ESTATE APPEAL DISMISSED
WITH COSTS
Judgment Of Full Court
Delivered
The Acting Chlef Justice. Mr. Justice R E, Lindsell sitting with the Acting Puiano Judge, Mr. Justice J. J. Hayden deliver- ed Judgment yesterday at a sitting of the Full Court in the sp peal brought by the Hon. Sir William Shenton and Mr. M. IL. Turner, frustees of the will of the late Sir Paul Chater, against the decision of the Chief Justice, Str Atholl MacGregor in hold- ing that estate duty was payable on the cesser of an annuity be- queathed by the will to the late Lady Chater.
The appeal was dismissed with costs.
SHORT QUESTION INVOLVED
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1936.
HONG KONG DAILY
FRAUDULENT CONVERSION
HOTEL GUESTS
List of Guests Staying at the Peninsula Hotel
Mr. Ramon Aloitia, Mr. R. Aster, Major and Mrs. LA. Alston. Mr. CA. Armitage, Mr. B. A. Andersen. Mr. A. S. Abbott.
A Trust Mislaid
The fraudulent conversion of a considerable amount of money re-« ceived on account for a retired merchant residing in the United States of America, formed the charge against a 61-year-old-mam, who made an appearance before Mr. Balfour at the Central Magis- tracy yesterday. «
Mrs. T. Brassinne, Capt. 3 M Barling, Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Bar- ton, Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Boardman, Miss Boardman, Mr. N. D. Brown, Mr. W. N. Brown, Miss, P. W. Brown, Mr. R. F. Breisford, Mr. and The accused, Chung Shing Hang Mrs. Geo, Boulton, Comdr. andallas Chung Pun was charged with fraudulent conversion of 39.854.22 Mrs. A. R. M. Bridge, Mr. H, O Bramble, Comdr. and Mrs. Böde, received on account for Chung Mr. G. Borst, Mrs. Graham-Bar-Shing Ki, of No. 8 Sharp Street. rown, Mr, G. A Blum, Mrs. N. N. East, third floor described as a machinery Blum, Mr. C. I. Barr, 8q., Ldr. retired, merchant. mere allowing postponement of appro- Bladon. Miss C. Cardinell "Mr. W conversion was priation in the discretion of the Chapman, Mrs. Gregory Cullen, Ur. taken place between 1927 and trustees.
B Cheng, Mr. and Mrs, Allen 1933.
Mr. Leo D'Almada, Snr., appear- Cameron, Mr. V. Carpi, Lt.-Comdr.
ed for the complainant, while Mr. and Mrs. Conway, Miss D. L. P. Cavanagh, Mr. and Mrs. H. HE. S. C. Brooks was for the defen-
dant. Corra..
Civing judgment, Mr. Justice RE, Clause 13 are Lindsel, Acting Chief Justice said: "This is an appeal against the judgment of Sir Atholl MacGregor, C.J., dismissing an appeal by the present appellants, the trustees of the will of Sir Catchick Paul Chater, deceased, against a de- cision of the Estate Duty Com- missioner, the present respondent. requiring payment of estate duty on the cesser of an annuity be- queathed by the will to the de- ceased's wife, Lady Chater, now also deceased
Mr. R. T. Dowa, Miss P. Dimond, Capt. and Mrs. Denning, Capt. and Mrs. W. E. Duckworth, Malor and Mrs. H. "A. Davies
Mr. L. Encarnacao, Comdr. and Mrs. J. A. 8. Eccles, Capt, and Mrs. C E. Eccles.
HANDEL'S "MESSIAH”
Recital To-morrow
It is
sometimes said that the only people who really enjoy ́a great choral work are the people who are taking part in it, and there is no doubt about it in this
far as the case, as
singers are concerned. I was walking past the Cathedral at 5.30 the other even- ing and watched the Hong Kong, Singers assembling for their ́re- hearsal; some, came in cars, dome by bus, some on foot, some look- ed tired after the day's work, but everyone, with the inevitable yellow score under the arm, look- ed keen and purposeful Twɑ hours
later The alleged stated to have
Mr. D'Almada said that in the coni- middle of 1926, when the
leave for plainant was about, to the United States he handed a large sum of money to the defen- that he dant." with directions should purchase No. 8 Sharp Miss E. M. Filner, Mrs. K, Fisher, Street. The house, was bought and Mr. M. W. Fleury, Mr. H, N. Fer the defendant was authorised to rers. Mr. Geo. R. Fenn, Mr. and collect the rent and to pay the Mrs. W. N. Fleming, Mrs. B. Fur-"qut goinga" He was to deposit. ber. Miss A, C, Friedrich.
the money received in the Inter- national Banking Corporation, now the National City Bank, but the defendant falled to comply with
"He then proceeds to argue that despite the failure of the trustees to appropriate and set aside any part of the estate, equity-will come to their rescue and that of the residuary.legatees by deeming that to have been done which ought to have been done. He relies on Harbin, v. Masterman, 1896) 1 Ch, 351, as showing that a residuary legatee has the right to have part "As in the Court below the only of the deceased's estate appro- question involved 13 2 short,priated and set aside to answer an though not a simple one, namely, annuity given by the will. whether or not the gift of the said "In support of his second sub- cnnuity was a settlement of promission, Mr. Macnamara contends perty, or of an interest or estate that, even if no appropriation was
Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Grove. Mr. in property, limited by way of suc-made or deemed in equity to have
and Mrs. H J. Gutierrez, Captain cession' so as to enable the ap-
been made, yet the bequest of Lady J. Cambril, Major and Mrs. E. 8. pellants to take advantage of the
Chater's annuity was a settlement C. Grune, Mr. and Mrs, Ganz, Sq.these instructions. provisions of section 25 of the
Despite repeated' requests from as defined by 8.25 (2) of the Estate Ldr. and Mrs. J. B. Gregor, Major Estate Duty Ordinance, 1932.
Duty Ordinance in that It gave and Mrs. R, Gill, Mr. W. T. Good- the complainant, the accused fall- "Counsel for the appellants, has her an interest in property which win, Mr. L. Garner, Mr. and Mrs. Led to furnish any accounts, until made two submissions in support stood for the time being limited Geare, Master and Misd Geare, the complainant returned to the of his contention that such a set-
Colony in 1933. Defendant then Mr. D. A Hands, Mr. C. M. Hall, produced a statement showing“ tlement was effected: firstly, that to her by way of succession. Be Mr. T. M. Gregory.
does not contend that her interest Mr. T. M. Hazelrigg. Mr. E detalled items, and it was then in the will itself can be found
Hosle, Mr. E. Haussamaan, Mrs. H. discovered that the 39.000 odd. such a direction to appropriate extended to the whole of the re-
the which constituted N. Hartely, Mr. Heather, Mr. R. 8.
present part of the estate to answer thesiduary estate but merely to an undivided share thereof large annuity as constituted a settle- ruent, and that therefore, although enough to answer her annuity and Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. G. D. Horn-charge, had not been accounted no appropriation was in fact made therefore sufficiently ascertainableng. Major and Mrs. Le. Hunte, for.
Mrs. E. M. Harris, Jr., Mr. T. Huber, Following evidence given by the Comdr. and Mrs. Hall, Mr. H complainant, the case was remand- by the trustees, equity will regard to become, settled property. that as done which ought to have
Horning, Mr. S. P. Healey, Captained till Friday. at 230 p.m. been; and secondly, that the gift
and Mrs, A. J. Holland, Mr. A. G. of an unaulty simpliciter charged
Hewitt. upon the residue of the estate was just as much a settlement as if the annuity had been charged upon a definite portion of the estate.
.THE SUBMISSIONS "As regards the first of these submissions, the material provi- sions of the will are as follows:
45) I bequeath the following annuities, etc, etc.,
(a) to my wife during her life the sum of ten thousand pounds sterling.
(8) Subject to the payment of my "funeral and testamentary expenses, etc., and subject to making provision for any an- nuitles bequeathed by this my will or by any codicil thereto my Trustees shall invest, etc. -
(13) I declare that my Trus- tees shall be at liberty, if they so think it, to appropriate and
4
AUTHORITIES QUOTED
ኃኔ
Dr. and Mrs. R. C. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. J. 8. Jeffrey.
Mrs, and Miss Klatchko, Mrs. J. H. Kyger, Major and Mrs. D. H. W. and Mrs S 6t. 3. Kirkby, Col. Kirke, Miss B. Kirke, Mr. L. Kadoorie, Sir E. Kadoorle, Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Hiëin.
"He has drawn our attention to a number of authorities, all of which he cited in the Court below, and in particular to A.G. v. Watson (1817) 2, K.B, 42, and argues that although those cases do not speci- fically, establish that the gift of an annuity simpliciter is a settle- Į ment, yet they leave the point open, the remarks thereon of Sargant J. In re Waller (1916) 1 Miss P. Lyons, Mr. H. Lehmann, Ch. 153 at p. 158 being merely Mrs. C. J. Lanier, Mr. N. R. Lane obiter; and that the judgment of vitche, Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Lam Lush J. in AG. v. Watson decides mert, Mr. L. Lafford, Capt. and that an annuity is not at any rate Mrs. J. H. Lock, Mr. R. P. Liddell, a legacy payable by instalments Captain and Mrs. W. Lumaden, Fl. but an interest in the estate which Lieut. Lloya, passes on the annuitant's death to
others, ie, such an interest as is
within the meaning of s.25 (2) a of s. 5 (2) of the Ordinance.
With the first of these sub-
misklone I am not in agreement.
"I can find no direction what
theTM words, subject. ever in
to
Mr. D. H, McCathle, Mr. A. Ma- loney, Miss G. Meadows, Mr. Mar- and Mrs. A. C. Marsh, Mr. H. C seille, Mrs. W. E. Makosky, Lt.-Col. McNeary, Major L. C. Murphy, Mr. W. L. McKenzie, Miss M. Manus, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. N. McGowan. LL-Col. H. L. Murrow, Miss P.
set apart out of my residuary making provision for any annuities | Murrow, Miss B. McKinnon.
estate investments representing
bequeathed by this my will in
such a capital fund as shall at Clause 8 of the will requiring the the time of appropriation be
trustees to set aside any part of sufficient to produce the annual be paid by
the residuary estate to answer the sums directed to
annuities. The whole object of Clause 5 of this my will with
this clause is to provide for the such a liberal margin for con-
distribution of the testator's re- tingencies as in the opinion of
the words my Trustees shall be sufficient, siduary estate, and and I declare that when such quoted are no more than a re- appropriation has been made cognition that this cannot be af- the trustees without the said annual sums shall be fected by
their first estimating what pro- wholly charged on the invest- ments so appropriated in exon-portion of the estate will be suf eration of the rest of my estate ficient to answer the annuities but that the capital of such ap- Furthermore, I find it impossible to read into Clause 13 of the, will propriated investments may be resorted to in case at any time anything resembling a declaration the income thereof is insaff of the trustees right to postpone The words 'my clent to pay any such annual appropriation. sum or sums, and I further de- Trustees shall be at liberty, it they clare that on the cesser of any so think fi, to appropriate, etc." of such annual sums such part give the trustees absolute discre- of the appropriated investments tion to appropriate or not to ap as, shall not in the opinion of my propriate, and the fact that they "Trustees be required for the have exercised that discretion in "payment of the other annual a way that may now cause loss to sum or sums for the time being the residuary estate cannot entitle payable under the trusts of this them to call equity to their aid my will shall revert to and form and ask this Court to
say that part of my residuary estate and what might have been done to the that arly surplus income arising | advantage of the estate should be from the appropriated invest deemed to have been done Nor ments shall be appiled: as in- kgain does the case of Harbin v. come of my residuary: estate. Masterman (supra) help the ap- pellants. since that case decided no more than that in proper cirĂ cumstances the Court will allow a remainderman's claim for the dis- tribution of the residuary estate by requiring the trustees to set aside a suficient portion of the estate to answer annuities given by the will. It does not decide that any residuary, legatee has the ab- solute right to come in at any time and claim such setting aside and distribution, and even if it did, I
MERE MACHINERY. "The trustees never made, the appropriation allowed. by: Clause 13. Had they done so it may be that a settlement as defined by 8.25 (2) of the Estate Duty. Ordin- ance, 1932, would have been effect ed and no estate duty would have been leviable on the cesser of Lady Chater's annuity.
GANGE Mr. Macnamara, however, con- tends that the words in Clause 3 of the will subject to making pro vizion for any annuities begieath fall to see how it could help the appellants who are the trustees of
by this my will' are "per se" opera-
tive to require the trustees to the will, and not the reziduary nake an appropriation to answer legalees
Lady Chaters and the owner"an=" alles, and that the workioms of
Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Ott, Mr. O. H. Ochs.
|
M. C. Potts, Mr. G, A, Parker, Mr. M. Pagh, Mr. W. G. Firie.
Lt. and Mrs. LH Reilly, Col. A, Robertson, Comdr. and Mrs. Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. P. J. Raf- ferty, Mr. T. Ramsey.
Miss C. B. Silva, Mr. C. E. Schroë- der, Miss Smith, Mrs. and Miss Skinn, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Shaw, Mr. E. Syder, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Skeet, Mr. and Mrs. P. Stulifber ger, Col. and Steward, Miss Stewart, Eng. Capt. C.
Mrs. G. R. V.
Simpson, Major and Mrs. Stevens. Mrs. and Miss Statrifield. Dr. A C. Skinn, Mr. E. Grant Smith, Mr. and Mrs. J. Schouten- dprt, Mrs, E. Bykes,
Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Thomas, Mrs. G. Trillo, Miss M. M. Tyrrell, Mr. P. J. Taylor, Mr. J. Thomson.
Mr. and Mrs. O. Vagnone.
Miss P. Wilson, Mir, H, F, Wiech- Frs. Dr. and Mrs. A. W. Weihen, Miss E. Wehen, Miss FL Wethen, Mr. and Mrs.-H. O. White, Mrs. Whiteford, Mr. L. A. Whipps, Mr. A C Wilcox, Major and Mrs. E,
Mrs. C. O. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Fax, Mr. C. D. Penney, Mr. B. Petri, Comdr. and Mrs. Price, Mrs. Wolseley.
the same crowd emerged, laughing and talking, the tired ones looking strangely jese and not more tired, and I knew just how they must be feeling-satis-" faction at a difficult plece of work well tackled,, a wonderfully exer- cised feeling about the lungs and throat, magnificent tunes chasing each other round in the head and a colossal appetite for dinner.
THE LISTENERS
But what about the listeners? For the performers, however much they intend to enjoy themselves on Wednesday evening," would not wish to feel that the listeners were only there from a sense of duty. In my opinion" one of the chief causes of failure to enjoy hearing such a work as this is the very simple one of not being able to hear the words. It is dificult enough very often in a solo to catch the words of a song, or even to make out in what language he or she is singing, but when you get a hundred people singing to- gether and not in unison, there can be little hope. We know vaguely what it is all about, we catch a word or phrase here and there, and our minds are distract- ed from enjoying the music by this effort to hear the words, which are really comparatively unim- portant. At the concert 03 Wedriesday, however, this difficulty. will not arise, for the words, of every aris, chorus and piece of re- citative to be sung are printed in the programme.
The second stumbling block is a more serious one. It seems to lie. in the difficulty of apprehending. such a mass of sounds all at once and of getting them to enter the brain a one concerted whole. It is a little time betare. I can even start to laten. There is the choir -ah, I see Mrs. Bo. and.. Bo-my mind dwella for a moment on the angle of her hat which are the bases and which the tenors?-how, cramped the strings look-I won-" der if any of the notes of the or- gan will stick up ta-day-now one of the soloists is beginning-why will that person in front rustle his programme-it is all very distract- ing. But there is a unity I begin to realise, as I try to concentrate more:
the orchestra supporting the choir, the different sets of voices taking up the main theme one after the other-M only I could bear this work again and again I might begin to compre- hend the immense scheme which was in the, composer's mind
SCORES A POINT
But here the "Messiah" scores a point, for there must be lew people to whom the whole of this work is entirely new; Some 'must know the chorus "For unto us a 'child' is born"" and others ́have heard the Pastoral Symphony played, to many the solos will come as old friends. To those to whom it is entirely new I would - say," "don't worry, parts of it you will like and parts of it you may not, but you will never regret Hay- -ing been to hear it, and the next time you will enjoy it infinitely
It is not for me to speak here of the beauties of this work of Handel's It is enough for me to say that I wish that I and you could beth,
Capture
The first fine careless rapture" which I felt
BEK SLED was taken
evening service
in a College chapels at one of the older Universities in England: Beated in the dark antechapel, we “looked", through into the choir -stalls beyond, where at the men and boys in rows facing each other the whole softly lit with candle light. Buddenly a clear boy's voice broke. the silence with the words “I know that my Re- deemer liveth, and the sweetness of the voice, the beauty of that musical phrase and the absolute rightness of the sett!
the words especí
ig wa
arth took breath a 14-reriember!
ver quiletly and 614had had “on:
Miss BM. Wales Bord
adventur
(Continued on Pare" 11)
(Photo
Von Kobza
wfully be
GINGER.
Just Received
Slazenger's TENNIS
The
RACKETS
“ROYAL CROWN"
The
“SLAZENGER"
SPALDING TENNIS BALLS
SPORTS DEPT.
50
$30
PEN TIN
OF FOUR
TEL 28151.
LANE, CRAWFORD, LTD.
NOTICE
Mrs. Margaret Sanger, President of the Birth Control International Information Centres, is call. ing at Hong Kong on Thursday, February 20th, 1936.
The following arrangements have been made:- 1. Informal Reception at the Hong Kong Butel, first floor, at 480 p.m, to meet her. Guests wishing to have tea will please make their own arrangements with the Hong Kong Hotel.
2. Public Lecture by Mrs. Sanger at 5.30. pm at the Hong Kong Hotel Roof Garden.
3. Dinner in her honour at 9.30 p.m. at the Hong Kong Hotel Roof Garden ($2.00 per head). Musical Programme arranged. Evening Dress optional Reservation to be made at the Hong Kong Hotel before February 19th.
You and your friends are cordially invited to attend any or all of the above functions.
THE RECEPTION COMMITTEE.
ENTER
AINMEN
QUEENS
NOTICE TO PATRONS
Although the demand for seating accommoda- tion continues extremely heavy the Management regrets that this exhibition of the film showing the impressive scenes at the funeral of the late King George the Filth cannot be extended. The last performances definitely are TO-DAY 2.30 5.15, 7.20 and 9.30 PM:
By kind permission of Lieut. Colonel A. C. Marsh and Officers the Band of the 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment will play appropriate selections under the
direction of Mr. A. B. Yule at all performances.
DETK