FARMER'S DIVORCE SUIT.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 187, 8 August 1919, Page 2

FARMER'S DIVORCE SUIT.

DEFENDED BY WIFE, |H A CHARGE OF MISCONDUCT. ; A defended divorce whidf a husband alleged misconduct against WrJ wife, was heard *at the Supreme CouiT. to-day by Mr. Justice Cooper and a jmj: of twelve. The petitioner wae-Charier. Grant, farmer and contractor, of.WbuK*' garei (Mr. J. R. Reed, K.C., and Jb£ W. D. Anderson), and the respondedwas Eliza Grant (Mr. E. J.-Prendergaitfl David Marshall (Mr- W. OliphantJ vuf cited as co-respondent. i Mr. Reed, opening the case for.tfcslj petitioner, said that the parties weie§ married>in 1905, and livediia the .Wha&fi

garei district till 1916; expressed a strong desire to leave jbii, country:rand.tlive<un to»vn. As she aisted in this, and as it was in the inter! ests of his son's education, he built hei a house at and she-went to liv« there in December; 1916: He used-1« come to town occasionally after. thilf and they corresponded regularly.- IfpJ thing unusual happened until one Sif, when he came down to Auckland wi(P out sending his wife a wire, as : eb| had requested him to do;' Hie reached'the* house about 8 and soon afterwarSl Marshall, who had been formerly iniid«> employ, came in without knocking, ged* carrying some parcels of food. Bothl Marshall and his wife seemed very itmeij embarrassed by the occurrence, and. |he* petitioner began to feel worried. The nexf'

year he re-employed Marshall on his farm!; but in consequence of something curred there he dismissed him. He wasr, then led, much against his will, questions of- his son, aged 14, ■his mother's conduct in Auckland. The; son, Mr. Reed proceeded, would tunately have to be called as a witness. - He would say that Marshall vaeip frequently to come and sleep -at ■ the house, in ■ a bedroom opposite.?;'. that of the respondent, and -that'■■■' whenever visitors, " called. Mwelwllv would conceal himself in- one'of/? the bedrooms.. The. boy ■'wbiiW.also say that 'his mother once" said toY him, "If you tell your father that D&veV (meaning the co-reepondent) has teeec here, I'll give you the damnedest hiding V you ever had." When taxed with mis-;; conduct by her husband the respondentmade no denial, nor did she deny "lie" . truth of the boy's statements, but wneft.r lie suggested that there might be other*-: implicated .beside Marshall she teobn* i hysterical and threatened to' knock iim " .■ down and burn down the toouae. Once 1 he said to her, "I'd give anything to'tnow; Ihow that man, who's anything but-»nV Adonis, got the advantage of you," ' Sta;.': ■replied, "In the same way ac "you did." fourteen yeans ago." Divorce prowied-; : ings were started, and ibis solicitor took ' i her to an independent solicitor. It waa- ; : assumed that she would not defend the";; suit, as she had made no steadfast denial j lip to that point. In fact, she handed - him a letter written to her solicitor, eey-r ing that she did not wish to hotter ■further with the case. After this shall came to town, and she then took * | different attitude, presumably witn tbi ■: object of shielding him. • The petitioner, an elderly man. gsve I evidence similar to hie counsel's stite-" j -ment. He added that ,the respondent, told him at one stage that she had m»d»v a written statement to her solicitor thetV :■ she had misconducted herself with » man whose name she had not disclosed. -" ! Later she said that it was only theW respondent that had forced her to> : defend the ease. In cross-examination by Mr. Prendergast, the witnees loudly protested against a question about his means.*. Mr. Prendergast (to the Court): We/; < suggest that the petitioner for ye'arsiad*Y the help of his wife and 6tep-sons, end; j that now, 'being a man of some means, he j wante to turn his wife adrift and getS i sibly to form 6ome other matrjnWßJ*!. j attachment. Witness (contemptuously): Oh, never j in your life. That won't wash. In answer to further questions, the witness said that he had often as m«ny. v as eleven employees boarding in hi*;" house at Whangarei. in addition to tie members of his family. His wife did the cooking, washing, and mending lj> r ;i all of them, with the assistance of » ; servant and an old man who did odd The case is proceeding. "' . '" ' Ji