DISPUTED WILL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 28 June 1926, Page 2

DISPUTED WILL

SUPREME COURT PROCEEDINGS

(United- Press Association.)

"• ' WELLINGTON, This Day. A case involving bequests under a will totalling £38,483, was heard before Mr Justice; McGregor in , the Supreme Court,, the parties being the Public Trustee, plaintiff, and various relatives of the deceased, James Gray, of Plimmerton. The plaintiff as executor asked the Court to declare probate. The defence alleged that the will was not executed'in accordance with statute, but that at'The itime it was purported to be executedj]deceas§d was not of sound mind, memory or understanding, and did not know of the contents of the will nor "approve of them . The bequests were: £2OOO to Christina Gray; £ISOO to Arthur Sims;.£soo to the Salvation Army; £SOO to the Hutt County Council for tennis, bowling and croquet courts at Plimmerton, and the remainder to be divided in three shares between the Wellington Presbyterian Orphanage, the Lower Hutt Anglican Boys’ Home and the' Wellington Home for the Aged and For plaintiff Sir John Findlay said deceased, who was 63, was suddenly taken ill on August 18th, 1925. De-

ceased’s sister was asked to take a note of the testamentary wishes. The same night deceased was taken to the hospital in. " Wellington, where he was found;’ to- be suffering from appendicitis. An officer of the Public Trust drew up a will in accordance with the sister’s note, with alterations endorsed by deceased, who signed the will 12 hours after the operation. Deceased gave every sign that he was quite intelligent and ‘be officer had no doubts about it.