WOEFUL WORSEN

NZ Truth, Issue 234, 18 December 1909, Page 6

WOEFUL WORSEN

AND HARDENED HUSBANDS.

This Week's Little Lot.

White's Worried Wife.

Bis Strange Defence.

Monday at the S.M.s Court is "Mariital Misery Day,," or, m other words, it is on on that clay that married -women, who are pushed to extreme measures, tell m open Court the sad, and often sordid stories of their wedded lives. Usually there arc about a dozen of these cases set down for hearing. iNow and again they are defended, and then skin and hair flies ; ioc notwithstanding the iron rod that Mr Riddell, S.M. rules with, when husband and wife go it ham- j mer and tongs he is incompetent, helpless, and listless to stop ' the torrent oV recriminative virtuperation that flows, j The bitterness that is imparted into these matrimonial disputes can hardly be? imagined. The strife and turmoil of illassorted pairs, their every little jar a nd misunderstanding is magnified.. It, sometimes, it is shown that a wife is wanton, or a drunkard, or, if not that, is a useless, extravagant woman, incapable of managing her home, and running a toiling and moiling bread-winner almost t o the verge of bankruptcy, the experience m the Courts prove that, m the majority of instances, the man is at fault. If he is not too fond of other and none too virtuous females, he is a cruels drunken beast, who has long before. brok- ■ en the heart of the woman he vowed to: cherish and protect. Sometimes it is that the man possesses the temper of a-, fiend incarnate, with a hand ever raised^ against his wife, whose blackened eyes, battered face and bruised body is all convincing testimony of the unloving visi-r tations of her lord and. master..' Often it: is that the husband is a loafing waster, who is unable to maintain himself, let alone his wife and children. This ■' week's doings at the SJl.'s Court Were of an unusually quiet nature. Plenty of cases, 'tis true, were set down for hearing, and where the elusive husband failed to attend, orders varying from 10s upwards were entered against them. ' In -one case a Petone boptmaker, William Crayall White was sued by Esther, his estranged missus, for maintenance. Both are young and seem to have been singularly foolish m having married each other. They entered the bonds a. few years back, and have a child now two and a-half years of age, which is "out," or, m other words, is being reared m. some institution. The couple have not lived happily, and m the not dim past their differences were adjusted m Court, when the hubby was ordered to pay 12s per week maintenance. One instalment was paid, and arrears amounting to £7 odd totted up, which the wife, as Mr P. Jackson. who appeared for her explained, very foolishly forgave, hoping against hope that he would relent sv n d j take her back to his manly chest. The defendant, it was elicited from the evidence, earned, o n an average, £2 5s per week at his trade. He had, m addition to paying for the support of the aforesaid child, to maintain his aged mother. He aiso had to pay 15s per week and was paying off for the furniture of the 'orae, which had been installed on the easy payment plan. He also accused his young missus,' who is about to again become a mother, of having extravagant . tastes and having left him a lot of unsettled •bills to pay off as best he could. One bill was for novelettes which the young missus swore she had paid for herself. Under the financial circumstances, the maintenance of his missus was, according to the boot-patcber, out of all question. Incidentally, as a sort of .sly poke, White observed that on a former occasion he had told his wife that he would never live with' her' again, and added "that she was not a frtand proper .person," a remark duly commented upoii by counsel, who became aggressive and was prepariug to skin White alive when an embarrassed "Beak" deplored the irrelevancy and added that uue aforesaid I suggestive remark did not impress Uio I court, whereupon "the court" was duly thanked by the polite Percy. Furthermore, White, m an indirect manner indicated that he was m no way responsible for the state, sometimes described as "interesting," that his young wile was no.w in — a suggestion treated with scorn by Mr Jackson and which the Court pTererred to regard as irrevelant, which suggests to the analytical mind that irrelevancy m Couit covers a multitude of sins. Though" Mr Bunny, who .'appeared for the despondent loqjting , snob, carefully endeavored to make iihe matter one of mere maintenance, "the ether side" were forced to drag m a lot oE side issues, and mentioned one peculiar transaction which shows how 'extraordinary some .people can be m their foolishness. Rebutting the • allegation that the young missus was wasteful and unable to show a surplus at any time, Mr Jackson elicited that before she married White she had expectations under her grandfather's will. It was a matter of £250, which the Heiress was to get when grandma gave up the ghost. This interest under the will the wife, sold for £30. She alleged that her husband urged her on to do it, tTiat she only got &3 out of the deal. The husband, on the other hnad, declared that the wife grow tired of awaiting the untimely end' of grandma and wanted to sell at a sacrifice, and that the most of the £30 went m clothes for herself. He also admitted that he was willing to help his nrssus at any time, but preferred she should earn her own living the best way she could. These facts, told m the usual way, were sworn to before Mr Riddell on Monday Inst, and after weighing all the circumstances the S.M. decided on making an order for tEe payment of 10s per week, with the usual costs.