STRANGE WILL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 42, 18 January 1938, Page 10

STRANGE WILL

HOME TO BE BURNED. DECEASED MAN’S WISH. SYDNEY, Jan. 7. Probate has been granted -in the Supreme Court in Brisbane of a will containing a clause which is thought by lawyers to be the first of its- kind in Australia. The testator, Mr William Wilson Farquliar, ordered that his home, together with furniture and other buildings on the property, should be destroyed by fire. Mr Farquliar, a former clerk of a shire council, who died on May 9, left an estate valued at £12,999. He bequeathed it, after deduction of expenses and duties, to homes for,, girls and boys. The total value of the property to be destroyed is approximately £550. The property has not yet been burned, but it is expected that early action will be taken to comply with the terms of the will. The will stated that the testator had cancelled all fire insurance policies. It is understood that, when he made his will, he said that the house was sacred to the memory of his family, and he did not wish it or its contents to fall into the hands of anyoiie else. Mr Farquhar was a bachelor, with few intimate friends, and lived alone in his home after his sister’s death about two years ago. He had always shown a keen interest in the welfare of orphans and needy children.