POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 265, 7 November 1919, Page 5

POLICE COURT.

('Before Mr. J W. Poynton, S.M. )

GAVE HIM GENTLE REMINDER. George 'Henry Offirien (-J'l), a waterside worker, was tailed on by his wife to show cause why an order of separation should not he made against him on the: grounds of drmVkennees and persistent! cruelty. The wife, Emily OVBrien, stated that they had been married seven years, and she had two children. Her husband) tad been always addicted to drink, ami frequently knocked her about, and left her. Since he came back from the wai he had continued to drink, and had assaulted her, and had been before the Court and convicted of the assault. O'ißrien: When T went home, didn't you lock mc out, and then opeir the door and hit mc on the head with a screw wrench. The wife: Only a gentle tap. [n r«ply to a statement that ehe associated with bad characters, the witness said they were only the people that her Jnisband brought to the house as his friends. Defendant said lie wished to be separated from the wife, and would pay 20/ a week. The Magistrate remarked that there were two children to be kept. Defendant: I'm not the father of those children. TTis Worship: But you kuew she had tile children when you were married, and took over the responsibility. Defendant: I knew she had one, and ivben she married mc slie brought another one.

In reply to tlie Magistrate defendant said he "made 20/ last week, and £i this week at hie work. The order of separation Tvas granted, and an order was made for the payment by defendant of £2 a week as maintenance. ■ TORPEDOED XN H.M.S. DRAKE. An application for a separation and maintenance order from her husband was made by Emily Eecles, who had married Philip Braithwaite Kecles (26) in England less than two years ago. The circumstances indicated the need for a liaison department in connection with; the repatriation of men who had enlisted! in different parts of the Empire. Eccles had been in the navy as a wirelees operator on H.M.s. Drake, when that vessel j was torpedoed, and as a result of the i blowing-up of the ship went to hospital where he met the lady, who became his I wife. .She was then an army nurse, j They were married in March last year and came in May to Now Zealand, where Ket:lee parents resided. Ho was still suffering from shell-shock, and although <m electrical engineer, could not undertake the heavy work attendant on going on with that trade. They stayed at Ecclm parents home, till the parents intimated that they could not keep tlioj pair of them. Eccles got some light j work, arid established hie wife in a Hat, hut could not keep it going on his earnings. The wife, finding her husband was not providing sufficient for her, tolcl him lie could go his way and cihe would look after herself. She *ecured a nursing billet, with the Australian Government during epidemic time in Sydney. and under that contract nursed for seven [months. She contracted influenza twice land when she returned it was with impaired health. Again the pair tried tfl work out the old theory that two could live as cheaply together as one, but the husband's earnings proved inadequate. Evasive and unreliable stories about the work he was setting or going to g;et resulted in a shaking of her confidence in him, and eventually the court proceed- , ings followed.

Eeeles said he wanted to get work ami keep his wife, but owing to his broken health lie had been unable to find a sufficiently remunerative job. He liad had jobs at £2 a week and under from local Arras, for light work in fitting up machinery. The Repatriation Departraent declined to grant him assistance, because his war service had t<t?en with the Imperial forces and not tlu- Xew Zealand forces.

His Woreliop remarked that the case j was one of two youns- people of j character having elight cause for da-| agreement over finding a living basis for their married life. He adjourned bhe case for a week in the hope that in the meantime they might manage to | find a satisfactory arrangement for coming together.