WIDOW'S" CLAIM

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1937, Page 15

WIDOW'S" CLAIM

AGAINST TRUSTEES

HUNTER ESTATE

EVIDENCE BEGINS

Evidence in support of the allegations of Lady Edith May Hunter that the estate of her late husband, Sir George Hunter, had been grossly mismanaged by the trustees of the estate, Cyril Paul Hunter, of Akltlo, and Thomas Percy Hunter, of Porangahau, nephews of Sir George, was begun in the Supreme Court late yesterday afternoon, and is expected to continue for several days.' The defendants, whom the plaintiff seeks to have . removed from their trusteeship, deny her allegations.

Mr. Justice Smith is hearing the case, in which Mr. J. D. Willis and Mr. R. R. Scott are appearing for the plaintiff, and Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C., and Mr. J. H. Dunn for the defendants.

• The first witness was Oscar Monrad, a farmer, land valuer, and farm supervisor, of Palmerston North, with 51 years of farming experience. He' said he inspected the Porangahau station on four days in.January last and again on three days in February. He came to the .conclusion that there was too much loss going on and was not at all satisfied with the management generally. He was of the opinion that there was mismanagement in many directions, several serious and others less serious. Again, on June 5 and 6 last, he inspected tlie station and was confirmed in his previous opinion. Two of tlie employees, he said, because of age were incapable of station work. Under good management tho station could stand the cost of those pensions, but under the conditions disclosed and heavy payments to the State of between £3000 and £4000 a year ■ he was unable to see that the pensions could be continued. Having regard to the number of hands employed, the -results were nothing like those one •would expect of an efflclently-run station. USE OF EQUIPMENT. . : The woolshed and other station -equipment were bein,. used by. the ?Paul Hunter estate and. Mr. Percy Hunter, said ; the - witness. He bad looked through the accounts and found that a share of electricity had been paid for, but he could find nothing paid for the use of the appliances. He had been told that abou.t 40,000 sheep were put through every year, about .16,000 being fcoin the George Hunter - estate. Tho annuai overhead cost to the George Hunter estate for the use of the shed by air three stations was approximately £471. He thought a fair charge to the other users would be £1 a hundred sheep for all services. It was not In the best interests "of the Porangahau station to handle such large mobs of sheep. It was common for. farmers to be neighbourly and allow the use of facilities for payment, but the ri'ate could not afford to be too neighbourly. Skins had been damaged or destroyed by being left hanging on fences, continued the witness. He had never lost skins through weevils, and had "never had any trouble with rats eat.ing skins. It was the usual farming practice to paint the skins with arsenical preparation and hang them iri a special way. SKINS AND WOOL. Tho witness .said, that on the occasion of- his second visit he saw a lot of skin and wool that had been just dug up from the ground. He was present towards the end of the digging. Skins were decomposed and the wool had ■ become heated and decayed, though some of tlie skins near-the surface were in a reasonably good state of preservation, He could see ho justification for the burying of the skins, which were a valuable asset. Damage to the skins before they "were buried could be caused only by neglect. The "heap uncovered might weigh from a quarter to a ball a ton. Some bales of scoured wool could have been 'obtained from a heap of dags he saw on tlie station. In the course of hisjourneyings over the property he saw. 100 or more dead sheep, not one of which had been plucked, though nearly all were \vorth it The total sheep shortage: from August 20, 1930, to Decem-ber-31, 1836, was 7870. The legitimate reduction of that total was 3717, making an abnormal loss of 4103. He calculated that there had been a direct loss through skin shortage of £640 13s Od,'. caused by sheer neglect and ' indifference, PURCHASE OF TRUCK. Money put into tlie purchase of a truck, He said, should1 have been used for fencing which was vitally needed. The truck was not entirely suitable and there were other transport facilities available. The boundaries of the.station could be discerned by the scrub on the station, as the neighbouring properties were comparatively clear, said tho witness. The clearing of the scrub, which was once a comparatively trivial matter, would now be expensive. This Avork was now a most urgent one and it should have been done, at a fraction of the. present cost, under one of the unemployment relief schemes three or four years ago. It was true that there had been neglect of valuable farm implements, said tho witnoss. They had been standing in the open' for some time and the grass was growing up around them. On all three visits he saw a dray full of putrid matter. On his visits, said the witness, he stayed in the station homestead, in' •which there was little furniture,- A fair recompense for sweeping and cleaning tho house would be 5s a week, whereas £ I n week was paid to the wife of a rabbiter. Nobody occupied the houseIn the early part of January there was a large number of cull lambs, and it was unusual to gee: them dying at that time of the year. Cull lambs were then selling at famine prices and 1500 should have bs»en sold, for' £1123. The lambs and hoggets on the station were a poor lot, and the retaining pf the culls when they should have been sold had resulted to the lowering of the standard of the flock. Light two-tooth wethers had been killed for consumption on the station, said the witness. .That was too expensive and was not common, the custom being to kill cast ewes fattened up. He could find no record of the sheep killed for consumption, though such a record should be, kept.

Nothing had been done to prevent tho spread of wind-driven sand,'he said. There was an abnormal number of dogs on the station, continued the witness.- Sixteen to• twenty sheep doga would be enough and he would have no rabbiting dogs at all. There was no need for a permanent rabbiter on the station, though some rabbiting would be necessary. The free use of electricity by the employees was not usual, especially when plenty :of wood was available, said the witness. Assuming that just over 2000 cubic yards. Of gravel was taken by the local county council, pursuant, to the Public Works Act, the witness thought that royalty should be claimed. He