ELLERSLIE WILL CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15951, 23 June 1915, Page 5

ELLERSLIE WILL CASE.

INTERPRETATION ASKED FOR.

An originating summons for th© interpretation of the will of the late Eliza Laycock, of Ellerslie, came before Mr. Justice Hosking yesterday! ■ His Honor was asked to determine the extent of the devises contained in a clause of the will, and to say what was " Victoria Villa" and what land went with it. The clause read as follows;—"As to my land and dwollinghouse at Ellerslie aforesaid, in which I now reside, known as Victoria Villa, together with the furniture and household effects in or about the said dwellinghouse, or if the said house and furniture shall have been sold, then the proceeds thereof and the investments for the time being representing the same upon trust for my said two daughters."

On the property there are four" cottages let to tenants, and a fifth house in which testatrix resided. At the time she made tho will she gave the house and land to her two daughters, and the question was as to whether the adjacent paddocks went with it. The two beneficiary trustees claimed that the phrase took in all the lard except the four cottages let to tenants. The other side argued that the land was restricted to that round the house, that the paddocks formed part of the Tesiduary devise, and therefore should be divided among all the children. The will was dated July 12, 1906, and Mrs. Laycock died on, December 20, 1912. Mr. R. R. Bell appeared for the trustees, Mrs. A. A. and Mrs. J. L. Browne, and E. M. Coleman, ..and also for Leonard and Archibald Laycock, Dr. H. D. Bamford for Mrs. A. A. and Mrs. J. L. Browne, as specific devisees, Mr. C. R. Walker for Mrs. Hannah Moore, Mr. E. J. Prendergast for Mrs. Harriet de Thierry, Mr. J. R. Reed, K.C., with him Mr. W. A. Styak, for Mrs. M. A. Bennett, William Henry Laycock, Mrs. Eliza Wilson, Mrs. Mabel Wilson, and for the guardian, ad litem, of the infant children of Sydney .Laycock, deceased (Eric and Thelma Laycock). Lengthy evidence was taken, and the further hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.