DISPUTE OVER CREDIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19291, 1 April 1926, Page 12

DISPUTE OVER CREDIT

AN IRRELEVANT DEFENCE. WOMAN'S CLOTHING BILL. JUDGMENT AGAINST SIMS. [ny TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLI NO TON, Wednesd ay. Hearing was resumed yesterday of the case in which Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd., claimed £34 from Percy Randolph George Sims And Betty Sims, for clothing alleged to have been supplied to the lastnamed, who was also sued in respect, of her separate estate. Mr. E. K. Kirkcaldie appeared for Kirkcaldie and Stains, Mr. H. O'Leary for Sims, and Mr. P. Levi for Betty Sims. Sims in the witness-box denied that he had ever gone through a form of matrimony with the other defendant. She had been acting as his housekeeper, lie said. Ho admitted that he had been very fond of her. but that was some .ime ago. "I first met her in 1017, and it is wrong to say that I have lived with her as man and wife for nine years. Before leaving home in 1923, she was never known as Mrs. Sims at all," lie added. Mr. Page: This really has nothing to do with the case. Whether the parties were really married or not, does not concern the present issue greatly. Mr. O'Leary: The reason I want to prove that this man did not marry the other defendant, sir, is that he has been given very unfair publicity over the case. As a result of this he has lost his position in the Railway Department which he held at a salary of £925 a year. Continuing, Sims said he had always been very good to the other defendant. He had paid most, of the. bills by cheque when at Day's Bay. Ho had also supplied l:cr with cash amounting to £1 16s, besides other things he bought in town. Her statement regarding his cruelty had been' quite untrue. Mr. Levi: Why did you in 1920 write her in this strain: "My very own wifev," and sign yourself, "Your very true own loving husband" ? Witness: Because I was very fond of her at that time. Mr. Kirkcaldie: Is it not a fact that ever since you have been in New Zealand she has been living under the name of Mrs. Sims? (Laughter.) Witness: No; she has been using that name, though with my consent. Witness added that prior to their departure from England he had handed over the other defendant certain shares worth 4000 dollars in an engineering company. She had that money when she arrived. "On the other hand, I had nothing when I came here," he added. Mr. Levi: Did you not marry bar? "No, I swear I did not, on my oath," replied witness. The female defendant, recalled, said she was the male defendant's lawful wedded wife. "To show the very poor state of mv clothes," she remarked, "I would like 'to exhibit this dressing gown, which was in so bad a state that I simply had to buy another." Witness held up, amid much laughter, a garment which she said had cost 30 dollars in Vancouver. "Although mv husband now makes a fuss and refuses to pay for it," she added, "when I bought it be said, 'Oh, it does look nice; my. how it suits you.' " Witness said that the shans supposed to have been given her by Sims were really made over to her daughter in payment for debts be owed to herself. The magistrate reserved his decision, and gave it to-day. He found in favour of plaintiffs against Sims. He said there was a presumption of fact that Mrs. Suns had authority to pledge Sims' credit. The law required that a mandate to the contrary should bo a clear and definite r.rder that the husband's credit shall not be pledged. Mere grumbling the rate of the expenditure was not sufficientCosts were allowed to scale.