LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 23745, 28 November 1940, Page 13

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

miTICALOH CHARITABLE? aU£STIOH OF VALIDITY OF BEQUEST The action relating to the will of the late Howitt Key Wilkinson, in which the main argument is whether the League of Nations’ Union ot iNew. Aealand is to he regarded as a charitable organisation, was continued yesterday afternoon. , , ~ Mr F. B. Adams appeared for the plaintiffs, the Perpetual Trustees, Estate, and Agency Company; Mr H. M'Cormick, of Wellington, for the League of Nations Union of New Zealand: Mr J. M. Paterson for the Commissioner of Stamp Duties; Mr J. S. Sinclair for the widow, children, grandchildren, and the unborn children; and Mr H. L. Cook for the Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, the Boy Scouts’ Association, New Zealand section, and the Dominion of New Zealand branch of the Girl Guides’ Association. In the course of Ins address, Mr Paterson contended that a trust for the attainment of political objects was invalid as a charity. The League of ■Nations, in his opinion, was entirely political. It had been called a great experiment, and he submitted that it was a political experiment. It was political not in the domestic sense, but m the international sense. Counsel also quoted legal authorities on the point of what was a charitable bequest, and dealt with the question ot suc- ' cession duty being payable or not. His Honour asked if the League had attracted money-in England. Mr Paterson said that ne could tine! no record of money having previously been left to the League m England or Australia or New Zealand. . Other counsel present also said that they had no knowledge of money being left to the League. Mr Paterson; There must have been many legacies to the League of Nations. His Honour: Well, I don’t know. Mr Paterson then went on to deal •with the question whether, if His Honour held that_ the gift to the League was a charitable trust, it was a charitable trust in New Zealand. Mr M'Cormick claimed that the League of Nations in New Zealand functioned for the public benefit, and was therefore charitable in the legal tense. . „. , ~ Mr Sinclair, in his address to the court, asked if the League of Nations Union of New Zealand was a chanty, in that its aims and its objects and the manner in which it functioned m New Zealand brought it within The domain of charitable purposes as understood' in law? Counsel submitted that this institution was not a charity. On the issue of beneficial results to the community he would submit as the strongest issue against the organisation being held to be a charity that the operations of the League at Geneva were of basic relevance. Counsel contended that the New Zealand organisation was indissolubly linked with the League of Nations at Geneva, and said that, if the League at Geneva was not a charity, then the New Zealand organisation was on the same basis. In view of the League’s complete failure in its purposes, in view of the fact that at the present time its_ doors were bolted and barred—he believed its furniture had been removed —and in view pf its past history, particularly since 1931;' he' would Submit ''most strongly that the League of Nations was not functioning for the benefit of the - people of New Zealand, or of the British Empire, or of mankind. They knew that a large section of _ the people of the world held the opinion that the League of Nations was responsible for the present war, and that had it functioned, or been able to function, so as to enforce sanctions by military force, peace would now reign in Europe. The League had completely failed in its trust because the member nations, or practically all of them, had broken their covenants. Continuing his address this morning, Mr Sinclair, quoted freely from judgments on the point of what constituted a charitable or non-charitable bequest. Counsel submitted that the aims and objects of an institution did not alone finalise the question of purposes beneficial to the community, and that considerations must be given to the manner in which the institution, the object of the gift, had functioned and was able to function in order to ascertain whether the gift was for the public benefit. The League of Nations, counsel contended, was an international and political organisation, its aim being the controlling and settling of foreign relations between all countries; it was surrounded by the usual jealousies, intrigues, and fears which one found associated with international politics. In conclusion, counsel remarked that, as a force for reforming the world, the League of Nations might be said to be as dead as Julius Cfesar.

Mr Cook dealt with the interpretation of the word “ income ” in certain paragraphs of the will; whether the testator had intended this to mean gross income or net income, and with the aspects of the gifts which had been made in perpetuity.

(Proceeding.)