TWENTY DECREES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 57, 8 March 1944, Page 6

TWENTY DECREES

UNHAPPY MARRIAGES

UNDEFENDED CASES HEARD

Twenty undefended petitions for divorce, and two for restitution of conjugal rights, were heard before Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court to-day.

They were married in December, ]939, and he went overseas in the armed forces the following year, said Francis Joseph Huwyler (Mr. Haigh), in petitioning for an order directing his wife, Margaret Huwy. ler to return to him. While he was overseas his wife wrote regularly to him. and she met him on his return in July last, when she broke the news that she had fallen in love with another boy friend, and declined to live any longer with peti. tioner. A decree was made directing the wife to return to petitioner within 14 days. A similar decree was made in the petition Graham Mervyn Simpson (Mr. C. A. Snedden) v. Kathleen Linda. Simpson, the period allowed for return being 21 days.

Wife's Misconduct He was married in March last year, and two months later returned home unexpectedly and found his wife intimately entertaining an Allied serviceman in their home, said Hedley Telfer (Miss V. Anderson) in petitioning for divorce from Marion Lillian Telfer because of her misconduct with James Garland Harris. Petitioner said his wife admitted the misconduct, and another witness produced a written admission by respondent.

A decree nisi was granted

Married in Rabaul Married at Rabaul, New Guinea, in December, 1931 f Margaret Annie Wood (Mr. Elwarth) sought divorce from Eric Percy Wood, now with the Australian forces. Petitioner said that difficulties were created in their married life in New Guinea by her husband's addiction to drink, causing him to lose good positions. Things became so bad, she said, that they agreed to separate in 1937, and with the help of friends she was enabled to return to New Zealand. The separation had endured from that date.

A decree nisi was granted. Separation and Other Causes

Separation by mutual consent for more than three years was the ground on which decrees were granted in the following petitions:—Muriel Ashforth Campbell (Mr. Garland) V. John Townsend Campbell; Vera Mavis Houghton (Mr. .Meek) v. John Leslie Houghton; Elsie Victoria Westray (Mr. Cleal) v. William John Westray. Reginald Scott (Mr. Nutsford) v. Yvonnie Scott; Mabel Miles (Mr. Nutsford) v. Jack Miles; Ellen Annie Harper (Mr. Klwarth) V. Frank Harper; Edward Charles Manning (Mr. Elwarth) v. Grace Manning. For failure to comply with orders directing restitution of conjugal rights, decrees nisi were granted as follow:— Harold Kenneth Chesters Megson (Mr. Armstrong) v. Alma May Megson; Marjorie Gertrude Buchan (Mr. Wilkin) v. Douglas Leonard Buchan; Laurence Charles Little (Mr. C. E. Clarke) v. Norma lima Little; Ivan Clarence Hugh Sullivan (Mr. Lennard) v. June Mane Sullivan; Jack Dudley Gibbons Layne (MTss V. Anderson) v. Marguerite Janet Freda Layne. The basis for the following decrees was that of desertion by the respondent: John Thomas Jebb (Mr. Lennard) v. Violet Harriett Jebb; Freda McNulty (Mr. Cleal) v. Eric Joseph McNulty; Christine Thompson (Mr. Nutsford) v. Ernest Alfred William Thompson. The misconduct .of her husband with another woman was the ground on which a decree nisi was granted Hilery Buelah Joyce Payne (Mr. Elwarth) in a petition against Arthur John Payne.