THE HUNTER CASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23011, 12 April 1938, Page 12

THE HUNTER CASE

APPEAL BY TRUSTEES CONTINUATION OF HEARING [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION'] WELLINGTON, Monday The hearing of the appeal in the Hunter case was continued in the Court of Appeal to-day. The appeal is against the decision of Mr. Justice Smith that Cyril Paul Hunter be removed from his position as executor of the estate of the late Sir George Hunter, and that he and Thomas Percy Hunter bo removed from their positions as trustees. The original Supreme Court action was brought by Lady Edith May Hunter, and concerned the conduct by Cyril Paul Hunter and Thomas Percy Hunter, of Porangahau sheep station. Having outlined the history of the facts, Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C., for the appellants, dealt with the farming methods of the ilato Sir George Hunter, and submitted that it was clear from the evidence given in earlier litigation relating to the estate that these were hopeless from a business point of view. Lady Hunter had herself admitted this was the position prior to the present proceedings, but she had now reversed her opinions, as appeared from her evidence given at the trial before Mr. Justice Smith, with a view to showing that the farm was not in a very bad condition when the trustees took over its management. Mr. Weston said that Mr. Justice Shiith had based his judgment on mismanagement and unnecessary loss in relation to the sheep station and improper action in a matter of a fiduciary nature. So far from there being mismanagement the trustees had, in the circumstances, managed the farm with success and with profit to the tenant for life and they had acted perfectly properly in fiduciary matters. It was pointed out that the appellants did not seek to resumo tlunr trusteeship, but what they did ask was that a serious reflection which had been cast on them by the judgment appealed from should bo removed. The Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, remarked that the Court of Appeal could only cither affirm or reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court-y-* whether the trustees reassumed their office if the appeal were allowed was a question entirely lor themselves. Tho hearing was adjourned.