IN DIVORCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 55, 3 September 1934, Page 11

IN DIVORCE

DECREES NISI MADE

SCENE AT SUPREME COURT

UNDEFENDED CASES

One or two days—the number varying according to the number of suits filed—are usually set asido each scs- " sion at tho Supromo, Court at. Wellington for the hearing of undefended petitions for divorce. Today was such an occasion, and a further batch of petitions is to come before the Court tomorrow. In about two hours and tweuty minutes today, Mr. Justico Ostler disposed of ten motions to-make decrees nisi, absolute, iivo applications for decrees for restitution of conjugal lights, and twenty-one petitions .for divorce. / OOUBTROOM CROWDED. When a start was mado with the work at 10.30 a.m. petitioners and their witnesses to give corroborative evidence (necessary in some of tho cases) ' crowded tho back of the main courtroom. The legal profession also had a field day. The accommodation provided for them was taxod, and they sat in fino array in wigs and gowi,* tho whito wigs inducing tho irrcsistilm) thought of a well-cultivated patch, of cauliflowers; Some twenty-two bar- ! listers were present at tho start, and five- of them had to sit on the jury benches. As ono of the latecomers was about to .take his seat on ono of tho jury benches a barrister, well known for his wit, could not resist tho tcinp- : tation, his thoughts wandering back to criminal trials, of calling "chal- • Jorigcd," to the amusement of his confreres. About twenty minutes sufficed for Mr. Justice Ostlor to deal with the motions to mako decrees nisi absqluto, and from then on until just' beforo 1 p.m. his Honour dealt with tho petitions for divorco and tho other applications, i Evidence was hoard in each one-rthat- required, of course, depend- ; ing upon the circumstances of tho caso —but throughout tho -morning, a steady, paco was maintained. His Honour wasted no time, and his associate with the typewriter and the Deputy Registrar (Mr. E. G. Ehodes) worked in splendid' co-ordination with tho Judge Much had to bo noted by the Deputy Registrar in regard to each case, and what with; doing this, calling tho cases, and handing documents to the Bench ho was kept moving at a brisk pace. THE COURTHOUSE PIGEONS. Cooing pigeons on the courthouse roof-tops in days gono by bavo often provided what has always seemed an incongruous accompaniment, but >r some little time past the court, building 'has been in the band&'.of painters .-and. decorators, and apparently the pigeons, disturbed by these people, have temporarily transferred their abode d'amour somewhere else. Today, at any rato, tho divorco machine functioned without their accompanimerit. The voices of the parties < and counsel and the muffled tapping of the associate's typewriter wore all that broke tlj.e stillness as marriage knots which had slipped and loosened wero untied. ' ' "". DECREES GRANTED. Decrees nisi, on the grounds stated (the namo of counsel for the petitioner appearing in parenthesos) wore granted in each of tho following undefended petitions: — .Queenio Maude Fredericka Fear (Mr. -N:-A.-:Foden) v. Claude Cyril Kilbimic Pbar," jndn-convpliancfc with a decree for! restitution of conjugal lights; Harold, Nicholson (Mr. D. Diekson) v. Vera Mavis Nicholson, adultery; Raymond Clavclt Cooper (Mr. P. H. Putnam) v. Yera Gladys Cooper, non-compliance with a decree for restitution of coniugal rights; Edna Alico Harding (Mr. G. Findlay) v. William Alfred Hard : ing, non-compliance with a decree for restitution of conjugal rights; James Powell (Mr. A. B. Sievwright) v. Adelaide Maude Powell, desertion; Neta Moug (Mr. R. H. Boys) v. John Moug, separation; William James Healy Ormrod (Mr. H. J. Bishcp) v. Lizzie Ormrodi separation; Alfred Sidney Moors (Mr. W. H. Cunningham) v. Vera Stella Magdalene Moors, desertion; Ivy May Bland (Mr. A. J. Mazengarb) v. Cedric William Bland, separation; Marjory Broadley (Mr. A. B. Sievwright) >v. Gordon Leonard Broadley, separation; George Edwin Trilford (Mr. J. Scott) v.Doroen, May Rico Trilford,, adultery; Caroline Tracy (Mr. A. IL, MacAndrew), v. Michael Ignatius Tracy, desertion; Nellie Natta (Mr. M. Nealc) v. Charles Andrew Natta, separation; Henry Joseph Fallen! (Mr. W. P. Coles) v. Kiti Falleni, separation; Nellie Annie Florence Nelson (Mr. A. B. Oroker)- v. Douglas Gordon Nelson, adultery? Bertha Loamy (Mr. W. P. Rolling's) v. Thomas Loamy, scparatiou; Ella Dorothea Pankhurst (Mr. W, P Rollings) v. Rodney Arnold Pankhurst, adultery; Amy Raymond (Mr. S. G. Stephenson) y. Charles Edward Raymond, . desertion; Catherine Lucy 7Austin (Mr. R. H. Boys) v. Kenneth Hector Austin, separation; Gladys Mabel Edwards (Mr. A. L. Hollings) v. Frederick Maurice Edwards, separation. The following were granted decrees for restitution of conjugal lights:—--: Duncan Drummoud Hair (Mr. C. 11. Arndt) vj Ida Gladys Hair; David; Griffiths (Mr. T. P. McCarthy) v. Florence Esther Griffiths; Thelma Jean Lamb (Mr. P. 11. Putnam) v. Stanley Gideon Lamb; Ruby May Erskino (Mr. A.BBo. o Sievwright) v. John William Erskine; Claude Joseph Henry Walker (Mr. A. L. Hollings). v. Stella Gladys Walker.