THE HEPPLE FUND

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1913, Page 4

THE HEPPLE FUND

INVESTMENT OF THE MONEY, j In the Supreme Court yesterday, His Honour Mr. Justice Chapman heard a petiti<sn by trie Public Trustee under the Public Trust Oflice Amendment Act of last year for directions as to the trusts under which the moneys raised for the benefit of the Hepple family should be held. Under section 4 of the Act abovementioned it is provided that in any case where a fund is raised by public or private subscription for the benefit or relief of any person or persons, the same may be placed in the Public Trust Office, and the Public Trustee may recognise as a< committee any -persons vihqfa he believes to have been [appointed as 'such by a substantial number qf / subscribers. ' After conferring With '.this committee' the Public Trustee may apply to the Court, for directions' as to the administration of, the fund,' and for ihafc purpose may Submit a scheme which the Court has .power" to confirm or alter as it thinks fit. . On the application, of any persons interested the Court may at any time alter or amend the scheme at first adopted. The pre&ent application was the first of its kind under the statute, which enables these matters to be placed without expense upon a proper legal footing — a thing formerly often difficult to accomplish. His Honour directed that the Hepple moneys be invested by the Public Trustee, and # that during Mrs. Hepple's lifetime the income and so much of the capital ;as ihe. Public Trustee should from time to time think fit be applied for the maintenance and benefit of Mrs. Hepple and the children. After the death of Mrs. Hepple the fund is to be similarly applied for the children's benefit till the youngest attains the age of twenty-one years, when it is to be divided among all the children in equal shares. This order was made at the request of the. majority of the committee appointed in respect of the fund. At fii-3t it was understood that Mrs. Hepple's interest in the fund was to cease on her remarriage, but it was afterwards agreed that the question should be left at large, it- being pointed out that the Public Trust Office Amendment Act, 1912, gave the committee or any one of them power to apply to the Court at auy^ time for a variation of the trust. Ihe Court reserved leave to tho At-torney-General, the Public Trustee, any member of the committee, and any person claiming interest under the fund to apply to the Court to have the order varied or for directions.