T. Kulasekaram J:

By an indenture dated 8 November 1882 Mdm Tan Geok Hup conveyed all her interests in certain lands of extent over 115 acres and more particularly described in the Schedule thereto, hereinafter referred to as the said lands, to trustees and their heirs and assigns and successors in office forever to be held by them upon trusts the primary one of them being for the use of the said lands as a burial ground for all persons bearing the surname or clan name 'Yeo' and who are of the Hokkien tribe.

This deed also provided in some detail how the trustees were to carry out these trusts and use it as a burial ground and how new trustees were to be appointed as replacements as and when the need for such appointments arose. It further provided that the trustees or their successors in office should not sell, mortgage or demise any part or parts of the said premises or otherwise incumber the same.

By diverse deeds of appointment or by orders of Court new trustees had been appointed from time to time in place of earlier trustees and from September 1931 the trustees were Yeo Kiat Seng, the original first defendant in this suit, and Chua Chwee Lim.

In October 1934 a portion of the said lands in extent nine acres three roods and 02.7 poles was acquired by the government for military purposes and compensation of $11,715 was awarded for the land and a further sum at the rate of $50 for every corpse exhumed from the acquired portion of the land and reburied on the remaining land of the settlement towards expenses incurred by the trustees. This compensation money was paid to the trustees of the said settlement pursuant to an order of Court dated 15 April 1935.

From the 12 June 1935 the trustees of the said settlement were Yeo Kiat Seng and Sim Kim Hock, the second defendant in this suit.

After the date of the indenture the said lands have been used as a burial ground in execution of the said trust under the said settlement and regular burials had taken place over a long period of years. In 1941 the year of the commencement of this suit, there were numerous squatters' huts on the said lands and small rentals were collected from the squatters there.

In May 1941 the Attorney General on the relation of certain interested persons who were office bearers in an association of the Hokkien tribe of the 'Yeo' clan commenced this suit as the plaintiff claiming from the then trustees the first and second defendants due execution of the trusts of the said settlement and an account of the monies received by them as trustees of the said settlement and in particular the sum of $11,715 received by one or either of them as compensation award for the portion of the land acquired by the government in 1935. In addition various other reliefs were also claimed as contained in the statement of claim.

Yeo Kiat Seng the first defendant in this suit and a trustee of the settlement died on 8 November 1955 and Sim Kim Hock the second defendant in this suit and the other trustee of the settlement at the commencement of the suit retired from the trusteeship shortly after August 1957. After further changes, from September 1961 the trustees of the said settlement were Yeo Seng Chuan and Yeo Cheong Lui.

In 1969 the whole of the remaining land of the said settlement with the exception of a small portion less than three acres was acquired by the government. In Originating Summons No. 13 of 1969 the Collector of Land applied for an order of Court to pay into Court the sum of $1,599,190 being the amount of compensation awarded for the acquisition of the said lands and subsequently paid into Court this amount.

On 20 February 1969 Mdm Lim Poh Neo the widow of Yeo Kiat Seng entered appearance in Originating Summons No. 13 of 1969 claiming she was the sole beneficiary of the estate of Mdm Tan Geok Hup deceased, the settlor, and entitled to the proceeds of the acquisition.

Shortly thereafter on the application of the plaintiff by order of Court dated 23 M