PRESUMED DEAD
YOUNG CITY CONTRACTOR
MISSING- 15 YEARS SHARE IN ESTATE DIVISION AMONG FAMILY (P«r Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, last night. The mysterious disappearance in 1923 of a young Christchurch contractor, George Frederick Maddison, was discussed before Mr. Justice Northcroft in the Supreme Court yesterday, when the court was asked to declare him to be dead, and to authorise a division amongst his surviving brother and two sisters of his share in the estate of his father. Frank Samuel Maddison, who died on May 26, 1929.
After considering the matter overnight, His Honour gave judgment that Maddison was presumed to be dead.
The facts were, said counsel, that the missing man, aged about 21 or 22, was a contractor and was in financial difficulties. His father advanced him some money, but they had a violent quarrel and, on February 2, 1923, he disappeared, and had never been seen or heard of since. His share of his father’s estate was about £6OO. The father was rather a hard man, but the son was much attached to his mother and sisters. Since flie date of his disappearance, however, they had received no communication from him. Never Seen Again According to the deposition of Amy Bertha Maddison, her brother was 'engaged under a contract to the Public Works Department to build the approaches to a bridge in the neighbourhood of Cust and was camping on the job with the workmen. On February 2, when the men returned to work after lunch, Maddison was to follow immediately, but was never seen again. When his disappearance was reported, the father went to the camp and found his missing son’s clothing, money and motor-cycle still there. The quarrel between Maddison and his father occurred a day or two before his disappearance over her brother’s using some of the money he borrowed from his father to pay his employees, instead of paying the debt to a moneylender.
“Without authority,” said His Honour, “I would have some difficulty in deciding to declare Maddison dead, especially as his father, having made an investigation, considered he had cleared out. However, it is a rule mat a person who has not been heard of for seven years should be presumed to be dead.
“There being no evidence to the contrary, Maddison must be held to have predeceased his father."
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19380625.2.188
Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19666, 25 June 1938, Page 18
Word Count
387PRESUMED DEAD Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19666, 25 June 1938, Page 18
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