MANY DIVORCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 124, 27 May 1936, Page 8

MANY DIVORCES.

UNDEFENDED CASES. START OF BIG LIST. WOMAN INQUIRY AGENT. This morning in the Supreme Court Mr. Justice Callan was engaged in the hearing of undefended divorce petitions, of which over 130 have been filed for the second quarterly session of the Court. To-morrow his. Honor will be occupied all day in the hearing of further petitions, and there will still be a large number to be heard later. A precedent was established during the morning in tlie appearance of a woman who gave evidence in the capacity of a private inquiry agent. . Adultery was the ground oil which Harry Herbert Hills (Mr. Sullivan) was granted a decree against Edna Mary Beatrice Hills. The petitioner stated that the marriage took place in 1926. With a private inquiry agent he discovered his wife misconducting herself with the co-respondent. Frequent changes in his occupation to please his wife, and their eventual separation, were vecounted by George O'Fee (Mr. Singer) in his petition against Mabel Victoria O'Fee. His wife eventually took a position as a housekeeper when he was working at Marton, twenty miles away. He was invited to go to the place where his wife was boarding and accepted the invitation for the sake of peace. The arrangement lasted only a week, when his wife told him to leave. His wife went back to Australia' to live, and that was the last he had seen of her. A decree was made on the ground of verbal separation. WIFE'S ASSOCIATES. . Arthur John Wilson,.. (Mr. Singer) sought an -.order for restitution of conjugal rights against- Millicent Daisy Isabel-,'Wilson. The marriage was happy iirttil jo??, .Sylieii there was trouble on account of liis wife's associates, said petitioner. Slio promised to give them bufc'he iouiid that shel had not done go. To break her of tlie association petitioner sent his wife to Whangarei. Unknown to him his wife returned to Auckland and went to live with relations. She refused, however, to come back to him despite constant requests. To his Honor petitioner said his wife would give no reason for not returning. He did not think a difference of 11 years, in their ages had much to do with it. An order was made. WIFE WENT TO DANCES. Charles Harold Hopkins (Mr. Winter) cited Theodore Pac.h6iitf.as co-respondent in his petition against Annie Maxwell Rose Hopkins. The marriage was happy until Easter last year when trouble arose over his wife going to dances with Paehoud, said petitioner. When he refused to sanction this his wife left borne. Petitioner then recounted how lie engaged a female private inquiry 1 agent and found his wife and the corespondent in a hoiise together last Christmas. When he spoke to his wife she pulled a blanket over her head. His wife and the co-respondent, he had ascertained, had since lived together. ' A decree nisi was granted with costs against the co-respondent. WOULD NOT WORK. Constructive desertion was alleged by Beryl Walker (Mr. Winter) in her petition against Leslie Kenneth Walker. The week after she was married in 1932 she found that her husband was not working. had a position in a theatre, and he\said he would not work while she was working. He ill-treated her, and after four weeks she was compelled to leave him. Since that time she had lived apart' from her husband and i had maintained herself. When questioned by his Honor in respect to recognising het" husband's eig- i nature, the petitioner said she had only seen it about three times, having had i only one letter is a twelve months' courtship,;' ; -V V A det-ree nisi- was.granted. 'V ! HUSBAND'S DEPARTURE. ; Marcia Pyramid Joan Gallagher (Mr. Dickson) stated, in her petition for ' restitution of conjugal rights against • William John James Gallagher, that one 1 night in 1936, two years after her mar- 1 riage, she returned home from her work 1 and found that her husband had gone. He had refused by letter, and also verbally, to return to her. ~ 1 His Honor made an order for restitu- 1 tion. ' i SPENT TOO MUCH. Polly Westwood (Mr. Singer), married in 1912 to Walter Westwood, said that trouble started in their married life, in 1921 after they had had a trip to England. Her husband said they had 1 spent too much on the trip. He then took charge of the household accounts, and any money she required she had to ask him for. After living in the same house without being On speaking terms for six months the parties agreed to . separate, petitioner going elsewhere and ( the four children going with her. ] A decree was made on the ground of i verbal separation. ] Muriel Grace Levesque (Mr. Singer) stated that trouble in her married life < with Jamea Robert Levesque com- f menced in 1932, . when her husband was on relief work. He commenced to drink, and eventually a separation order was effected. A decree was granted. MARRIED TOO YOUNG. Zena Eileen May Munns (Mr. Singer) stated that , she was married in 1933 at S the age of 16, her husband being 19. t They lived with petitioner's grand- c mother. Trouble started when her hus- 1 band commenced staying out late at c night. In February last he left alto- ® gether. Petitioner said she had fre- J quently met her husband in the street, but he had refused to come back. Her grandmother was prepared to have him back, and petitioner was, prepared to go on working. The grandmother, in evidence, stated that' the respondent. had told her last j, Sunday that the marriage was a mis- j take. "I told him that I always felt q that, as they were married, too young," j added the witness. c An order was made. C On the ground of failure to comply t with an order for restitution of con- r jugal rights, Martin Billich White (Mr. a Singer) was granted a decree against A Mary Georgia Billich White. n