were material cliffapences, said counsel, between Dr. Steelfe's and Mr. Dunn's evidence in oonniection with the October will. So fair as the defendant's evidence was concerned, it would establish that no arrangements were made beforehand for the execu-1 tion of the October will ?/o far as Lady Hunter and Dr. Giesen were concerned. It was contended that , Lady Hunter did not know until Mr., Dunn arrived on the Saturday morning that the will ■was to be signed on that occasion. Dr. Giesen would say that he had lfo knowledge whatever thD.t a will was to be signed on that occasion; So far as the November will w/as concerned, it was hoped to show tha/fc there were also no preliminary arrangements to the signing of the will. Evidence would be given that after tSie wills had been signed Sir George vfssE both physically and mentally exhausted. Mr. Watson then proceeded to deal | with the codicils to the wills. ,As to the main question of testamentary capacity, counsel said it was submitted, and evidence would be given to that effect, tha/; Sir Georgo Hunter had no testamentary capacity commensurate with the jmaking of the wills and codicils frora. the time of' his apopletic seizure- until possibly some time after his return from Botorua. EVIDENCE. FOR DEFENCE. No evidence of the visitor type would bo givei}—of the layman who called casually and had a conversation with Sir Geor-fjc. The evidence for the defence vyould be restricted to Lady Hunter, people who lived in the house with fc-Sir George, and medical attendants. Perhaps one of the principal witnesses was Nurso Tausoy. Although Nur/se Tansey was an attesting witness to the last codicil and although the practice in the probate Court —he ■was not saying a rule of law —had Tjjlien to call all attesting witnesses "when a will was disputed, Sister Tan Bey had not been called by the plaintiffs seeking .probate in solemn farm in thie present action. Mr., Watson also commented on tho fact that Dr. Giesen had not been called by the plaintiffs,, and emphasised that it was against Mrs. Cox's interests to give evidence for the defence. Tho will attackodi was the only will that con-j tamed utiy provision for Mrs. -Cox. DR. GIESEN 'S OPINION. ! Dr. l;!icsen had hnd an opportunity of perusiug tho various wills and consideriivg tho alterations made from time tio time in tho dispositions of the estate,, and Dr. Gieseii was strongly of the opinion that at no material time j had f>ir Georgo the capacity to initiate the instructions necessary for the October and November wills and had not the power to pass an independent and fair judgment of colicils that might be ]Kit before him. Dr. Giosen would say Tie would have actually endeavoured to prevent any will-making on the dates in question, mul that, counsel contended, was of tho utmost importance. R'DTORUA DOCTOR'S EVIDENCE. Mr. Watson then read the evidence of Dr. John Donald Campbell Duncan, Government doctor, Botorua, .under whose care Sir Georgo was for a time. The evidence was taken before a Magistrate in Botorua. Dr. Duncan said that from his examination of Sir (George he would say that the apopletic

seizure was a severe one and that it had caused mental impairment. Dr. Duncan said he considered Sir George had suffered a considerable amount of mental impairment, and that Sir George did not uavo testamentary capacity. NURSE TANSEY IN BOX. Margaret Ellen Tanscy, a trained nurse, said that she had been invited by letter to call on Dr. Stock1, and then on Mr. Dunn in reference to the case. She had not called on Dr. Steelc. On 26th September, 1029, the d.-ito on which Sir George had his stroke, she was called to the Dixon street house. Sir George was in a semi-comatose condition. He took no notice of things, and.witness said she did not think ho knew what was going on. The first time Sir George spoke was the next morning, to Dr. Stccle. The semiecinatosc condition as far as she could, recollect lasted four or five days. Sister West was the day nurse, and witness the night nurse," but from 39th December until Sir George's death witness was in continuous attendance on Sir George day and night. After about iivj or six weeks Sir George was taken out on the verandah during the day. From witness's experience Sir George's ■ apoplexy was fairly severe. After the semi-comatose' condition had passed away an improvement could bo noticed, more physically than mentally. Sir George slurred his words for some time,, and on occasions used wrong words. That was done in Dr. Steelc's presence, and once Dr. Steelc winked at witness and nothing was said. Mr. Watson said lie had to ask wit- ■ ness the question as to whether Dr. Steele had winked, because uncon-. sciously he had hurt the feelings of witness's colleague the other day. DIFFICULTY IN ARTICULATION. Mr. Watson: "Did you or did you not observe that Sir George had any difficulty in articulating his words?" —"Oh, yes, a good lot at the start." Witness said that Sir George did not improve mentally to any extent until after their return from Botorua. She had accompanied Sir George to Botorua. ; "Did lie read the papers?" —"Very little. He used to depend on me to give him the news." Witness said she used to try and encourage Sir-George to read and take an interest in things. It was difficult to get him to take an interest in anything. He preferred to be left alone and hardly ever commenced conversation with witness. Conversation,and visitors tired him, and he avoided visitors as much as he could, although at this time it was part of his treatment to encourage him to see visitors. The position was the same in Botorua. Sir George used to prefer to keep to his room. "In regard to his letters, did you ever see him read a letter on his own?" —"No, Mr. Watson." PEREMPTORY TERMS. "Did or did not the nurses in attendance have to be firm or be peremptory in their terms in giving instructions to Sir George?"—"Oh, yes, we had to", Mr. Watson." Witness said that Dr. Steelo also had to "speak up" to Sir George and it ; had been the subject of complaint by . Lady Hunter. Only once had Sir George complained to witness. That was at Botorua, as a result of some instruction given by witness, and the , fact that Sir George complained witness took to indicate an improvement in his mental alertness. It was necessary to speak firmly to him, be- • cause- he appeared to be mentally dull. IN PARLIAMENT. Some time in July last, said witness, \ Sir George commenced going to Parlia- \ ment, and took his seat in the- House | for a short time in the afternoon. Witness or Lady Hunter used to aeeom--1 pany him, and sit in the ladies' gallery while he was in the House. In the evenings witness used to talk about ; what she had heard in Parliament, and Sir George had said: "Sister, I get very 1 tired after about ten minutes, and don't-take any interest." When wit- [ ness sometimes inquired about mem: 1 bers who sat next to him, Sir George 1 said that ho knew them quite well, but could not remember their names for ! the moment. Replying to other questions by Mr. ' Watson, witness said that Sir George \ idolised Betty. In conversation Sir ' George- had said that Betty would have tltO' station and the Dixon street house, she thought. • In answer to Mr. Gray, witness said that for the first three months she 1 was only night nurse. She had no conversation with Sir George worth speaking about until after she went on ', day duty. '' PLEASANT, CHATTY NURSE.'' Replying to further questions by Mr. ; Gray, Nurse Tansey said that Lady , Hunter had written to her stating that [. she would like to see her. From what Lady Hunter said at the interview, ' witness gatherod that Betty had not been left as well off as she anticipated. . She understood from what was said that ! Betty was to receive £400 a year until | she was 21, after which she was to receive various sums totalling £10,000. [ "Do you remember hearing that Sir t George had several visitors during the . first week of his illness?"—"l remember Sister West teling me that Mr. I Coates was there one day." , "Have you any experience of anyone , recovering from an apoplectic seizure . as quickly as Sir George Hunter did?" { —"Well, I don't think" Sir George . Hunter recovered very quickly . mentally. Physically, he did voTy well." , AVith reference to her statement that , Sir George sometimes used the wrong . word in conversation, witness said she was unable to recall any particular word. Mr. Gray asked witness if she i thought she ever tired Sir George with 1 her talk. "Are you what you dei scribe .is a pleasant, chatty nurse?" ' he asked. 1 "Oli, I don't know," replied witness. 1 laughing. L -Mr.. Gray: "But are you?"—"Oh, ■ yes, I think so." (Laughter.) The ease was adjourned at 3.10 p.m. ' until 10th February. ; The report of yesterday's proceeii- ' ings appears on page 7.