BIGWOOD'S BIG THIRST

NZ Truth, Issue 1214, 7 March 1929, Page 4

BIGWOOD'S BIG THIRST

"He Was Hardly Sober For Nearly Seven Years''

WIFE'S SORiW TALE OF WOE

(From "N.Z. Truth 'i" Special Christchurch Representative)

Hardly ever sober for seven years. That period should be long enough for any man to reform. So said the wife. '';.'";;...,•';. \ ,:.. .-?-' VV'---:-These were the sentiments which prompted Mrs. Rita (Rebecca Bigwood, ;a middle-aged woman, to apply to Mr. HyP: Lawry, S;M., at; Christchurch for orders which would placfe \a gulf between her: and; Samuel Bigwood, her; husbands "'■■'*. \

SHE alleged he had faileil. to maintain her, and had made, her life unhappy through his persistent drinking.. - "He has hardly ever been sober for seven years," Mrs. Bigwood told the magistrate, "and we eventually had to mortgalge the home." She was so afraid of him -when he was drunk that she had several times to go to the neighbors, and the day he was served with the. summons, he was so violent that his wife had to leave the house, Mrs. Bigwood said she gave him £30 - when she mortgaged, the., home for £100, and she paid out.standing accounts . with the balance, while Bigwood did practically no work until his share was spent. Early m their married life, -. Bigwood'sy contribution^ .towards/ maintaining the home was m the vicinity of £4/10/- a week, but it had. dropped off latterly, and his wife had to borrow money on which to keep the house.; Mrs. Bigwood told Mr. Hobbs, counsel for her husband, that their financial trouble had been accentuated by Bigwood's riotous living; She declared that- there was no need for him ever to have been out- of. work. "I would see the advertisements m the paper and . tell .him, but- he wouldh't»get up and go and see about them," she stated. v

"He tea over me . arid brought on the shingles last year, and I reckon that seven years is ,-.'. enough for any man to reform." A -watchful neighbor, Mrs. Jean McWhinnie Black, had seen; Bigwood coming home drunk a lot; : nearly evei - y night for sixteen years, she estimated. '.-••' "Are you afraid of him?" asked counsel. "Not likely. He wanted someone to turn on him," she replied with confidence. . .Bigwood, a painter by trade, offered the : excuse- that \h is financial depression had been caused latterly through unemployment,- but up till losing a position fourteen months ago he had held one position continuously for six years and had never lost, a day through drink. ' He considered that 7/6 a month was the most he ever spent m drink. They Magistrate: Will you give up the drink and take out a prohibition order? Bigwood: Well, that's hard. Sometimes I have to work m an hotel. • The Magistrate: It should not be hard if you only spend 7/6 a month on it. Expressing, the belief that Bigwood's capacity for drink was the cause of : the • trouble, the magistrate adjourned the case for a week to see if a,' settlement could be effected.