WRONG AGE GIVEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 664, 16 May 1929, Page 1

WRONG AGE GIVEN

YOUNG WIFE’S FALSE DECLARATION HUSBAND TAKES BLAME Agreeing that they would fill in a form applying for a marriage licence giving the girl’s age as 21, when she was really 17, resulted in the appearance of Alfred Vipond and his wife, Henrietta ! Elizabeth Jane Vipond, at the j Police Court this morning. Both defendants were charged with knowingly and wilfully making a false declaration on a certificate applying for a licence of marriage. Vipond was described as a contractor, aged 24, and his wife’s age was given as 18. The offence was said to have been committed on April 3. Formal evidence of the registration of the marriage and the filling in of the form was given by an officer of i the Department of Internal Affairs, j Vipond’s statement was then read. ! Defendant shouldered all the responsi- j bility for the offence, maintaining j that the girl had filled in the form at his dictation. In the first place he had filled in two forms himself, but had j then discovered that personal details j had to be filled in by the one to whom I the form referred. Vipond considered j that his wife, whose maiden name ; was Zanders, had not been fairly i treated by her family. “Mrs. Zanders j had forbidden her to have anything to do with me,” Vipond’s statement continued. “We agreed to get married and I suggested that we fill in the age as 21, although I knew it was only 17.” Chief-Detective Hammond mentioned that Mrs. Vipond’s parents, who lived at Warkworth, had informed the police of the occurrence. Mr. G. P. Finlay pleaded guilty on behalf of both accused, who were committed to the Supreme Court for j sentence. i