CHIEF JUSTICE GIVES ANSWER TO HARD PUZZLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18088, 23 February 1927, Page 8

CHIEF JUSTICE GIVES ANSWER TO HARD PUZZLE.

CASE RECALLS AN OLD-TIME MASSACRE. (Special to the “Star ”) WELLINGTON. February 22. Judgment was delivered by the Chief Justice in the Supremo Court to-day in a case in which an application was rr»ad° for an order of interpretation as to whether the word “issue” was restricted to children, or had its wider meaning of lineal descendants. The history of the case dated back to the ’sixties, when a number of civilians were killed in the Maori wars. Aa they were not soldiers, their descendants were not entitled to pensions, and the Government therefore set apart land for the purpose of providing, in the case concerned, for tlic widow and children. Under the terms of the statute, the trustees were empowered to sell the land on the decease of the widow and the children of the widow and the issue oi such of the children as pre-deceased their parent. The sum of £SOOO was realised, and the question before the court was whether a great grandchild who was alive at the dale of the death of the widow was entitled to a share. The plaintiff was the viuardian Trust and Executors Company of New Zealand Limited, and the defendants were Agnita Georgina Etbelinda Rarnage. Basil Duff Shuckburg Hewctt and Enid Hewett. In the course of his judgment his Honor said: “The result is that J answer the question put in the originating summons thus:— “The word ‘issue’ used in section 13 of the Act means the lineal descendants of Ellen Anne. Hewett, and Enid Hewett. the grandchild of William Hewett, deceased, takes a shore in the trust funds. She is entitled to an interest in the share to which her father would have been entitled, namely, one-third of a one-fourth share in the trust property.”