"WIFE OR WIDOW?"

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81912, 29 December 1906, Page 4

"WIFE OR WIDOW?"

CUIUOUS XKW ZEALiNU CASE. London, November 10. 011 Tuesday a curious eiisc was heard in the Divorce Court before the l'l'Cuidciit and .Mr Justice !3ar,:ravu Deane. Hie ouesti.;:i of tl:c ilale of the deatii of a husbar.d was involved in the appeal of .Mrs Emily Proves against an order cf tlu l stipendiary magistrate at Manchester, rescinding a prior order granting her a separation aud maintenance on the ground of the desertion of lier alleg d husband, l'rei'.erick Wiiliam Croves, formerly fiead waiter at the lioyal Hotel, Manchester.

lir Xeilson. for the lady, explained that the ground on which the stipendiary rescinded his t'ust order was that the date of the marriage to Groves the woman's first husband, Benjamin John llcald, a tailor and outlitter, who at one time lived at Lancaster, was alive. The first marriage took place at ChorltOn-oii-Jled-lock, Manchester, iu 188*2, and thvro were two cuiidren. In ISB7 Ileald left his wife and went to New Zealand and she heard nothing of him, with the exception of one letter, between ISS7 and 1S!!I. In the latter year Ueald's mother told her daughter-in-law that ier husband had died iu New Zealand, and in 15!),3 appellant married Groves, telling him ,she was a widow. 111 1003 .Mrs llcald died, and after her funeral there was some discussion as to the date of her sou's deatii. .Mailers between Groves and his wife became strained, and in the early part of this year she summoned hiin for assault, and lie was convicted. In March he deserted her. and sin: summoned him, with the result that the magistrate granted a separation and maintenance order. In May the husband took a summons to have the older varied, and produced a ceitilicate of the death of Ileald in 18!) li, at Dunediu, in New Zealand, leaving a wife anil two children. Though the description of the man corresponded generally, there was 110 attempt to prove (lie identity o£ the deceased with t!:e lii>t, husband, and, e.s a matter of fact, other members of the same family bearing the same name ha\l gone to New Zealand. In his evidence. Groves said that his wife had a;ked him to go through the ceremony of marriage again, but he refused. A daughter asserted that she l:ed seen a letter from a woman in New Zealand to the grandmother, saying tiiaf Ileald hud died in INIKi, but when she referred to it *he was bidden ne\er to divulge it, and she kept the secret /or ten years. Counsel submitted that the identity vas not fully proved, and that the stipendiary was wrong in quashing the order.

Without callmL' 011 Mr Middleton for the respondent. :he ['resident belli that there Has evidence subsequent)!' to the hrst order which was not reasonably capable of b.'in" produced liv the husband at. the hrst lieatui, and there was evidence before the stipendiary 011 which lie was justihed 111 actimr. The order was lightly rescinded, aiiji the appeal Would be dismissed.

Mr Justice ilarirravo Dean" added ViLit cate that llcald died 111 IS'JI she could bring iresli liroccedniLrs.