SINGULAR CASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21830, 19 June 1934, Page 10

SINGULAR CASE

SEQUEL TO GIRL'S DEATH CLAIM BY FIANCE ARTICLES IN "GLORY BOX" FURTHER ACTION FOR DAMAGES [iJY TEIiEGRAVn —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON. Monday Arc articles received and held by a voting woman in contemplation of marriage recoverable by her fiance in the event of her death? This point came up for determination in the Wellington Magistrate's Court to-day when Thomas Wood, labourer, of Miramar, took action against Robert Leslie Chambers, boilermaker, formerly of Wellington, brother-in-law of his late fiancee, to recover certain articles previously in her possession and contained in what was referred to in Court as her "glory box-." The case is an involved one and concerns not only the action brought by Wood against Chambers, but also a similar action brought by Mrs. Harriett Wood (Wood's mother) against Chambers for the recovery of a bed, mattress and counterpane alleged to have been lent to Miss Ethel Tranter,' the dead fiancee. There is also a claim tor £ damages by Chambers and his wife, Miriam Elizabeth Chambers, against Mrs. Wood and her husband, Ernest Wood, for allegedly libellous statements , contained in a letter sent to Mr. and Mrs. Tranter, the dead girl's parents, in England, complaining of the treatment accorded her by Mr. and Mrs. , Chambers while she was ill. Decision on Two Claims Reserved ' To-day was occupied with the hearing of the two claims for the recovery of the goods. Mr. H. W. Lawrv, S.M., elected to reserve his judgment on them until he had decided tho libel action, the hearing of which was not completed when the adjournment was taken until to-morrow niorning. Mr. O'Regan appeared for Thomas Wood and his mother, Mrs. Harriett Wood, in both j actions, and Mr. J. S. Hanna for j Chambers and Mrs. Chambers. _ Mr. O'Regan, in opening, said that the plamtiff, Thomas Wood, was en- 1 gaged' to" Miss Tranter, who dierl of: meningitis on January 24 last. They . had hoen engaged for about three years | and'it had been proposed that the marriage should take place about the following Easter, but that was frustrated by the girl's untimely death. At different times during the period of courtship. both Thomas Wood and his mother, who took more than a passing interest in the young couple, gave Miss Tranter certain articles, obviously with the end in view that they should be for , the domestic use of the couple when married. " Evidence would be . given, Mr. O'Regan, continued, that a bed, mattress and eiderdown had been lent to Miss Tranter, in view of the proposed marriage, but as that marriage had not taken, place, through the Fault of' no one, it was contended that the goods should.be returned. Comments By Magistrate Evidence was given by Mrs. Wood and Thomas Wood on the lines indicated by counsel. Mr. Hanna. for the defence, said the : goods claimed by Thomas Wood . had ] been sent to England to Miss Tranter's j parents. j The Magistrate: When were they sent back? Mr. Hanna: On or about March 31. The Magistrate: That is nearly two months after the Chambers knew that a claim was being made. If the defendants elected to take property not their own it will be their own responsibility if I refuse to assess the value of the articles and fix default by imprisonment. Mr. Hanna said it was submitted that the bed, mattress and eiderdown were not a conditional gift at all. It was an outright gift from Mrs. Wood to Miss Tranter. The magistrate said the basis of the action was that it was not a gift at all, but a- loan. Mr. Hanna said that one could hardly imagine a more shabby action than the present one. The action was brought by a young man — Goods Sent to England The Magistrate: What about putting the converse ? A person who has no legal claim to property insists on keeping it. Even if the gifts were unconditional they were not gifts made to the Chambers. Mr. Hanna: The Chambers did not keep them, and did not want them. The Magistrate: They have taken it on themselves to see that tliej r cannot be got back. Mr. Hanna: They sent them to the girl's parents in England. The Magistrate: They set themselves up as judges to say who was the owner of the goods when they knew it was in dispute, and then you submit shabbiness on the part of Wood. Robert Leslie Chambers, defendant, said he had never heard it said that the bed * n dispute belonged to anybody but jVliss Tranter. When Wood approached him he declined to hand over any of Miss Tranter's belongings. Opening the action against Ernest Wood and Mrs. Wood for alleged libel, Mr. Hanna said that Miss Tranter became ill on Anniversary Day last and two days afterward she died of meningitis. Evidence was given by the plaintiff, Chambers, as to the circumstances of the girl's death, after which the adjournment was taken until to-morrow.