THE COURTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 7778, 10 May 1886, Page 3

THE COURTS.

DIVORCE COURT. Saturday, May 8. (Before Hia Honor the Chief Justice.) WEBB V, WEBB, Tbia waa an adjourned application, the evidence of the wife (who waa the petitioner) and the husband having been taken in September last. Mr Jellicoa appeared on behalf of the petitioner. Hia Honor read the evi. deuce taken by him in September. aod after a short argument, Mrs Webb waa called. She deposed that she first heard of her husband’s adultery in 1881. Mr Bates, a storekeeper, told her of it. She did not hear with whom he was committing it then, and she first heard of hia improper relations with a Miss Ward when she came to this Conrt last year. Witness got £2 a week in Rcetton, and was in the habit of sending £3 or £4 a month to her mother, now a widow at Nelson. She wrote her husband a letter saying that she heard be was living with someone else, and that it would be a good thing if they could get a divorce. She did not say in that letter that “ he could accuse her of anything he liked, so long as she got the divorce.” She had been nine years in Reef ton now. Her husband had never denied that he committed adultery. His Honor thought there waa evidence of desertion, and there waa no evidence of collusion. He would therefore grant a rule nisi.

PABDEN V PABDEN. On the application of Mr Eitzherbert (for petitioner) thij case waa adjourned till the June sittings. JONES T. JONES.

This was a case in which Annie Jones sued for a divorce from her husband, Wm» Michael Angelo Jones, on the grounds of adultery, cruelty, and desertion. Mr Stafford waa for the petitioner, and the respondent did not appear, and waa unrepresented. The petitioner, Annie Jones, deposed that her maiden name was Ellen and she was married in January, 1878, at Oamaru. For five months her husband worked on the railway line, and then he conducted an agency for the sale of musical Instruments. He sold some instruments to a house of ill-fame, and commenced to go to that house regularly. He told her that he had to go there, Her first child was born in July, 1879, and soon after witness became infected with a disease communicated to her by her husband. The same doctor attended her who had attended her husband. Her husband frequently kicked and struck her. In 1881 he left her, and she had not seen him since. She had received one letter from him, dated atSandridgo (letter produced). The letter was dated February, 1884. It set forth that he waa piano-playing for 6s to 12s a week ; and that he was going to leave as soon as he could get 10s to get his swag out of pawn. He advised her to get a divorce. Witness continued ; Her huabind waa living with her up to the day he left New Zealand. He waa teaching music and playing the piano. He had been drinking for some time.

Mr Stafford offered to produce evidence that the husband was in the habit of frequenting houses of ill-fame, but his Honor did not corsider that necessary, and granted a rule nisi,