DIVORCE ACTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24275, 16 May 1942, Page 9

DIVORCE ACTION

EX-DETECTIVE'S CASE EVIDENCE FOR DEFENCE REFERENCES TO PHOTOGRAPH The evidence of the respondent, Joyce Doroen Belton, and of the co-respond-ent, James Meldrum Scarlett, in the divorce case of Charles Patrick Belton, formerly a detective, and now a sapper in the New Zealand Forces, Was heard before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury yesterday. The petitioner claims custody of their two children and £ISOO damages from the co-respondent. Mr. M. Robinson is appearing for the petitioner, and Mr. G. Skelton for the respondent and the co-respondent. Continuing her evidence, the respondent denied that she had made any confessions of adultery to her husband when he was at Trentham in 1939. Her husband's allegations were "a fairy story." When she received a letter from her husband in Fgypt requesting a divorce and making allegations against her she gathered that he must have been drinking or was thoroughly miserable. She wrote him a very nice reply, enclosing £1 and telling him to cheer up and drink her health. During 1940 she lived at her father's home. Early in 1941 she took an apartment house to make a home for herself, and the co-respondent, Scarlett, became a boarder there. Aroused by Light When her husband returned to Auckland last February she was frightened of him, but went to see him with her brother to arrange a separation. He told her it was all right and he would fix up a divorce. He talked some wild nonsense. On account of his subsequent behaviour she had to change her lodgings to get away from him. Questioned about the flashlight photograph produced by Mr. Robinson, witness said she had no idea that Scarlett was in the room until she had been rudely aroused by a torch being flashed in her face. In cross-examination, the respondent said Scarlett moved into the house as a boarder the day she took possession of it, and remained there until she vacated it last January. She said she had been "trying to avoid scandal and dirt" over this case. "Where are the children nowP" asked Mr. Robinson. Witness: Just where Mr. Belton left them when he went to the war. His Honor: There is no reason why you should not give the information. Witness: There is no reason why I should withhold it. They are at my father's residence. 00-respondent's Evidence Asked how she had come to Court that day, witness said she had been conveyed by Mr. Scarlett at the request of Mr. Skelton. She said that on April 2 last she had issued a summons for maintenance against her husband, alleging cruelty and failure to maintain. The co-respondent, Scarlett, aged 33, said he was a driver and had never been a company manager. He described the petitioner's allegations of adultery against him as absurd, and said he was away from Auckland during 1940. Regarding the occasion of the photograph, witness said he had gone to take night attire to Mrs. Belton and found her asleep. The next thing he knew he was lying on the floor with a private inquiry agent hitting him on the head with a torch and Belton kicking him in the ribs. Further evidence Was called by Mr. Skelton to show that the married life of the petitioner and respondent had not been happy. The hearing was adjourned until Monday. LAMP PRODUCTION SALVAGE OF BASES To an Auckland firm of electric lamp manufacturers goes the credit of first applying the idea of reclaiming the brass bases from burned-out globes and using them again. The best co-opera-tion, stated the manager of the firm, had come from Government departments, which forwarded consignments regularly. Various patriotic drives for the salvaging of metals had also been helpful, and the Auckland factory had purchased all the bases recovered in this way. But the public at large were still very apathetic. Nearly 4,000,000 globes, it was estimated, were discarded in New Zealand each year, and, although collections reaching Auckland in the past two years had been reasonably good, they fell far short of what was expected. To meet its requirements in bases, the Auckland factory has used bakelite and the management believes that it is the first in the world to do so. MUSIC ACADEMY AWARDS BURSARIES AND PRIZES (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Friday Following is the list of awards of bursaries and prizes by the Royal Academy of Music (London) in connection with the 1911 examinations in New Zealand: —- Licentiate examinations (pianoforte), £10: to the candidate gaining the highest marks j in each island. —Percy W. Smallfield, Auck- | land; Margaret Jean Anderson. Christchurch | £lO to candidates in grades IV. to VIII. ; who gained the highest distinction marks.— Grade IV.: Barbara A. Jury, Auckland. Grade V.: Alison Simmers. Auckland; Beatrice Tay lor Lower Hutt. Grade VI.: Shirley D. Welch, Lower Hutt. Grade VII.: Alison Edgard, Christchurch. Grade VIII.: Moira Ross, Lower Hutt. . . , , Free entry to the licentiate examination to the candidates gaining next highest marks j in Grade VllL—Moira Ross, Lower Hutt; Colleen McCracken, Auckland; Doreen Lineen, Hamilton.