DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 71, 15 June 1927, Page 16

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

WILLS (Copyright, 1927.) rpHE Mercantile Trust Company of Baltimore has issued a little booklet called A “Studies in Wills.” This book is not for sale, but is distributed among interested pa’rties. The making of a will is a very old idea. It is the effort of a man to impose his desires upon his followers after he is dead. The making of wills has furnished great work for many romantic tales and many of the facts of history in regard to it are quite interesting. Sir Rider Haggard once wrote a story called “Mr. Meeson’s Will.” In it the young heroine who was shipwrecked on a desert island allowed a will to be tatooed across her back on the skin in the absence of paper or parchment. When she returned to civilisation she learned that the will required the filing of the original document iii court. Touched by the spectacle of beauty in distress, however, the registrar allowed a photograph of'the will to be filed and the girl went happily away. Many curious wills have been recorded. At- one time it was claimed that Noah made a will, and one \Vriter pretended to give his exact words. Ptolemy the 13th of Egypt borrowed a lot of money and in order to protect his creditors made a will appointing the Roman Republic as his heir, thus bringing his dynasty to a close with his own decease. When he died the Romans acknowledged the genuineness, of the will, but contented themselves with “seizing, by virtue of the document, as much of the private fortune of the testator as they could lay hands on.” In former times the church men were entrusted with the duty of looking after estates. The law in regard to wills is pretty thoroughly fixed, but it takes a lawyer to understand it. The will of some very learned men have been quite faulty. It behoves every one to consult an attorney and make his will and make it law proof. It is a good plan to name a Trust Company as one’s executor because such a company is experienced and cannot die. This plan avoids much unnecessary litigation and saves the legatee from danger through unscrupulous stock promoters. Every one should make a will and put his property in the hands of a Trust Company to administer. Then there would be less unnecessary litigation in regard to various testaments.