HUNT BY LAWYERS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 394, 30 March 1937, Page 2

HUNT BY LAWYERS.

LADY HOUSTON’S WILL. “One Must Exist.” Confident that a will must exist of later execution than that which was recently found, made out in favour of a deceased person, and therefore invalid, the late Lady Houston’s solicitors are persisting in their search. Lady Houston died on December 29, •and her estate is thought to amount to £3,500,000, says a London correspondent. Lady Houston had told intimate friends again and ag'ain that she was anxious to provide for certain charitable institutions. Her desire that they Lhould benefit was so .great that her friends think it inconceivable ‘.hat she should have neglected to make legal provision. Lord Sempill, ia close friend, said: "There was nothing of the female Micawber about Lady Houston. Far from it. I can hardly conceive it is likely that a person -with such a businesslike mind and such organising ability should have left such an important mlatter in the background. Planned in Advance. “She was the type to plan ■well in advance and not to leave things to chance. “She used to discuss freely the question of mating provision for interests she had at heart. I feel sure that further search will result in some suitable document being discovered.

“I know no-thing about the will or the terms, but I heard her say frequently that she intended to leave certain amounts to certain national

funds, including those for the' welfare of children and ex-servicemen. “She Was? not so ill that she could not attend to her affairs. Although she could not get out of her bed latterly, she w«rked incessantly, sometimes for 20 houis a day. Right up to the end she kept herself in touch with .those aspects of national and international events which interested her most.”

The largest intestacy ever recorded at Somerset House is thiait of Lord Ashton, the first Baron, who died in 1930, leaving an estate of more than £10,500,000.

Among other cs.ses of intestacies one of the most remarkable was that of Jean Mallet, an early American oil magnate, who left £2,000,000. Hismother, -w'ho lived in France, was informed that she hai succeeded to his estate, but as she had quarrelled with her son she never opened the letters-.

She kept them, however, and they were opened by her great-great-grand-daughter, who sued -the United States Government a few years ago for £27,600,006—the accumulated estate »t compound interest. Her claim failed under the Statute of Limitations.