SUPREME COURT.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 96, 2 May 1901, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

j t [Before His Honor Mr Justice Conolly.] MATEROA v. FINN. 3 CLAIM FOR .£375. t The Supreme Court was occupied the whole of yesterday with the case of Heni Q Materoa and another v. Joseph Finn and j another.—This was an application to declare a transfer from Bennett to Finn and j from Finn to Baty fraudulent, and for •, payment of £875 and interest, the amount received for the land transferred to Baty, 3 and they asked that Finn be ordered to rendered his bill of costs as solicitor. 5 Mr IV. L. Rees, with Mr Lusk, ap- • peared for the plaintiffs ; Mr H. D. Bell for defendant H. J. Finn ; and Mr W. D. Lysnar for defendant Bennett. Heni Carroll deposed that her maiden name was Heni Materoa. Her brother was the other plaintiff. She first heard of the contents of a trust deed some time after the death of Kataraina. Mrs Adair asked her to pay Kataraina’s debt. It was then she first heard that this portion of Kataraina’s land had gone to the trustees. She never heard from the trustees that the trust deed had been found. It was last winter that Mrs Adair asked her to pay Kataraina’s debt. Capt. Tucker and Mr Rees generally acted for her and her brother in business affairs. . Mr Rees was their solicitor, and Captain Tucker was their trustee and business agent. By Mr Bell: Ivutaraina was my aunt. I knew her very well, and I attended her when she was dying. I heard about tho action brought by the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company about the Kaiti land. I heard of it when the ease was going on. I refer to the case before the Native Land Court. I do not know that Captain Tucker said that the land had been conveyed by Kataraina to him. I did hear from F. Jones, interpreter, that Kataraina had transferred her section in Kaiti to Bennett. All he told me was that Kataraina’s share had been transferred to Bennett and Finn. Kataraiana had been dead for some years when Jones told me that. lam sure that he did not not tell me that when Kataraina was alive. Kataraina never mentioned anything to me about her land. Witness and her i brothers wore Kataraina’s successors. 1 William Honry Tucker deposed that at ! tho beginning of last year he searched for a deed of declaration of trust for section 381, -Kaiti. ITe searched at the Deeds Registry Office in Gisborne, but did not discovor the deed during tho first two or three days. He ultimately found tho . deed. To tho best of his belief tho docu- 1 ment produced was tho paper he found. It was unstamped. Ho had to pay afine. He thought the fine was £5. After it was I stamped it was filed in tho office. He had c the general management of the business arrangements of the plaintiffs. He was •' their trustee. AVhcn he found tho deed in tiie Land Office, that was tho first time I

he had seen it. He was not a trustee in respect of this piece of land. Before finding tho deed he made enquiries about it from Mr Bennett, but the latter could give him very littlo information indeed. Ho could not remember whether Mr Bennett said that there had been such a doed or not. He said that he had signed somo deed at Air Finn’s request. After finding the deed he told Bennett of the fact, and told him its substance. He had already discovered a conveyance to Bonnett for £7O. By Mr Boll: I knew that Kataraina owned the land at Kaiti. It is a block of 67 acres. I did not know that my two wards had boon appointed her successors until wo made application after the discovery of the deed. Mr Bell called attention to the fact that certain documents had boon put in, but their execution had not been proved. He was prepared to admit tho execution of the three transfers, but the declaration of trust was not admitted. Hugh Joseph Finn deposed : I am a solicitor, and havo. been practising in Gisborno. I was practising here from 1870 till 1890. I was solicitor acting for Kataraina till the 22nd Juno, 1886. That is the last entry in my books in 1886. Kataraina had other business to transact in 1886. I know that, because there was an unfinished action by her against

Villoughby Brassoy. A matter about icction 834, Kaiti, was also left incomplete.

[ acted for Kataraina in connection with a partition order for Kaiti. My partnership with Clirisp began early in 1887. In February and March, 1887, Finn and Chrisp were acting for Kataraina. The bill of costs produced, dated 1887, contains a charge for preparing transfer from Kataraina to Bonnett in December, 1886. There is also a charge of £29 10s and £5 2s 6d stamp duty on tho transfer. There is also a charge of £25 for survey charges. In Decombor, 1886, two deeds wore executed—a declaration of trust and transfer from Kataraina to Bennett. I prepared Continued on fourth page.