MYSTERY MORTGAGEE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 695, 21 June 1929, Page 11

MYSTERY MORTGAGEE

IS SHE DEAD OR ALIVE? AUCKLAND PROPERTY TANGLE Who is the mystery mortgagee of Dr. James H. Neil’s property in Grey Street? Is she dead or alive? V SINCE the doctor bought the prok** perty iu 1923, the mortgage of 35300 has lain unclaimed and no intitvest has been sought. This was the unusual feature of a reserved judgment on an originating summons by Dr. Neil for directions as to the payment of the mortgage mcMney to clear the property delivered by Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court today. Or. Neil bought the Grey Street priiperty in 1923 for £3,000, subject to a mortgage given by the owners. Mr. and Mrs. Thorn, on February 11, 19u i to Stnuie Jane Gallagher, of Londonderiry, Ireland, to secure payment of £3IKJ without interest, stated his Honour. Miss Gallagher could not be found, it was unknown' whether she was dead or absent from New Zealand, or whether she was actually an existing person. Dr. Neil therefore took the title without the mortgage being discharged, but paid £350 into the Savings Bank to meet the mortgagee's clainns when they arose. GIFT CLAIMED On August 23, 1923, Mrs. Thorn, one of the mortgagors, made a declaration that Miss Gallagher was her daughter by a former marriage, that she bad made a gift of the mortgage to heir daughter, payable at 21 years, but that her daughter had died in infancy. However, there was no record of her death. No interest had been paid on the mortgage Mrs Thorn had stated,, in declaring she was next of kin to Miss Gallagher. On JMly 26, 1927, Thorn, the husband, made a declaration in Ireland that Mb wife died in Dublin on November I, 1926, that to the best of his belief lHiss Gallagher never existed, that his: wife, a few weeks before dying, admitted she was the mortgagee and that she had assumed her mother’s maiden name “Gallagher” to protect the amonnt she Had advanced to purchase the property. His Honour disregarded Thorn’s hearsay statements, and added that it might be true that Mrs. Thorn really owned the mortgage, left New Zealand without attempting to get the money and on. Her deathbed was so unconcerned that she took no steps to record hetr claim. I.EAGAL VIEWPOINT His Blonour said he must assume, until the: contrary was proved, that there wttit a Miss Gallagher who. on February’ 11, 1904, loaned Mr. or Mrs. Thorn £3OO, and that either she was still alive or, if dead, might have left a will a next of kin was competent to claim. “Somebody owns this mortgage, and the identity of the owner is in doubt,” remarked hits Honour. He advised the Public Trustee to apply for administration of the mortgage until it was ascertained whether the owner was alive or dead. He held also that interest was payable on the mortgage at the rate of 6 per cent, from February 1, 1910, until September 18, 1923, and that the mortgagee was entitled to all interest on the i£3so paid into the bank.