SECOND WILL

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21584, 21 November 1941, Page 6

SECOND WILL

ESTATE OF £IOO,OOO NEW PROBLEM CREATED (By Telcgrapn.—Frcss Association) AUCKLAND, Friday An exhaustive search of the late Mr Joseph Partington’s house and the old windmill has failed to reveal any trace of a will. In a statement issued to the press today Mr C. H. M. Wills, Mr Partington’s solicitor, explained that under the terms of a will prepared in 1936 the mill and all Mr Partington’s property was bequeathed to the Auckland City Council, provided the old mill should be kept in good working order and never destroyed or used for other purposes. The other buildings were to be kept in repair until past repair, then demolished and laid out in lawns, trees and shrubs; in the meantime the house rents to maintain the property; the whole area to be known as Partington Park. Early Auckland photographs, prints and paintings were bequeathed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Appointed Sole Executors “It now appears,” states the solicitor’s statement., “that during a period of ill-health in the latter part ol' 1940 a certain firm of land agents whom Mr Partington employed temporarily to collect rents, took the old gentleman to their solicitors, where he signed another will which was word for word the same as that prepared in 1936, with two exceptions: (1) These two land agents were appointed sole executors and trustees; (2) they were appointed sole agents for their respective lives for letting and collecting rents from all the properties devised to the City Council. The existence of this will was unknown to Mr Wills until after Mr Partington’s death. Well-Known Intention It cannot be denied, continues the statement, that Mr Partington’s powers were declining during the last two years or so, but his fixed determination to preserve the mill and surrounding land for all time is so well known to Mr Wills, who has acted for him continuously for ten years and saw him frequently on business, even a day or so before his death, that Mr Wills is taking immediate steps to uphold Mr Partington’s intentions and wishes as expressed in 1936. Application is being made forthwith to the Supreme Court for probate in the solemn form of the 1936 will, but the matter cannot be decided until next session, commencing in February, 1942. In the meantime Mr Wills is asking the Supreme Court to appoint an interim administrator to guard the estate. The value of the property in 1936 was £IOO.OOO.