" DISMAL FUTURE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 229, 27 September 1935, Page 8

" DISMAL FUTURE."

WIFE'S POSITION.

MAGISTRATE'S COMMENT. SEVEN MONTHS MARRIED. "It is rather a dismal future for your wife to have to look forward to go back to your house merely to be a housekeeper," said the magistrate, Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., to Ivan Moore, farmer, of Mangere, who this morning defended an action for maintenance brought by his wife Helen Moore. The parties had been married only since January. "It is obvious that you made a mistake in marrying," the magistrate continued. "There may bo some fault on your wife's part; there certainly is some on yours." Complainant said in evidence that there had been friction from the start. The main trouble was that her husband's mother would always come first. Ho told her that about twice a week after tlicy were married. He had been "a perfectly decent man" before they were married. When she asked him if ho cared for her he would make some such reply as, "If you are good," or "Don't talk about it," and "What arc you nagging about now." Would Not Fight Mother. "I am not going to fight a mother for her boy," she said. "It would be different if he cared for me." When her husband's step-father had come from his house down to hers, a distance o£ some hundreds of yards, he told her that if there was any blamo on tho boy's part he was there to take it. "I told him that I hadn't married him; that I had married tho boy," witness said she had replied. She also said she had got into "a state of nerves." They had called it "hysteria," or "bad temper." In reality it was what was known as a "shocked heart" as the result of the Hawke's Bay earthquake. Cross-examined by counsel for defendant, she said she knew that her husband had said there was a homo for her. Counsel: You knew there was a home thero? Witness: I knew there was a house, there, and that his people would bo there too. Counsel: You knew you would be maintained thore? Witness: I know I would get food and work. I want to be a wife; not a housekeeper. Witness complained of the influence of her husband's mother. Had to Consult His People. Defendant said that he was working . on shares on his step-father's farm and ' it was necessary for him to discuss farming mattors with his people. That explained the time spent ill his people's house. After lie had given further evidence, the magistrate said that ho would like to know what witness thought was tho cause of tho trouble. "You were married in January. It is now September and you are hern—a perfectly ridiculous state' of affairs." He susrsrested that any wife expected to bo taken into her husband's confidence, and he (witness) had made a confidant of his mother. "You say yon are not fond of her," Mr. MeKcan added, "and yet you say there is a home there for her. What do you want her back for?" Mr. Mcllsop (for complainant!: There is a question of maintenance, sir. Tt was then thnt Mr. McKean su?pested that the wife's future mjtrht be dismal as a housekeeper. He adiourned the case so thnt If neeessarv the anp'iettion mirrlit lie amended to include maintenance and separation.