DIVORCE DECISION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 17

DIVORCE DECISION

MAINTENANCE PAYMENTS EFFECT OF DECREE ABSOLUTE [from our owx correspondent] HAMILTON, Tuesday Cancellation of a maintenance order in favour of his wife was sought before Mr. 6. L. Paterson, S.M., in the Hamilton Magistrate's Court yesterday by Arthur Harley Boulton (Mr. Johnson), on the grounds that a decree absolute had been granted. After hearing plaintiff's evidence, Mr. Paterson said the effect of a decree ■absolute on a maintenance order had not been definitely settled in New Zealand. English authorities were of the opinion that it did not have a cancelling effect. In the Dominion Courts, while it had not been definitely decided, there were a number of decisions by New Zealand judges pointing to the fact that the maintenance order would be cancelled In one case in Auckland a writ of habeas corpus had been granted a man who had been imprisoned on a maintenance complaint following a divorce. It had been recently observed by Mr. Salmon, S.M., of Wanganui, that the magistrate had the discretion to vary the order under such circumstances. In this case, said Mr. Paterson, he could use his discretion and cancel the order. There had been no complaints from the wife, and the child of the marriage was now 16 years of age, and able to fend for herself.