A CURIOUS CASE.

Kumara Times, Issue 845, 16 June 1879, Page 4

A CURIOUS CASE.

A very curious case as to whether cer tain letters constituted a binding ante nuptial contract has been decided by the Master of Bolls. It appears that in the month of August, 1869* Dudley Raymond, then a lieutenant of her Majesty’s Idfch Foot in India, proposed to marry the plaintiff, a daughter of the Rev. Mr Ellis, of Lucknow, amd Mr Ellis wrote to Mr W. C.Raymond, the father of the intended husband, and who. was then in England, requesting' him., to. make some settlement on his son. Oo the 22nd of September 1869, Mr W. 0. Raymond wrote to his son as-follows Of course if you marry Miss/fijlis she, will be to me as a daughter, and in the' event of your death would receive your share of what property I; might leave at my decease. More than what I have written to Mr Ellis 1 do not see my way clear to do withont injuring your brother and sister ; and you, knowing my affairs, will see it in that light.” • A letter had been previously written to Mr Ellis, stating that Mr Raymond would allow bis son Ll5O, but Mr Ellis replied that this was not satisfactory, and Mr W. C, Raymond again wrote to Mr Ellis on the Ist of December, • 1869, as ‘follows t—l am most anxious that there should be no misunderstanding between : us. ’ X have already told you what J am disposed to do—namely,, to allow. Dndley|LXso, and on the event of your daughter becoming his widow apd surviving me, to leave her the share which Dudley would have taken Under my will. Beyond this I cannot go. ” On the same day the . marriage was solemnized in India.' Dudley Raymond died in his father’s life, and his widow now palmed one-third of W. C. Raymond’c estate, he having made a will whereby Mrs Raymond received nothing. Mr Chitty, Q.C., for Mrs Dudley Raymond, contended that the letters constituted a -valid ante-nuptial contract, and that Mrs Dudley Raymond was entitled* to mi equal share with the testator 1 * children. The Master of the Rolls said that the letters merely stated what might happen, and were never meant to bind Mr Raymond to. give his son any definite rtare of Jus property. The letter of the of September, 1869, was net agreed to, and the letter of the Ist December had not arrived ,IQ India when the* marriage took place, so the marriage coaid not have been solemnised oh the faithof it. There was, in fact, no contract,, and the claim must be disallowed. It reminded him of the bid saying, “A civilian is worth L3OO a year, dead or alive.”

■>Ai. o®?8 for the terrible disease among cattle called plearo-pneumonia has been reported in the Town and Country Journal. A correspondent writes that, having some of his cattle suffering from the malady, and v 5?^ fch v t ‘? nrnt ? nl P llQr was a good thing, he tried, the experiment with the following result, having fastened the cow to prevent it jumping I then put about a cupful of sulphur into an old coffee pot, and then a. fire, 1 held it to her nostrils in, spite of Btruggies with a pair of tongs, till' all "the l sttlphur was burned out. She* rapidly recovered, and this year is rearing as: B°<** » ** any I have;; none of the* Cattle have shown any sign of disease since.