HALL CAINE’S WILL

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1934, Page 4

HALL CAINE’S WILL

BID TO SETTLE DISPUTE. DOUGLAS, 1.0. M., July 19. A last-minute effort is being made to settle the dispute which has arisen in connection with the £250,000 estate of the late Sir Hall Caine. j The action -was set down for hearing in the Manx Chancery Court toI day, but when the case was called I counsel for the principal parties asked Deemster Farrant for a few hours’ adjournment, as negotiations were still proceedings. Later in the day Mr W. P. Cowley, representing the trustees of Sir Hall Caine’s estate,, intimated that if a settlement was reached the matter would be mentioned before the Court next Tuesday or Wednesday. Otherwise the action would be heard after the Long Vacation. Mr Gordon Ralph Hall Caine, M.P., the late novelist’s elder son, has asked for a declaration that his mother, who died six months’ after her husband, had elected to accept the benefits of her husband’s will, under which he bequeathed an annuity of £3,500 and £l,OOO outright. Defence has been filed by Sir Derwent Hall Caine, as trustee of his mother’s ■will, for a declaration that 'she had elected against the will in favour of the widowright under Manx law. under which she was entitled to half the personal estate and a life interest in the realty. ' The trustees of the will, two sons, I with Mr. R. B. Moore, Attorney-Gener-al, and Mr. AV. P. Cowley, advocate, seek the Court’s direction. One of the conditions of the will was that the trustees should, offer to Ralph

Hall Caine Greeba Castle and furniture rent free, provided he occupied, it for four months every year. Should he not observe the conditions the castle was to be offered to Sir Derwent Hall Caine, and, in turn, to the daughter, Elin, now Mrs C. H. Gill. A surprise turn in the protracted dispute has been provided by Mrs Gill’s action, against the trustees in which she asks for a declaration that she is entitled to possession of the cas-. tic on the grounds that neither Mr. G. R. Hall Caine nor Sir Derwent Hall Caine has complied with the terms of the will. It was agreed that this action should stand adjourned along with the principal proceedings.