SHE JUST LEFT HIM

NZ Truth, Issue 1215, 14 March 1929, Page 4

SHE JUST LEFT HIM

Wife Complained of Cruelty, But He Had A Story

BENCH UNSYMPATHETIC

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative.)

When, oiife ddy^in November, 1906, Henry Mearns said "I do" ajb a marriage . ceremony, it was his promise to take Life's journey hand m hand with his bride, Elizabeth Mearns.

THE other day he repeated another promissory phrase. But this time it Avas a vehement "I do!" from the witness-box . of the Dunedin Maintenance Court, whither. Mearns Ayas brought by. a dissatisfied wife who. wanted;, an order for. separation and maintenance. . N Mrs. Mearns, whose face was adorn-", ed^with two evenly-placed black eyes, tpl'd" ."the : court 'that she had left her husband on one occasion, but returned to him about six years ago. Such were his habits and cruelty now that she "just left him." She could remember him having heaved plates and other kitchenware at her during his fits of wrath, and one day he had thrown a tin of condensed m.ilk over her while she was m bed. When Henry entered the box, it was to tell his life's history. Whatever his wife may think about his .marital balance, -she cannot, say he has/ a bad memory... , .* : ... . r ' . The, whole trouble, he'told the bench, was that his wife would not give up

drinking and going out with other men. It had been the bane of his existence wherever they went. In Christchurch, Mt. Somers, Cromwell, Alexandra — m fact, everywhere they went — :his wife was the stumb-ling-block to happiness. . jWlien she had money, he said, "it had. to go," and when the money had gone (m drink) she "went off" and played up : generally. So far as his experience of her m Dunedin was concerned, he knew that she worked m the mornings and then trooped round the hotels with a "band of other women." Me'arns certainly liked a "glass of ale" himself, he admitted, but that was not good enough for his wife, who must have whisky, and that, so he said, m goodly measure. Fireworks .started to fly when Mrs. Mearns rose from her seat m the court to dispute some little matter with her husband, but the judicial closure was applied by the magistrate announcing that he could not make an order. •