THE DIVORCE COURT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 208, 28 May 1920, Page 3

THE DIVORCE COURT

UNDEFENDED PETITIONS

AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY

Mr. Justice Salmond yesterday heard a numbur of undefended divorce petitions. William Horace Colnett (Mr. P, W, Jackaoii) £avo evidence.that in 1915 he.married Violet Daiay Uolnett ut Auckland. She left hh'v for no apparent reaeou, about three months after tho marriage. Before her departure, petitioner id J unlisted, and two weeks ; after n he wan called up. Heaponcent went t t > her mother. She had never complained about petitioner's enlistment, and at the time of her departure petitioner had not been notified of the date on. which he was to go to camp. Petitioner went to the war. and returned in 1919. He Baw his wife once on. the wharf, but had no conversation with her. She sent him a letter - saying that she would have nothing to do with him. In answer to questions fiom His Honour, petitioner said he received from respondent dpring his absence one letter, ■which he answered. He' wrote nnlv'tnn one letter, because respondent did not seem to want him to write to her. When he saw her on the wharf upon his return, he was near enough to speak to ner. but he made no attempt to no so. She seemed to be avoiding him. He had no idea why respondent should have written tho letter she did after his return. iNo corroborative evidence was tendered, and Hi i Honour said he was not, 'nclmeri to act upon the eviCenco at it stood. The case was a very extraordinary and exceptional one; Ho would, if counsel ccBired, consider whether he ought to order the respondent to attend. A mero ufildavit from the respondent would not be satisfactory. Tho cuse was adjourned sine die.

Theodore Allbrand (Mr. P. W. Jackson) alleged that Alice Louisa Allbrand w.ib guilty of adultery with Thomas.Kenned). Petitioner said that he ■ married the respondent in 1910.; . He and she parted by mutual consent in 1912, on account of her drinking habits. When war broke out. petitioner went away with the forces from Austra'ia. After service he returned to New Zealand, and heard a reDon. ?,tiat hir. wife *iart married the man Kennedy. Petitioner investigated the matter, and found respondent and Kennedy living- together as man and wife. Eeßpondent was subsequently 'prosecuted lor bigamy, but, petitioner was not present at the time. The clerk of the Magistrate's Court at Wellington gave evidenco that the charge of bigamy had been oiamissed. Michaci Mason, formerly detec-tive-sergeant of police, said that ho had made the inquiries leading up to the •bigamy charge. He was. present at the trial ir. the Magistrate's Court, and'could testify that respondent and co-respondent were shown to have gone through the form of marriage. Mr. Jack Eon said-he understood respondent's defence .to the charge was a statement that she honestly believed her husband to have been killed. A dcoree nisi was granted, but His Honour declined to award coEts since there was nothing to show that co-respon-dent did not "marry' respondent in all good faith. '

. Charlotte Mildred Connor (Mr. P. W. Jackson) charged William Connor with desertion. She said that sho married the respondent in 1905 at Wellington. . She lived with him at Wellington, at Hiintly and at Auckland. In 1913. in the laatnamed place of residence, petitioner had to leave respondent on account' of bis conduct towards her. He used; to coma, home drunk, and twice he threatened her with a razor. .She -was. afraid to remain •with him. Respondent had not provided her with any money since 1913. . On one occasion she had sent him £3 in response to' a request that he made to her by letter. His Honour adjourned. the case,' stating that he would require corrobora-. tion of-petitioner's.evidence as to her reasons for leaving the respondent. Pesertion was tho ground of Kathleen Laws's petition for divorce from Henry Edward Lawß. Petitioner said that she ■was married in 1911 at Dannevirke, where she and tho respondent continued to live. She left Laws within a-year because he ill-treated her. She obtained a separation and maintenance order against him, but he failed to obey it. She had children of a former marriage, but no Issue of her marriage with Laws. Since 1911 she had heard nothing.of respondent. A dewree nfsi was granted. Margaret Mary MacKenzio, of Masterton (Mr. B. li. Burridge) Btated that Erneßt MacKenzie .failed to maintain her after the third week of-Iter married life. He several times disappeared for long periods, and failed to let her know anything of his whereabouts. In liny,. 19W. respondent waß sentenced to two' years' reformative detention, 'and ho . was. stillincarcerated. There had been no, cohabitation since 1914. .His Honour granted "a decree nisi.

Elaic Franklin Styles (Mr. P. NT. ■Jaclilon) Baid that on January .4, 1912. Bhe married Arthur James Lawrie Styles in Sydney: She lived -with respondent in Wellington. He went to the war, .and■when he came back he was Indifferent to her, and refused to occupy the" same room as she. 6ince March of this year he had not lived with her.' She understood that he was with another woman in Palmerston North. A former clerk of'tbo Grand Hotel, Palmerston North, gave evidence that Styles booked at the hotel with a. woman whom he represented to De his wife. Another witness told the Court that respondent had made an admission of misconduct. The Court granted a decree nisi. Further evident wis hoard In the cntrn of Savage Corry Evans v. Jane Ann Evans, a petition on the ground of desertion. The matter -waß taken iii camera. His nonour reserved decision. Walter Ponsonby Monk in his petition against Louise Bethia Monk alleged that respondent refused him marital 'intercourse. Mr. A. W..Blair appeared for petitioner, who gave ovidence that he was a theatrical manager. Ho married the respondent in September. 1910, and tbern was one living child of the marriage. Respondent took an interest m the child till it was seven monthß old. then she put it out to board, and displayed no further interest in it. Since April. 1917, she had not permitted petitioner to bn (hlr husband 'jn anything more than name. His Honour, after hearing part of petitioner's testimony in camera, deoklrtl that there was no authority for granting a decree on Buch evidence as thit tun. dercd. He expressed the opinion that the petition had been brought prematurely. Olurence Alexander White stated that Olive Myrtle White, who was a circus ?lS« fo^mfi^ • (leacrt -' ! d him in September, 19H. The one child of the marriage n-u= horn In January, 1915 after the desertion. Petitioner was away at the time tlio nhild was born, and only on his return to New Zealand did he learn that mere waß a child at all. Eespondent had left the child at a maternity home,- and at present petitioner wur (supporting It m a Oovernmcnl receiving home. Kcßpondent told petitioner that, slit- was hdi suited to. married life, and that she preferred travelling with allows. Petitioner's motner gave corroborative evidence, and His Honour granted a decree nisi, with interim custody of the .;hlld. Margaret Heller (Mr. Jackson'i said that ir, 1882 she married George Heller, who left her in I9IU. Ho was addicted to drink. Corrooorative evidence of dCEertion waß heard, and a decree nisi wan granted. May Goslin (Mr. J. Scott) said that her married life with . .Herbert Benjamin Lineker Goslin had ben unhappy from its commencement in 1914, because Ciosim was in the habit of going about with other women. On-one occasion she found respondent with 'another woman,- and accosted him. He told her to mind . her own business, from where witness resided at present she had frequently stc.i respondent and the same woman iii each other's-company. She had observed them kiss at parting, and smoke cigarettes together. A private inquiry agent give evidence in support of the petition, A decree nisi was granted, with an interim oruer uiat petitioner should have the custody of the one child of the marriage. Irvine Elston (Mr. H. E. Evans) brought an accusation of adultery against Ellen Elston, naming Paumea Pcrris as the corespondent, Petitioner stated that after a fairly long absence he was summoned to wnere respondent was. Eespondent told him when hb went to her that she was about to have a child, of which the co-respondent was the father. A privat" inquiry agent gave evidence that, when served with the citation papers, respondent made an admission of misconduct. A decreo Msi was granted. On the motion of Mr. Jackson, a decree absolute was made in the following two °? B ?? :^ A , hce Cairns F > ,fe v - Charles Marohall iyfej and Kate Edwards v. Herbert Edwards.