COLLUSION ALLEGED

Taranaki Daily News, 3 April 1920, Page 5

COLLUSION ALLEGED

FOUR DIVORCE PETITIONS. INTERVENTION OF CROWN. A proceeding not commonly experienced in law in New Zealand wai? adopted at the Auckland Divorce Court on Saturday morning, when the Solicitor-Gen-eral, represented by the Hon. J. A. Tole, K.C., asked for an adjournment of the hearing of four petitions for divorce to enable further inquiry to bn made into the circumstances connected with the cases. The petitions in question were to have been presented to the Court last year. In each case adultery was the ground of the petition. The respective respondents were stated to have made statements confessing their guilt, but refused to give the name of the correspondents. These circumstances were regarded by the authorities as unusual, and the Solicitor-General intervened. Mr. Tole moved that the hearing of the petitions be adjourned till the next civil sittings of the Court, in May. The grounds of the motion were that tiie Solicitor-General had intervened and bad filed a plea dejiying the adultery alleged in the petitions, and alleging collusion and connivance between the parties; and that it was .necessary and expedient in the public interest" that the hearing be adjourned. The substance of Mr. Tole's arguments in favor of the adjournment was contained in an affidavit. He stated that the respondents in the suits were alleged to have made confessions or admissions of adultery, hut so far the efforts to trace the whereabouts of two of the respondents bad been ineffectual. The alleged confessions or admissions all took place before the petitions were filed, and in j only one case had appearance for or by I the respondent been entered. In one suit the respondent had stated that the corespondent was unknown to her. I In reply, Mr. Singer objected very I strongly to the suggestions of collusion | and connivance, He contended there could be no collusion where damages were claimed. He also complained of the great delay, which was being caused, and said he had given Mr. Tole every assistance in investigating the cases. He pointed out that each case had separate circumstances, and there could not be collusion, seeing that each respondent was represented by an independent solicitor. Counsel asked His Honor to order the cases to be heard before a Judge alone. His Honor agreed to this course, and said that in view of the Solicitor-Gen-eral's allegations as to collusion it would be better for all parties if plenty of time was given for investigation. If the parties were py't to the expense which they would not otherwise have been put, by reason of the intervention of the Solici-tor-General, then the latter would no doubt pay the costs, if his allegations proved without foundation. His Honor granted the adjournment until May, and reserved the question of costs.