INFRA RED PROCESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21999, 4 January 1935, Page 12

INFRA RED PROCESS

DECIPHERING A WILL

OBLITERATED PORTIONS

MAKING OF LEGAL HISTORY

[from our ows correspondent]

SYDNEY. Dec. 2S

In enlisting the aid of the infra red process to read the obliterated portions of a will the Sydney probate authorities have made legal history. No more important step, it- is considered, has been taken in the reading of legal documents since 1839, when the English Courts held that it was valid to read a .will with the aid of a glass. Any obliteration may be read with a glass, but chemicals may not be used to remove ink or stain. The will, that of Frederick Earl Hobbs, of Union Road, Auburn, a Sydnev suburb, was lodged for probate with portions apparently completely blacked out with ink. The registrar in probates, Mr. Bute-hart, made some inquiries as to whether it would be possible to use the photographic development of infra red to read the obliterated portions. The chief clerk in probates, Mr. George Weir, attended a newspaper office with the will. Although the portions were very heavily scored out, the experiment was a success, only two words not being discernible.

In the early portions of his will. Hobbs, who died on June 15 and left an estate of £1538, stated that the whole of his property was to be left to his son, Leonard Earl Hobbs, who, however, must provide for and keep his sister, Ida Hobbs, and the widow for the rest of their lives.

The portion containing the obliteration, with thi» words discovered by the infra red process shown in brackets, was as follows: —

"Out of my superannuation of £SOO (£5 is to be paid to W. Strachan, of 87A Harrow Road, Auburn, New South Wales), £2O to be paid to Betty Bellamy for playing with Ida (£SO to be paid to . . . and Royna Eadith Angel), and the remainder to be paid to Leonard Hobbs and Ida Hobbs. On no account is any money to be paid to my relatives outside my own family, unless otherwise specified. When deceased, I wish to be cremated and my ashes thrown to the winds. (£4O to be given to Mrs.. Catherine Angel, £lO to Rovna Edith Angel, of Cumberland Road, Auburn.)" It has been held that an obliteration in a will is invalid unless initialled by the deceased and his two witnesses. In Hobbs' will the obliterations were initialled only by Hobbs himself.