WIFE'S PETITION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 162, 11 July 1945, Page 3

WIFE'S PETITION

DIVORCE OPPOSED

HUSBAND AND COUSIN

The watching of a house in Alford Avenue, Ellerslie, was the central feature of a defended divorce case, Nola Isabelle White (Mr. Henry) v. Walter Leonard White (Mr. Terry) heard before Mr. Justice Fair In the Supreme Court to-day. Petitioner alleged misconduct by her husband with a female cousin, and he denied the allegation.

Petitioner said they were married at Hastings in August, 1942, and had one child born in June, 1943. They lived in Auckland after marriage, but parted in July, 1944, and she went with the child to' Hastings. At the end of October she came to Auckland, and as a result of observation of the old home in Alford Street, Ellerslie, she and an inquiry agent visited the house at night and found respondent alone with the co-respond-ent. After a scene her husband, who had previously started restitution proceedings, asked her to stay the night and then return to him, but she refused.

To Mr. Terry the witness said her husband had the house built for them after he was demobilised in 1943. She and the child had been living with her people at Hastings, and they occupied the house at Ellerslie in May, 1944. She left in July. She had been allowed £5 a fortnight to run the house and clothe themselves, and when she asked for a little more she was told she was a hindrance and to get out. She then left. At that time her husband had got his old job back in the Railway Department. There was trouble throughout the marriage over excessive marital demands, but she did not refuse to have more family. Witness said she had been told in September something that made her uneasy, but when she came from Hastings on October 28 she intended, if she found her suspicions unfounded, to talk with her husband with a view to returning to the home. (Proceeding)