"A BRILLIANT JOKER"

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1913, Page 3

"A BRILLIANT JOKER"

FAILS TO SUPPORT HIS WIFE

AND IS TAKEN TO TASK BY

MAGISTRATE,

With arrears amounting to £97 7s i due up to January 13th, John William ] Leslie appeared before Dr. McArthur, i S.M., 'at the Wellington Magistrate's j Court on Monday (says the Times) ; charged with having disobeyed a 1 I maintenance order in respect to his ! wife. Leslie asked that the case might! be adjourned. v i Dr. McArthur: How long do you . want it adjourned, there is only £97 ' 7s owing?—l want to see if you can . reduce those arrears. j Oh, yes, I thought it was something j like that. Have you anybody to keep ; but yourself?— No. " { What do you do when you work?— j I work on the wharf. i On the wharf, and you can't pay | £1 a week towards your wife's sup- ] port!— No. j You can't?— No. j I think the sooner you make a move ■ the better. On the wharf for the last"' four or five months they haven't : known where to get men. Do you ' work on the wharf or play, "two-' up"?—l never gambled in my life. ! Well, that is an excuse, but a poor i one. What do you do with your : money when you make it?—l never;, earn it. j Oh. do you get tired soon? I am' very likely to reduce your arrears! The clerk of the court informed his j Worship that it was nearly two years ; since the order was made. Only £2 5s had been paid so far.

Dr. McArthur (to defendant): ; You re a brilliant joker, you are! '■ You come here and have the impu- ] dence to ask if I will wipe that all ; out.—l never asked you to wipe it ' out. :

What can you pay now ?—Nothing. ' That is what you have paid for a ; long while, isn't it? Have you a re- i ceipt for it? (Laughter). Nearly two ' years!—lt is not two years. j I never said it was. You are pretty smart I can see. You will be sentenced to three months' imprisonment. ' if we can't make you pay we'll send ' you somewhere else.- !

Leslie seated himself, but a few minutes, afterwards rose and said to ! Dr. McArthur: "Can't you give me : %a» nCe to pay sometning of that '

Dr. McArthur: In March it will : have been two years since the order . was made, and you have paid praeti- ! }? n? thin S- I know you would rather be out of gaol in the summer- ' time. No, I won't give you a, chance. ! Anyone would think I was a fool j

Freak weddings are becoming more : and more common in Sydney as a i feature of various shows (states an" Australian contemporary). Wonder- ' land w City set the, example with a ' marriage on the back of an elephant, and quite recently the public were ' invited to behold a dwarf bride and bridegroom at Tiny Town. Another , i was added to the list by a wedding in a circus arena. The place was Bud Atkinson's Circus, at Moore Park, the bride-elect being Miss Rose Jean Isabella Durack, of Sydney, and the bridegroom an American cowboy, by the name of Harry Murphy. By a happy omen, the rain, which hail been falling steadily throughout the evening, ceased before the procession, picturesque in red shirts and bearskin trousers, and headed by j "Colonel" Lavelle, paraded slowly round the ring to the strains of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March." A striped marquee had been erected, and here the ceremony was performed, the assembled cowboys celebrating its conclusion with a salvo jof revolver shots, which compelled the bride to put her fingers in her ears. .The couple were then made the recipients or a number of wed- • dine; presents, amid the plaudits of the huge audience.

You may go farther but you won't find anywhere a more lasting polish for linoleums, floorcloths, furniture, and leather goods than TAN-OL. In tins: liquid Is, paste 6d.—Adyt,