TWO MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1908, Page 4

TWO MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.

Two marriage) certificates 'produced by. counsel and shoved under tho no&c of a witness, wero responsible for a mild' sensation in the Magistrate's Court the other day, says th,e, Press. James Albeit Sheard, for whom Mr Dougall appeared, asked the court to vary an order requiring him to contribute towards the maintenance of his wife and child, 911 the ground that reasonable access to the child was refused by his wife. In cross-examination Mr. Donnelly produced .ike two certificates, and invited the witness to examine them. One was issued from Somerset House, and revealed a marriage in England between one James Albert Sheard and a woman named Hollins, in 1878. The other showed a marriage ia New Zealand between James Sheard and another woman in 1882. Mr. Donnelly pointed out that the descriptions of the bridegroom in both certificates, in regard to parentage, occupation, and other particulars were identical, except that- in tho New Zealand one his age was shown as 24 instead of 20. This discrepancy was explained by the fact that the alleged second marriage took place four years after the English one. Sheard absolutely denied that he was the man referred t6 in tho English certificate. His brother, however, said that he had heard of a marriage in England, but he Was not sufficiently interested to prosecute cflqtiirie's. airs. Edwin Sheard, a sistef-iri-law, deposed that Sheard admitted tb her that he vcas married on the 'day he left England, and that he expected his wife to follbw him to New Zealand. Tho magistrate impounded the documents so that further enquiry could be made. He remarked that he was hot satisfied that the truth had been told The application to viry the order was dismissed.