REMARKABLE WILLS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 205, 18 January 1913, Page 2 (Supplement)

REMARKABLE WILLS

SEQUEL TO ACT OF KIXDXESS. London, November 20. An act of kindness by a shipyard laborer's wife has had a happy sequel. Ten years ago Mrs. Longeon, the fortunate woman in question, was Jiving at South Shields. She then befriended a seafaring youth of her acquaintance by taking him in to her house and giving him food and shelter when he was in need of help. That action the lad, who was then 17 years of age, said he would never forget. Later on the youth went to Australia and became engaged in farming operations on a largo scale. His father, mother, brother and sister joined him a few years ago, but they have all died, and the young man himself, in June last, met witlj; a fatal accident, his thighbone being fractured by a fall of stone. After his death it was found that by his will he had left all his personal estate —the farm lands, the cattle, and a quantity of jewellery—to Mrs. Longeon, and it is estimated that the windfall amounts to £25,700. Mrs. Longeon intends going to Australia in a few months with her husband and their two children, and, after realising the estate, it is her intention to go to Chili, of which country her husband is a native. A REMARKABLE CLAUSE. The late Mr. 'J'. C. Waterhouse, of Manchester, who left an estate worth £150,1)00. directed that the-sresidue (after certain family bequests) should accumulated until 1027, and then be divided in quarter shares between his daughter and three sons, or their issue. The stipulation referred to is in the following terms: "I hereby declare that no one of my said sons shall receive any share of the said accumulated capital and the interest or income arising therefrom until he has proved to the satisfaction of the Public Trustee that he has made discreet use of the other portions of my trust estate devised or bequeathed to him under this my will, and of the moneys left to him bv his grandfather. Thomas Waterhouse. as I do not wish that any portion of my own savings or those of my late father shall benefit anv son of mine who has shown by his conduct that lie is unable to appreciate the use of capital moneys or estate. Anil I declare that the decision of the Public Trustee in this respect shall be deemed to be Una] and conclusive.'' IX A SCRAP BOOK. Judgment has been given in the Dumfries Sheriffs Court in an extraordinary succession case in which, eighteen years after the death of her father. Margaret McKinim brought forward a holograph will dal.ed May 22, 1804, which she discovered in a scrap hook containing newspaper cuttings. She sought to set aside a. will of April 2, 1804, dividing the estate among deceased's children. The alleged new will, written on the back of one of the cuttings, left everything to the pursuer. Sheriff Campion declared that (lie holograph will of May 22. 1804, was the last will and testament. It was not until October, 1010. that the pursuer minutely examined the book, and the new will was discovered.

The sheriff expressed the opinion that the pursuer was not capable of executing such a fabrication.