A MISSING HUSBAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 88, 30 August 1912, Page 4

A MISSING HUSBAND.

WOMAN'S SAD PLIGHT. STRANDED IN AUCKLAND WITH THREE CHILDREN., AN ARREST IN MELBOURNE. Auckland, August 28. A peculiar case is likely to be unfolded: in the Police Court in the course of a day or two. In December last there arrived in Auckland a refined and delicate woman with three children. She expected her husband (who had preceded her from Canada) to meet her. Anxious enquiries were without avail, and for months she did not know whether her husband ' was dead or alive. Her scanty funds soon gave out, and she had to appeal to the Salvation Army for assistance. They found a home for the woman and her children for some weeks, and then the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board had to undertake the responsibility of the fumily's upkeep, for the mother, worried by the disappearance of her husband, became ill, and since the beginning of the year has been an invalid, relying solely upon the Board for help. Meantime, the Salvation Army officials undertook to search Australia for the missing husband. A photograph was inserted in the "War Cry," and provided a key wherewith to eolve th« mystery. A fellow-passenger to New Zealand by the same boat informed the Army people that the person advertised for "had been very sweet on a girl on the ship, and married her at Christchurch." A copy of the marriage records was obtained from Christchurch, and the alleged bigamist was traced by the Army, officials to Melbourne. The Charitable Aid Board officials then stepped in, and the man was apprehended on a charge of wife desertion and brought back to Auckland. On arrival he wns confronted by those who claimed to be his wife and children, but denied to their faces that he had ever seen them before. "Madam, I do not know you!" was his reply in the presence of Major Toomer to the heart-broken appeal of the woman who claims to be his wife. A charge of bigamy has not yet been preferred against the man, but it is understood that the police are awaiting further information from Christchurch.