WIFE "GIVEN AWAY."

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 59, 10 March 1923, Page 19

WIFE "GIVEN AWAY."

HUSBAND FIGHTS NEW OWNER. The cnrloiw case of a wife who was alleged to have been handed orer by her husband to another man "by la-vyer's agreement" astonished the Grimsby magistrates one day last month, when two labourers, Isaac Smith and Walter Hudson, were charged with fighting. They were found, peeled to the waist, battling in the street. j "It's all abont nothing," said Smith to the Bench. "We made an arrangement that Hnison should hand over his wife to mc. We had a lawyer's agreement." A Magistrate: Do you mean there was a legal agreement for him to surrender his wife to you? Smith: That is it, sir. The Mayor: It seems a strange arrangement Are we living in England? Smith: That was the arrangement, and Hndson keeps coming round to see if his wife wants him back. He came ronnd this Afternoon, and his wife said to him, "You're In lodgings. Aren't you happy V That led to words and the fight. Hudson told the Court that his wife an* child went to Smith. He went round to give the wife some money for the child. She called him names and then Smith started to fight him, so he had to defend himself. Smith: The way that man talks is something scandalous. A Magistrate: You don't think it scan. dalous to take his wife from him? Smith: No. It was by proper agreement. The Mayor said the Court ha* nothing to do with the moral relationships of the parties, but for the offence of fighting defendants would be fined 10/.