AFFILIATION CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 58, 8 March 1913, Page 5

AFFILIATION CASE.

The Magistrate's Court was occupied from 0.30 to 12.30 to-day with an affiliation case, in which William Burleigh was the defendant. Mr C. C. Kettle was on the bench.

Mr Towle appeared for the complainant, and Mr Stilling for the defendant, who denied paternity, while admitting intimacy. Further evidence was called on behalf of defendant, added to which the complainant, defendant, and a numbeT of •witnesses were recalled. Some of the statements were of a most contradictory nature. Sidelights were thrown on the innocence of bucolic life, such as chasing a young fellow-who threw a flashlight upon a group of young men and ■women. The result wee that one-of the chasers tripped and fejl, while the other ran into the arms of a young lady. Sitting with young gentlemen • under hedges, and ldg6ing at the gate, was a.]so deposed to, and altogether the evidence showed a .very free and easy relationship between opposite' sexes.

Mr Kettle intimated that as the case had been pending for some time, he would reserve his decision in order to go carefully through the evidence, to satisfy himself if paternity had been clearly ,prove*l= The complainant admitted she knew that defendant was engaged to another girl at $he time he was going with her. She also admitted having allowed another man to kisß her frequently, and the question was whether the evidence iwae : sufficiently conclusive—taking all the surroundinocircumstances into consideration—to leave no element of doubt upon the question of paternity.