A PETITION

Hokitika Guardian, 24 February 1933, Page 2

A PETITION

BEFORE THE HOUSE

sir" Joseph ward’s estate

' WELLINGTON,‘ February 22. A refund of portion of the death duties paid in the estate of Sir Joseph Ward is sought in a petition signed by Sir Cyril Ward, of- Christchurch, baronet ■ Vincent Aubrey iWard, of Wellington, company director ■ Gladstone William Ward, of Christchurch, salesman ; end Eileen Josephine Wood, wife of B. Sm AKaodf -Of Christchurchf 'merchant,, and presented to Parliament today, ’ Petitioners and Awarua Patrick Ward, formerly of Wellington but now temporary resident in the United States of America, are beneficiaries under their father’s , will. The e-state is .vested in the Public Trustee a-s exeoutdr and gole trustee.

The petition says that the'principal portion of the estate consisted of landed property in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Invercargill. The liquid assets of the estate, consisting of cash at bank, life insuranc e policies, government stock and shares, were more than sufficient to satisfy the liabilities and obligations of testator, but owing to the high governrhent valuation of the landed property and the ifact that under a provision of the Death Duties Act it , : s Pot feasible to deduct as liability -guarantees given by te s tator in his life time, the total death duties payable amounted to approximately £76,000, of which £70,515 or thereabouts had 'bean paid.

The petition says that Sir Joseph Ward mad P the following cash provisions for his children-Cyril, £I2OO ainually; Mrs Wood, £IOOO annually; and Vincent, Gladstone, and Patrick, £BOO each; such payments to be made out of the residuary estate for such periods as th. e trustees shall think proper.

TRANSFER ,OF SHARES. Continuing, the petition says that to enable -Sir Joseph Ward to devote more attention to the public business of the Dominion in his capacity as Prime Minister, he transferred to members oi his family his quota of shares in the Canadian Knight and Whippet Motor Company, Limited, formed by him for the purpose of importing and disposing of motor-cars in respect of which certain 'American and English agencies had been acquired by him. As consideration for receipt- o-f the shares Sir Joseph Ward -arranged for his children to; guarantee the repayment of certain advances made and to be made by the (Brink of New Zeabnul to the Whippet Company. About April, 1932, the company went into voluntary liquidation. The probable dividend payable in the liquidation of the como n nv to iis creditors would r n ot exceed 6-s jn the £• As, a consequence petitioner, 3 and Patrick Ward had been called upon to pay or provide for the payment oj their respective guarantees to th» bank.

The petition also states that Sir Joseph Ward was interested in two companies, 'River Shingle and Rand Ltd., and Hntt"River Shingle Company, Ltd., both formed for f hc purpose 01 winning and disposing of sand an “ shingle from the Hntt river for building purposes. Sir J« sc ph Wavcl ar ranged for the transfer of th e 'shares held in the Hutt River Rhingle Company to certain of the shareholders m the Whippet Company. As a consideration io- the transfer he arran-ed tha _ cent Ward should guarantee the Ban. loi' New Zealand in respect to advane

by th e bank to the shingle company. These companies, although not in actual liquidation, are insolvent, and Vincent Ward has been called upon to pay the amount guaranteed by him to the hank. In addition, Sir Joseph Ward had- entered into guarantees jn reaper of both the Whippet Company and tin shingle company and t.*.e Public I'lrustee has been required to pay out of the estat e tli e amount of those guarantees. Under the Death Duties .let n<> allowance could legally be made ip assessing the value of the estate for death duty purposes in respect to these guarantees, nor was any allowance made for hh e liability of S'f Jnnenh Ward under guarantees given \y "him. A® chum "fdr ' cfedifctidif had since been made by the Public Trustee in respect of Sir Joseph Ward’s guarantees, hut the claim had not been settled. Consequent on the fact that the government valuations on landed properties at Sir Joseph Ward’s death Were excessive and the guarantees mentioned were not deducted, the estate was assessed as 'worth £291,000. Difficulty had been experienced in finding cash for the payment of the death duties. It -had' also been difficult to find tenants at a reasonable rental for properties highly valued and in respect of which high rates had to he pafd, thus thg Public Trustee was unable to give effect to the provisions relating to the annual payments to members of the family and had informed them that no (further distributions could be mad. e out of the remainder of the estate for some time.

NET VALUE OF ESTATE. Tn December, 1932, th e Public Trustee estimated the net value of tne estfcifte after providing for guarantees and liabilities md payment of death duties, to be £69,375. If the amount of death duties pajd were added, petitioners suggested that the actual netvalue of the estate -prior to the payment of death duties was £140,000, on which -amount death duties would be approximately £35,000. It was therefore claimed that pefcitione rs had not only paid to the state twice the sum for death duties that should reasonablv have been paid, but were at present without income from the shares ,in the egtat e left to them under th e will. The present circumstances of the family are described in the petition as follows ; -Sir Cyril Ward has a 'family of six children and heavy commitments ; Mrs Wood has two children and

is entirely without means except from her -sharesin the estate ; Gladstone Wal'd has two children, is unemployed owing to the depression, -and is entirely dependent on his share in the estrte: Vincent Ward' was a member of Parliament, but owing to the liability which he had incurred to enable his father to be free from private business affairs of a harassing nature, he was compelled to -resign his position and devote -lo'e who]-, time to the affairs of the Whippet Company and shingle 'company and assisting generally the Public Trustee -in the administration of t-lp, estate ; Patriot W-rd bars by the liquidation of the Whippet Company lost his employment and is entirely dependent on his -share in the estate.

Whil e recognising that iin an estate of this nature, whether remunerative o r not, substantial death duties must bo -vMd. the petition submits that it ’S fair and equitable that compensation should be made to members of the family in the form of a refund of such part of the Heath chiti € « a s may be considered just. They accordingly ask that the House should cause an inquiry to be made into the matters mentioned and tint the petitioners should p., heard before the Committee of the House.