The Court granted the trustee power under s 63 of the Trustee Act 1958 (Vic) to extend the two-month period prescribed in the unit transfer provisions of the trust deed, including with retrospective effect, finding that the existing deed provisions (including the variation power in cl 35, the incidental powers clause in cl 20(w), and r 15 of the Third Schedule) did not confer such a power. The Court also corrected several drafting errors in the Third Schedule as a matter of construction, substituting 'schedule' for 'clause', 'rule' for 'sub-paragraph', and inserting references to 'valuer' alongside 'auditor'. The Court refused to convert the originating motion proceeding into a writ proceeding to accommodate the first defendant's proposed counterclaim against a co-defendant, holding that the inter partes dispute should be commenced as a fresh proceeding to avoid prejudice to the trustee and other unitholders.
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