GILBERD CASE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1796, 8 July 1913, Page 6

GILBERD CASE.

THE GIRL & FATHER'S CLAIM. (By Telegraph—Frees Association.) Wanganui, July 7. Reserved judgment by Mr. Justice Chapman was delivored to'-<lny in a very inj teresting case, and .the first of its kind i in Now Zealand, concerning custody of ! a child, ono Thelma Gilberd, , aged 12J 1 years. For tho greater part of her life she had lived with her uncle, John Forbes, j.a jeweller, and her father is a soap maker. (Proceedings were taken on the part of Gilbord to obtain custody of tho child by . rule nisi, calling on Forbes to show causo : why a writ of habeas corpus should not ' issue.. The judgment concluded: "It is the ■practico of the Court to examine an infant, not with the object of-:eliciting'its opinion, but to assist the judge in determining whether its inclinations are of marked character. I examined Thelma, and found her to be intelligent and psgessed of unmistakable views and inclinations on the subject. The Court will not lightly set aside a fatlior's authority, and, as a Tule, it refuses to do so where there has been no misconduct on his part, and lie has not abdicated liis authority, but 1 circumstances may be such that the Court finds itself obliged to say that it will not he for the benefit of the child to allow the father to assert liia parental Tight, and that it will be for the child's benefit to in tho care of some other person. That state of affairs has, in my opinion, arison here. ... All tlie circumstances satisfy 'me that the child would not be liapny in her .father's home. I therefore order that the rulo bo discharged without costs, and' I prefer to givo.no Teason beyond saying that my Teason involves no reflection on any of tho parties."