WOWS EXPECTATIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 November 1920, Page 3

WOWS EXPECTATIONS

JURY AWARDS £250. MELBOURNE 1 , October 23. Evidence on behalf ot the defendant iy was heard, before Judge Doth ridge an<3 >y a jury in the County Court yesterday, >f in a case in which a young woman i- claimed £SOO on the ground that a il verbal promise of a bequest of that r, amount had not been honoured. The it plaintiff was Elsie May Bonetto, of y S pencer street, Clifton. Hill, and the dc t- fendant the Trustees, Executors, and Agencv Company, trustee of the will r of the late Mrs K. S. Hann, of Ocean e G„ ov e Plaintiff alleged that Mis !- Hann with whom she went to live in d 1902, as quite a young girl, promised to 11 bequeath her £SOO on condition hat is 2 worked in her house and lived e with her without wages. Plaintiff .-aid - S 5 because she returned to , few minutes after 10 o clock ine » ni"ht in 1914, she was refused adrnr- -- cion and next day was told to leave. V When Mrs Hann died recently plamuff 6 received nothing under the will. _ The defence was a denial of the con 8 tract or agreement to bequeath- money , in lieu of wages. The contract, if t a ny, was vague and indefinite. It was I alleged that, if there were any conti act II it had been terminated by the conduc e of the plaintiff. , , , . Evidence was given for the defem an f / company by James Hann, of Ocean , 1 Grove, who was the husband of the .es- • j tatrix. He said that he and Mrs Hann I being childless, they advertised m IJO2 I I with a view to adopting a girl under I ]o year of age. Plaintiff’s mother took i' her to Mrs Hann ,and the child was 3 taken into the house and treated pract tieally as a daughter. She was known > as Elsie Hann. Witness said that his i , wife had never promised to leave plaini tiff £SOO, but that ho himself had l done so. He had accordingly inserted i provision in his will, where it rgmainr ed until a certain incident occurred ; after plaintiff’s marriage, when her » husband had gone away on active scr- : j vice. There was certainly no contract ' for a bequest of £SOO either on lis l wife’s part or his own. Judge Dethridge said, in the course - of bis summing up, that nowadays every girl who was worth her salt did household duties in-her home, unless sl.o ' went out to business, or was a mere ■ encumberance on the face of the earth. I Plaintiff was practically a daughter, and daughters did not get wages. The jury found for the plaintiff, and . assessed damages at £250. Judgment was entered accordingly, with costs. A stay of proceedings of 14 days was granted.