OLD MAN ACCUSES SONS

NZ Truth, Issue 1210, 7 February 1929, Page 5

OLD MAN ACCUSES SONS

Complains They Robbed Him of His . Profitable Business BUT HE COT HIS FRUIT AND WHISKY • (From "N.Z., Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative). White-haired, but with a cheerful smile, Robert Weston, an elderly resident of Christchurch, stood m the box at the Destitute Persons' Court and told an intriguing story m which he alleged that he had* been filched of a business by his sons.

MANY years ago, according to the old man's story, he had laid the .foundation of a fancy leather goods business, which had flourished to such an extent that it allegedly became .the attention of avaricious sons. ; He also that he was subsequently urged out and was now destitute, so he iisked the assistance of the court m saddling his sons with the responsibility of keeping him m comfortable circumstances for the rest of his days. A different story was told by the sons, and under the battery of crossexamination which turned < the spotlight on the true state of affairs, Weston addressed himself to a repetition of his obsession that he had'. 1 been fraudulently robbed; of his business. For his 79 years, Weston looked a remarkably well-preserved old man when he went into the box. He told the : magistrate that he had 710 income and no property except a part interest m a house worth £550, but subject to a first mortgage of £350. His eighty-year-old wife received the pension, but owing to his absence from the country, when he was held up m London, during the war-time blockade he had been put back three- years m his qualification. Weston's reason for being destitute was that he had been robbed of his business by his >ons, and all he received to keep himself was fifteen shillings a week paid by two sons, Ernest and T. W. Weston. ? Mr. W. Tracy (for the sons): So you have got to court at last, even though your solicitors have advised you against doing so. What is wrong with the present arrangement? Weston .mumbled something about the present agreement not being signed. He would not sign it because the document was not genuine. To subsequent questions from the bench, Woston feigned deafness. "You can hear me. all right," said the magistrate m a slightly lowered voice. "Oh, no, I can't," promptly retorted Weston. .. ' Counsel: You wrote to Ernie asking him to make his payments monthly, yet you summons him for> being m arr.e.'''r f» when his nionth is just up? - Weston: There are too many reservations about the agreement. You said fifteen shillings was ample when you made the arrangement with the boys. What do. you want rnQre' for ? , Weston did not answer the ; question,

but produced some documents which; ■he claimed, were evidence that he had been defrauded of his business. Counsel: Your wife, says you are doing all right. She says you get your whisky and ydur fruit and all the comforts/ you 'require. What's happened to all- your assets? Weston again brandished the documents which he said were the only proof he had that Jiis business had been robbed from him. " Counsel: What about that thousand pounds, you s^nt your son m London m an expansive • mood. Didn't you send it to him to get it out of the way? — This 'is <the only asset I have, retorted Weston, again flourishing the typewritten document above his head. Who pays for your whisky? — Can't I have a whisky? — It is as ; good as. medicine to me. . Your sons don't object to you having it, but they object to you wanting more for it. Weston said a Mr. Hepburn usually bought it for him, but Hepburn, it subsequently/ transpired, had died some ten months ago, where, Weston did hot know. .';■'■ ! Albert Alfred Weston, one of the sons, said he had withdrawn his share of the business some years ago, and alleged that -his father, through his interference m the business, had ruined Witness's life. He was entirely . dependent on his wife who ran a small store. '"■.'■. .'■■'.■ ■ Ernest Edwin Weston, manager of the. firm of Weston Brothers, the business which the old man alleged was founded by him and then taken 1 from him, said he had agreed to pay his father ten shillings a week maintenance.' "I ,have no interest m life through the trouble my father has brought on us over this business," said the witness. , -'.'. i He said his mother was quite-satis-fled .with her allowance, and If lie thought she .wanted for anything he would readily help her. , ' If the father had been decent' about the; matter' witness said, Jie .woiild have stretched a point and helped him. The application of the father was dismissed by the magistrate, who; said he was satisfied Weston senior was well cared for, and that the sons would help the, parents rif help were genuinely .needed.:; '; : ■'■"■' ..•.■•' V..- v ' : . ■■;■■ .''v "■/* •'■' '■