HIS PROBLEM

NZ Truth, Issue 1146, 17 November 1927, Page 7

HIS PROBLEM

Patrick Swanbeck's Weak Heart

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Rep.) There is the man who has loved and lost and the man who has loved and left, but it is the man who has loved and ignored his responsibility who usually catohes the public eye. t)Y faifing to maintain the child of a young single woman, of which he lhad been adjudged the father, Patrick Swanbeck, a young man of smart appearance, gained the publicity of the Auckand Magistrate's Court, and, incidentally, the opinion — which was not very complimentary — of Magistrate McKean. "This not very energetic young man," was the way the S.M. referred to Swanbeck when Senior-Sergeant McCarthy had given the information regarding the young man's careless regard for his obligations as a father. The mother had been keeping the infant without any assistance until it was found necessary for the State to take charge of the child. Swanbeck was £28 m arrears and the senior-sergeant asked that the order be varied to make it payable to the Education Board. "He has only made £7 since the order was made," said the police officer. "And that was to get him out of gaol!" Lawyer Elworth appeared for the defendant and pointed out that his client had a weak heart, which hindered his chances of obtaining suitable employment. Swanbeck, he stated, had been out of ■work for some time and had been boarded by his mother. "He can't get work," concluded the lawyer. Senior-Sergeant McCarthy: "Nonsense!" His worship altered the order .accordingly and adjourned the matter of arrears for six months. . "I do -not think you have been very sincere m your effort to pay," observed the magistrate. "I've done my best," supplied the defendant. "Yes, your best seems to have been getting enough to keep you out of rpriaon,''