THE HARDING CASE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1981, 11 February 1914, Page 8

THE HARDING CASE.

' ' -» . MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT, . j THE COURT SETS IT ASIDE. .The interesting case which arose out of the application.- by the Official Assignee in bankruptcy to set aside the settlement of property made by John iVhite Harding., upon his wife, Violet • S. Harding, was decided in the Supremo Court yesterday. The judgment - « a ? 'the Ciiief Justice, Sir Robert' Stout. _ The base was a remarkable one and important. , The Hardings were married in, Wariganui on November 4, 1911. ; Harding was then in business in Hawera. - as/a farmer and stock-dealer. He is no w a wharf worker in Weilington. jHst ' prior to the marriage ho 'settled two < properties upon lis 'wife. Tho Assignee alleged that this settlement' was made with no other object than that of defeating the creditors, and! he therefore wished the Court .to invalidate the transfer. The Hardings, on tho other land, declared that the settlement was made purely to protect the wife against / various possibilities, and that at the time that he made it Harding believed itnat lie was solvent. The Story of Mrs. Hardins. During the hearing evidence was given I>y Mrs. Harding. fc>ho gavo jber ago as 25 years, and said that when she first met Hardiiig in Auckland (1910) &o wa3 22, and was employed by Mi-. L. J. Bagnall, who was Mayor of Auckland at the . time. Her work was typing and . shorthand writing, and she knew nothing of bookkeeping. She met Harding through 'his bringing • a letter ■ of - introduction from her'brother, and' she went to dinner with him at the Star Hotel. Later, -'.when she was on! the. Main Trunk train en route to Wellington, she found that Harding was also travelling by it. Ho . induced her to leave the tram at Hamil- - ' ton, and she then ; took ■ the step for which she had since felt more- regret than sho could express in words. Two days later they came on to Wellington; nnd Harding suggested a trip to Brisbane. He .gave her-glowing accounts of the tour, and. she, consented to'go. In Brisbano she found a New Plymouth . paper giving an account of proceedings in. which it transpired that Harding had been married, had two children, and that; he had broken his wife's nose, ■ blacked he r eyes, and generally, assaulted her very : . violently.. She then . asked for the other half. Her brother went ■to Brisbane and wanted to bring her back to New Zealand. Harding begged her to stay, and she said 1 that if he settled big- properties upon her she would get > married and stay'. Harding refused, and she return- ' ed to Auckland. Harding wrote promising to make the settlement, and after a month's stay.in .Auckland she went back to Brisbane. In October. 1911, they were both, back in New Zealand agjiin; ho had preceded her'across from , - Australia. They were married oii November 4. When the. settlement was ' made she did not know that. Harding had aiiy creditors, and he had never at any time told her what the effect of tho transaction would' be on those to whom be owed money; "The Part oJ a Blackguard," v Mr. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., with whom was Mr. 11. D. Welsh, of Hawera, appeared for tho Official Assignee; and tho defence was conducted by Sir John Eindlay; K.C., with' whom appeared , Mr. T. Allison (Wariganui) and-i\lr. W. J. Sim. _ The'addresses revealed a, very interesting legal position. • . Sir John Fitidky quoted! an authority vto tho effect that a, settlement made be-, fore and in consideration of marriage was protected, but where there was evidence of intent by both parties to defeat . the creditors, and! the marriage was part of a scheme to that end, the settlement would be void-; but not void if the wife w'as innocent of the intention.' "I am not here to defend Harding," continued Sir John. '"I am:,'as, free to condemn him as my learned friend is. I consider that Harding acted the.part of a blackguard, and 1 consider that his object in getting her to leave the train at Hamilton was to seduce her, and after having seduced her to forco her into marriage." After the incident at Hamilton the phmge was taken. ■ She had thrown away a woman's dearest jewel— her chastity. Fi;om-then on'the path grew easier; - the first false 6tep made ' easier the way for others. ' The path became easier as the grade grew steeper, and so the oncc-innocont,. tho 'green young girl, went on until the Nemesis. The question of marriage then assumed a different aspect." . In "Queer Street Financially." Mr. Skerrett said: "I am bound to submit that if this transfer of property is to be upheld then the creditors of a debtor who'possesses a mistress are at the mercy of that debtor if ho chooses secretly to marry that mistress. There is evidence of fraud in almost every circumstance of this affair. There 'is absolutely iio evidence of an honest contract of marriage." The general out- ' line of the case pointed to the fact that tho story of the Hardings was merely the cloak of a. device to defeat the creditors'. Counsel declared that _ tho I-lardings had given,the Court a tissue of falsehoods, and that the right reading of the case was that the woman was under the domination of a man. whom she would have married at any time, but ■who was not vhc man to marry her until he found that he was in . Queer Street financially, and wished to save his property from his creditors. r The Assignee wins. •' In the course of his judgment, his Honour said that the questions we're whether the plaintiff had- shown: — That there was an intention of J. W. Harding to defraud his creditors. Whether' the defendant was identified with such a fraud. His Honour observed that tho marriage ■came off only when Harding discover eel "hp had made a lossof £3841 in 1 seven month's, and that tho price of beef had so fallen that he must mako a loss on his shipments. Also, Harding suggested to Mr. Surrey that ho would make over some of his properties to 'him so as to save them from his creditors'. His Honour had no doubt that Mrs. Harding'..knew of -Harding's . dangerous financial position. 'Ho leniarkod that she wrote his business letters. ■ "It does not appear, to me," the Chief Justice continued, "after carefully considering all the facts, that I. can find that the-'-marriage was arranged. as a basis In my opinion, Mrs. Harding would have married him without/any settlement, and it seems to me thai-Harding would not have married her but for the fact that he was in financial difficulty, and wished to try to save, the propertv that should havo gone to his creditors for his own purposes. ; '-I-mu3t therefore give judgment for' th<T plaintiff, with costs as on a claim for .'£2000."