DESERTED WIVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22525, 16 September 1936, Page 18

DESERTED WIVES

PROBLEM IN WALES COST OF £IOO,OOO A YEAR [from a bpeoial correspondent] LONDON, August 20 Deserted wives and their children are costing the Welsh public assistance authorities, it is estimated, £IOO,OOO a year. This is the outstanding fact resulting from an inquiry into domestic conditions in the Principality. Wales more thai) any other part of the kingdom seems to be a land of broken romances. In the industrial areas Police Court records and statistics of local authorities reveal thousands of homes wrecked by deserting fathers.

There are at present 0v0r,5000 separated couples in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire alone, and it is significant that the Police Courts in what are called the distressed areas hare to deal with most of the desertion and maintenance applications of wives. Some surprising facts are brought to light at these matrimonial hearings. Frequently, when public assistance authorities prosecute erring husbands for failing to maintain wives and children they have deserted, it is shown that husbands owe sums ranging from £IOO to ' £3OO. Sometimes a husband comes before the Courts who owes as much as £SOO for his family maintenance.