LIGHTLY TURNED TO DREAMS OF LOVE

NZ Truth, Issue 1197, 8 November 1928, Page 5

LIGHTLY TURNED TO DREAMS OF LOVE

BUT that was Winifred's experience, and within three months of her

arrival at her new position at a homestead m the Rakaia Gorge she was faced with the bitter prospect of approaching motherhood. With only her grandmother to turn to for counsel and assistance, Winifred sought the direction of the court- in determining the paternity of her female child, and she asked Magistrate H. P. Lawry to adjudge Duncan Matheson, a young farm hand, its father.

Up ,to ' the present, only the girl's side of the case has been ventilated. No defence was called and the magistrate reserved his decision for complainant's counnel to submit authorities on corroboratiom •

Like many girls before her, Winifred found it a simple matter to, tread the path of illicit love, only to be confronted with that tremendous difficulty of bringing corroborative testimony to support her allegations against the man whom^she charged with her betrayal. A reversal of the usual case of ■ ■ . i ■ ■

Amorous Overture

an innocent country girl coming to the city to meet her downfall, this was the caae of an innocent city girl going to the country to ultimately pay the bitter price of. her folly. ....... ,

On October 7 Winifred took a position as domestic to Mr. and Mrs: Charles G. Cran, Rakaia Gorge, some seven miles from the quiet little townShip of Methven, which nestles m midCanterbury beneath the Southern Alps. ■ .

Someone once said* something about a young man's fancy lightly turning tothoughts of love; i'ri the springtime, arid; probably this was the atmosphere in' which Duncan Matheson, the farmhand at Crkns' , approached the : new doriiestic. Avi'th amorous, .overtures and invitations to inspect the . environs of the Cran homestead. '-..

Three weeks." m her new position gave Winifred more ■ confidence, and she accepted- the pleadings of the swain and' risked a walk around the garden and down the drive one evening when her work was finished. :Their companionship, deyelopejd^ and, so Winifred told the' court, their evening excursions' ayoitnd the farm "increased to about two : or three a week— ■>■ m fact, . thtey became a regular occurrence;: \ > - ; -', ; .■." : ;' ■ '■■ , , ■■. •. '■

. Early,iri December, Winifred admitted with lowered voice, their harmless

A YOUNG MAN'S FANCY

Innocent Maid's Illicit Romance In The Springtime

(From "N.Z. TVuth's" Special Christchurch Representative.) When Winifred Roena Foster, a xoelUiuilt, fresh-coirn-plexioned domestic^, of nineteen years, forsook ihe city for the secluded quiet of a position m the country, she little tfidught that across her path would come her betrayer.

friendship developed into illicit love, and on three occasions over a period of four weeks, misconduct occurred m the gardens near the homestead. Cran had seen the girl and Matheson together, but had never said anything to her about it.

From the time of her engagement, sh.e was never, off. the farm until December 4, when she cariie to Christchurch, excepting the occasions on which she -accompanied Mr. and' Mi's. Cran to Methven, and then she was never out of the car. ,

Excepting Gran, jMatheson was the only man working on the farm. Winifred said • she left Cran's employ early in.:Janu,ary. Her mother was dead, and she was living w i th. her grandmother, but, she never told her guardian of her condition. .A female child ' was. born;' to her m.

the Essex' Home, Christchurch, on August.ll last': ,'■'■(■ , .- ; .■ •■ . Lawyer Tracy took up the running on behalf. -of Matheson, and ' asked Winifred was she not m Christchurch during Cut) week last year. ;. To this' she replied that she was riot. She was away only for ten days m Deceniber. ; , . / "

You were not too sure -of when your child was coming, were you? —No, but that was because of what my grandmother told me when she first found out my condition.

You first thought it was to be m June?-rAYes, because my grandmother middled me up about the dates. But,' surely, you 'were then eighteen year 3of age, and you . must have had some idea yourself ?-^No answer. Lawyer' Tracy informed the court

Grandma's Letter

that; because of I the uncertainty of the date of birth, the case had been adjourned from the original date set down for hearing. Continuing his cross-examination, Lawyer TVacy elicited a denial from ihte girl that she had told someone else that she had "made a mistake and the birth would riot take place until October. . .'■■'.■■ '

She also denied that she had ever blamed anyone else for her condition. Counsel: ,Why didn't you blame Matheson as soon as you found the condition you were in?— l didn't 1 like to. My grandiriother wrote to him when she found put. , Will you swear that you didn't write to someone else blaming them?— l only

'"..■■. quently, 1 stating that "Charlie knows and has written to Gran;," counsel asked ;• "Who is Charlie?"Winifred: Mr. Cran., Counsel: Well, 'how do you, suggest that Gran knew? Was this only a bluff? —I suppose it was. •• ' ■ ..' - . , Under, further cross-examination, the girl stated that she had worked at the .Christchurch Hospital and for a doctor at Fehdaltpn. .;,• It was not her custom to address her employers by their Christian names. . There was only brie other man work-, ing on Cran's place besides Mathesori, and he had a whare and cooked his own meals. Lawyer Lee, for the girl, drew, the attention of the court to the difficulty, through the isolation of the place, m bringing corroborative

blamed Matheson from the start. 1 • , Reading a passage from a letter Winifred wrote to Matheson subse-

testimony, and he submitted that on account of that isolation, evidence of opportunity was. sufficient corroboration.

Charles George : Cran, the girl's late employer,, stated that his nearest neighbor lived two miles away. ; He had seen the girl out with Matheson many times, but never with any-. one else. . " . ' , ■ " • There were two other,; men on. the place, one m the garden and the, other half a mile away. .. ':; 1 The gardener had : his meals at "the house, but. the other man ..cooked his own me : a!ls at hiswhare. ' , ;' Cross-examined' by Lawyer Tracy, Cran stated that he. never saw anything improper occur between Winifred and Ma,theson, and he had never complained, nor did he think his wife had, of the girl's association with Matheson.. ;

The girl had been dismissed for hitting one of the children and not for her conduct with Matheson. Cran corroborated the girl's statement that she was never off the, place

Matron 's Evidence

until early m December, unless she was m the company of the Crans. Lawyer Lee : , Arid December 10 was after the child was. conceived. , Matron Edith Pike, of the Essex Home, stated that the child was born on August 11, and, counting forty weeks back, the date of conception would be about; November 5. The child Was normal m every way, and ahe did not think the possibility of error would extend to one month either. way. , "I might add," stated the matron to the magistrate, "that m reckoning dates, older people than this girl make mistakes. Many of them don't know what they are talking about." . Lawyer Tracy "intimated that he did not propose calling evidence for the defence,- and the S.M. -reserved his decision vto allow counsel to submit authorities on corroboration. ;■