BREACH OF PROMISE?

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 February 1931, Page 7

BREACH OF PROMISE?

MR. G. C. BLACK M.P.! SUED

£lOOO DAMAGES CLAIMED

[PEE PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

WELLINGTON, February 27. A breach of promise action was brought to-day by Edna May Bartlett, spinster, of Wellington, against G. • Black/ M.P., of Motueka. The Chief Justice (Sir M. Myers) is on the *Rqti dr - Plaintiff alleges a verbal agreement to marry being made in .lanuaiy, 1927. She was always ready and willing to marry, but. he had neglected and refused to marry her, and in June, 1930, married another * woman. ' Black’s first defence is a denial that he agreed to marry plaintiff, and further, that the alleged agreement, if any, was put an end to by mutual consent before there was any breach by him. The claim is for £lOOO.

Opening the case, Mr Gray, K.C., said the parties became acquainted at the Government Hostel at Waitomo in 1926, while Black was a clerk there, and plaintiff waitress. They were thrown a great deal into one another’s company, and became quite attached. So much so, that Black proposed marriage in January, 1927, and was accepted. He was still clerk at the hostel, and his prospects not bright, although he was an ambitious young man, and, as would be shown, possessed considerable ability and energy. His idea was they should get married when his prospects improved, and he could get an hotel, he was, counsel thought, very fond of the girl, and she was certainly fond of him. In 1926, said Mr Gray, Black was a committee clerk during the sessions of Parliament. Counsel read a number of affectionate letters written to splaintifi, between June and the end of the session. Afterwards, Black returned to Waitomo, and they became formally engaged in January, 1927., Tfie state of his feelings was disclosed in. a letter to her father. He asked FOR THE LOAN OF £25 to buy the engagement ring. The father replied thjit the idea did not appeal to him, and he advocated postponing the marriage till defendant’s prospects were brighter. The cold douch from the father apparently did not suppress defendant’s ardour. More than once, the parties visited Hamilton, and Black priced a ring there. As the time approached for Black to come to Wellington for the sessions of 1927, he said he hated the idea of leaving her behind, and it was arranged that she should come to Wellington. He took her to his aunt’s house, and introduced her as his affianced bride. She took employment in various shops, and one afternoon defendant took her for a walk in Central Park, and gave her a ring, which he said had belonged to his mother. She later spent some months in Martinborough. Letters passed between them, and on her return, the same affectionate relationship existed between them.

(Proceeding).