WILL CHALLENGED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 124, 21 November 1931, Page 7

WILL CHALLENGED

PEOBATE OPPOSED

EVIDENCE OF DOCTORS

Further witnesses for the defence were called in the Supreme Court yesterday, afternoon, when the hearing was continued of the application made by the Public Trustee for probate.of the last will and codicil of John Brown Westlake, late of Pahiatua, who left a valuable estate. The application is-opposed by his widow and others on the ground that the testator at the time the will and codicil arc purported to have been executed and up until the time of his death was not of sound mind, memory, and understanding. Mr. Justice MacGregor is on the Bench. Cross»examined, George Harold Smith, solicitor, of Pahiatua, said that when he drafted a will for Westlake in 1914 he had no doubt as to the latter's testamentary capacity, and he would have agreed without hesitation to the execution of the will. Ho had known nothing of Westlake's family life except what he gathered from tho testator's own remarks. Dr. Hugh Paterson, of Pahiatua, said his impression when he first visited the "Westlake home in 1014 was that tho family were terrified of Westlake. He considered the nervous condition from which the elder daughter Gertrude was suffering had been brought on by fear of her father. Westlake had never shown the interest to bo expected from a husband and father, and witness gathered that he had an unreasonable hatred of his wife and family. Witness formed the. opinion that Westlake was suffering from a delusion and thought his wife and family were'his enemies. Since the testator's death both Mrs. Westlake and Gertrude had improved in health. In 1928 witness was present when AVcstlake signed a codicil to the will. Had the question been raised he would have said that he had always been doubtful about Westlake's sanity from the point of view of will-making. Tho man was, in witness's .opinion, suffering from paranoia. A person could suffer from paranoia and yet be capable of carrying on his ordinary business. In view of the alleged threats witness would not have been surprised if Westlake had killed his daughter In reply to counsel for the Public Trustee, witness said he had no doubt that Westlake knew what he was doing when ho made the will. IS one of the family had ever told witness anything to make him conclude Westlake had a delusion; he relied upon his own observations. ■Counsel suggested that the observations might have indicated a mean, callous,, or cruel man, but not. necessarily a man suffering from a delusion. Witness replied that what he heard and saw was more consistent with a delusional state of mind than any other He thought Westlake's mental condition would have influenced him in his. appreciation of the relative values of the claims upon his bounty. Dr. Henry Thomas Dawson, of Pahiatua, gave evidence regarding Westlake's disposition towards his family. He had no affection for any of them. From his own observations and the evidence he had heard witness consid-ered-that .Westlake was not mentally normal, that he had suffered from paranoia, and was not capable of making a just will. ~ ■ The Court adjourned until Monday.