WILL CASE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 179, 30 June 1937, Page 16

WILL CASE

NINTH DAY OF HEARING. LADY HUNTER’S EVIDENCE. Per Press Association. WELLIN u i uiN, .J une 29. Evidence tor tJie piauuilf was continued in the Supreme Court to-day, the ninth clay of nearing ol the action by Lady Hunter, widow ot the tale sir Geoige Hunter, to have removed from the trusteeship ot his estate his nephews, Cyril L’aut Hunter, ol Akitio, ana Thomas Percy Hunter, ot Porangahau. She alleges' mismanagement by them and they deny it. Air Justice Smith is hearing the case, in which Air J. D- Willis and Air it. R. Scott arc appearing tor the piaintiff, and Air C. H. Weston, K.C., and Air J. H. Dunn for the defendants. Numerous photographs in support of his evidence that he had seen neglect and mismanagement on the Poranghau station ot the late Sir George Hunter were put in by Allan Shearer Cochrane, a farmer, of Porangaliau. Edward Leslie Hazelton, a wool expert, of Wellington, whose cross-exam-ination by Air Weston was held ovei last week, was recalled and questioned by Air Weston oil the treatment and value of skills and wool. John Erskine Duncan, a wool instructor and investigator in the Department of Agriculture, said that he had inspected a quantity of skins anti wool in a Wellington store. A lot ot it was mixed with sand and earth and some had been scorched and burnt. There was evidence of spontaneous combustion because of dampness. .That could happen if the wool were buried and rain fell. Burial of produce was something new to him. Some of the skins were in reasonably good condxLady Hunter, giving evidence, said that under Sir George’s will she took tlie net income of the estate until her remarriage, it being then reduced to £ISOO a year for the first two and alialf years After her husband’s death she received nothing. Finally she applied to the Court under the r amilv Protection Act and an order was made for £7 13s ner week which was debited against her future jncqme. It was not until five years after Sir George’s death that she received the estate accounts. She then decided that she had sufficient evidence foi a complete investigation. She took advice last year and as a result obtained reports from farm experts. The case continues to-morrow.