SIR HALL CAINE’S FORTUNE

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 October 1931, Page 7

SIR HALL CAINE’S FORTUNE

NOTHING LEFT TO CHARITY. DOUGLAS, September 5. Sir Hall Caine’s will was admitted to probate in Hie Isle of Man this morning. It contains nothing of a public nature, and there are no bequests to charity, local or otherwise. 'I he persona) estate in the Island is valued at. £2<l<l,<l()o and £SO.DUO in real estate and the value of his literary works. Sir Hall Caine declared that his domicile is (he Isle of Man. and that he has nothing whatever to do with Lady Hall Caine’s home at Heath End. Hampstead. In this way the testator has\ made his estate free of duty, as there tire no such duties in the Isle of Man. Provision is made for the upkeep of Greeba CastleProbate was issued subject to the right of Lady Hall Caine to take her widow right under the Manx law as against Hie. will, in Manx law Lady Hall Caine would be entitled Io half the personal estate absolutely and a. life interest in the real estate. Sir Hall Caine bequeathed to his two sons all the copyrights of his published and unpublished works and al) his literary, dramatic and film rights in such works. His interest in (he Grey Caine Book Manufacturing Co-, Ltd., he makes over to Gordon Ralph, his son, and directs the trustees to return all script to him. ROSS ETTI LETT EI IS. He ordered that the original letters from Haute Gabriel Rossetti and ethers should be divided equally between Ids sons, and he directed that the trustees shall maintain Greeba Castfe, where he died. As for health reasons it is impossible for Lady Hall Caine to reside there, he directed that she shall be allowed to remove the well-known picture “Mercy at the Gate, and such silver as is hers, and

I hat Gurdon Ralph, his eldest son, bei allowed to occupy Greeba Castle rent! I', ce so long as lie resides there fori four months in the year. If he does not. desire to do so, the same privilege is Io l:e offered in turn, on the same tcims, io Derwent, his daughter Elin (new Mis C. H. Gill), and his grandchildren, Derick, or Mary, the children ; lib' eldest sonThe trustees are directed to convert all real estate and personal estate in the Isle of .Man into money and to form a 1 rust fund. Then he directs the following legacies to be made: — Lady Hall Caine, £l,OOO. It. B. Moore, £5OO. Dr Robert Marshall, £250. His god-daughter, Greeba Jackson (now Mrs Williams) £l3O. Mrs Long, in recognition of her care to his daughter Elin during childhood. £ 50. His advocate, W. P. Cowley, £250He left an annuity of £3,<500 a year to Lady Hall Caine, to his daughter Elin £250 a. year for life, and to his gi andchildrcn, Derick and Mary. £250 each a year for life. Thu balance of Hie income Horn Hie (rust fund is to bo divided equally between his sons Ralph and DerwentAfter the death of Lady Hall Caine, he directs that ane-te.nrh of the estate shall be paid to his daughter Elin, and one-tenth each to his grandchildren, Derick and Mary, absolutely, but by two codicils made the day before he died ho converted these bequests to life interests only, with payment to their issue. The remaining s< ven-tentbs he directs Io be equally divided between Ralph and Derwent. An interesting clause in I he will reads: — "1 desire my dear wife and my sons Ralph or Derwent, or both, to be charged with the duty* of furthering the best interest of my literary and other works, so as to keep them alive in the public mind by arranging for the publication of any new editions of my books, fresh revivals of my plays,

Uaud fresh release of my films, and (that they Shall be paid the usual Eagents’ fees for all such services, al- * ways remembering that it is the dearest wish of my heart that so far as public interest in them may permit (although I well know how short is the public memory), the recollection of my literary labours shall be kept alive." Ihe will was signed on August It), 1.P30. LIFE OF CHRIST- » Sir Sydney Low writes in the London "Sunday Times”:,— Since Sir Hall Caine’s death there have been numerous, and mostly incorrect, rumours and reports as to the Life of Christ on which. he had been engaged for so many years. It has boon said that the work- was never finished by the author, and that what he left, would form only a comparatively small instalment of the great biography. This is wholy erroneous. I can state quite definitely, and with authority, that, so far. as the writing goes. Hall Caine’s Life of Christ has been completed by his own hand. So bulky a- mass of manuscript must necessarily be edited and arranged for publication. This is a task which Hal 1 Caine’s reprosentatives will undertake without delay, and they hope to have the volume or volumes rcadj' for the press at a date as early as the conditions of the enterprise will permit. I believe that in (bin recension Sir Hall Caine’s sons will lie assisted by-Mr Ramsay Rignail .Moore, the Attorney-General of the Isle of Man, who was an intimate Friend and confidential adviser of the novelist.