LAWYER’S REQUESTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 842, 10 December 1929, Page 7

LAWYER’S REQUESTS

OWNERSHIP AND CHURCH LEGACIES FUNDS NON-EXISTENT The ownership of legacies ol £I,OOO and £SOO bequeathed by the late Hon. James Palmer Campbell, M.L.C., a barrister, to certain funds of the Anglican Church of New Zealand, which are non-existent, was considered by Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court yesterday. Decision was reserved. The £I,OOO was left to the “general sustenation fund,” aud the £SOO to the “home mission fund of the Church of the Province of New Zealand, Anglican.” Mr. West represented the Standing Committee ol the Auckland Diocesan Synod, Mr. Johnstone for Archbishop Averill on behalf of the Anglican Church of New Zealand, Mr. Cocker for St. Mark’s Parish Trust Board, and Mr. Haigh for the trustees. Mr. West said that no funds, to which the bequests were made, were known by the names mentioned in the will. Counsel pointed out there was no general fund controlled by the New Zealand Anglican Church, as there was in the Presbyterian Church, to which the testator belonged up to 1912. He contended that the home mission referred to was the Auckland Diocesan Mission Fund, now incorporated in the central fund for church extension in home mission work. Mr. Johnstone said that, although there were at least four interpretations of the clause, he thought the proper course was to give the funds to the Auckland diocese. Mr. Cocker said that the St. Mark’s parish fund had as strong a claim to the bequests as the diocesan funds, the testator having been a regular worshipper at St. Mark’s.