CRUELTY ALLEGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22670, 6 March 1937, Page 8

CRUELTY ALLEGED

ELDERLY MAN IN COURT WIFE SEEKS MAINTENANCE Allegations of persistent cruelty, inj eluding the throwing of a cup of tea in her face, threatened violence and the use of abusive language by her husband, Hallyburton Johnstone, were made in the Magistrate's Court yesterday by Mary Mitchell Johnstone, when she applied for maintenance and separation orders to be made against him on the grounds that she was destitute and that he had failed to provide her with adequate means of maintenance. Mr. Schramm appeared for the wife and Mr. Newbery for the husband. Mrs. Johnstone said in evidence that they were married on January 15, 1935. After a time her husband, who was 76 years of age, while she was 58, began using abusive and threatening language to her, and, although he frequently threatened violence, he never hit her. On one occasion he threw a cup of tea in her face. He begrudged the food she ate, said ho was not going to keep her, and ordered her out of the house. "Last June he gave me a cheque for £lO and asked me to get out," she said. "My health has suffered, and under no circumstances could 1 go back to and live with him." Medical evidence was given that Mrs. Johnstone was unlit to work or maintain herself, and a neighbour gave evidence that the wife had often visited her home, complaining that her husband had threatened violence. She was a quiet woman, witness said, and seemed frightened and distressed. Defendant said ho met his wife two or three days before she became his housekeeper and they were married a fortnight later. "When he wanted to invito his niece to their home his wife objected, which she also did when he wanted his brother and sister-in-law to visit them. "The whole of her evidence is untrue and absolutely false," said defendant, in replv to the magistrate, Mr. W. 11. McKean, S.M. The magistrate said there must have been some reason for the complaint. He suggested that it would be better for the parties to confer and try to reach some settlement, and the case was adjourned until Monday afternoon.