CO129-560-8 J.R. Brouwer- contested will 1-1-1937 - 31-12-1937 — Page 2

2

I had a visit a few days ago from

Mr. Bertie Taylor, British Vice-Consul at Lwow,

Poland. He told me that he is not a Consul de

carrière, and that probably the correct channel

for him to pass on to us the information mentioned

below would be via his superior at Warsaw, but it

has reached him direct since he came on leave to

England and he thought it best to come straight to us.

A Polish lady at Lwów, called Mrs. Schenk,

is the beneficiary named in a will left by

J. R. Brouwer, a Dutch citizen domiciled in Hong

Kong, Manager in the Colony of Nederlansche

带

Handel Maatschappij, who recently died in Holland

while on holiday there from Hong Kong for the

purpose of getting certain medical treatment.

He left estate in Hong Kong to the value of some

H-K

50,000 to 60,000 dollars, Mr. Taylor said. The

trustees and executors are the firm of Hong Kong

solicitors, Messrs. Stokes Masters. The property

of the estate consists of a holding in the

Netherlands company of which he was Manager, and

which is domiciled in the Netherlands. Mr. Taylor

has been informed by Mrs. Schenk's lawyer at Lwów,

Dr. Marek Fern, that the Netherlands Government

intend, at the instance of the Nederlansche Handel

Maatschappij, to contest the will as invalid under

Dutch law, in view of a declaration which is

contained in the will to the effect that the

deceased had a Dutch (and not a Hong Kong) domicileF, and the will was not properly attested under Dutch

law which, as I understand it, they allege to be

the law applicable in view of his declaration of

Dutch domicile. Dr. Marek Fern has advised

Mr. Taylor that the Hong Kong executors may therefore

arrange