DUNMOW FLITCH WON

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11934, 15 September 1924, Page 5

DUNMOW FLITCH WON

THE CLAIMANTS AT COURT j MARDY JONES’S MARRIED JOY. “THE BACON’S YOUR OWN.” ENTERTAINING TRIAL. Mr Mardy Jones, M.P. for Ponty-, pridd, won the premier honour at the Dunmow Flitch trial, recently held at i Ilford with all the ceremonial circumstance the quaint occasion has acquired since 1244, when the award was first tmede to someone who could declare | that he had not quarrelled with his I wife or repented of his marriage, sleepting or waking, for a year and! a day. I There jvere two other claimajits at the Court this year—Mr Harry Byford, of Hull, and Mr James Hunt, an olet age pensioner, of Lewisham—both of whom were able to offer such evidence of connubial content that another side O' bacon was ordered to be divided between them. There were 67 other applicants whose claims were not passed for trial. . . , . . It was the longest tnal in the history of the competition for the flitch, yrhich was suspended behind the judge and jury. For three hours and a half Mr Jeffery Famol, the novelist, who wore the robes and wig of a famous former judge of the High Court, and the jury of six bachelors and six spinsters had to listen to recitals of perpetual amity in wedlock. The claimants and the flitch’ ’ were represented by counsel. The first claimant, Mr Byford, told tho Court that he was foreman at a lubber factory in Hull, and that eight years of marriage had been, to him as j a verse of the sweetest song of happij ness. PRAISE FROM A MOTHERrIN-LAW;. I There was a sensation in court when the applicant called his mother-in-law as a witness. “What!'' exclaimed ; someone at the Bar, “there have been Imany weird hapenings in this court, ibut this is totally unprecedented. After tho mother-in-law had sworn that in eight years never once had the harmony of her daughter’s home been disturbed, his lordship remarked that it was wonderful fruit to fall frpm such a branch of the family tree. « disposes thoroughly,” he sad, of fhe red-nosed music-hall comedian s belier that a mother-in-la w is the proper subject of ribaldry.” Then the court considered the claim of the septuagenarian, Mr Hunt, who stated that lie had been twice previously married, and had found each experience a happy one. His chance of securing the flitch receded somewhat when, after declaring that he had never exchanged a single cross word with his wife, he turned round to Mrs Hunt, who had been prompting him, and snapped out, ‘Here, woman don t keep treading on my toes. Mr Hunt was allowed to read a love letter he received ten years ago from his wife while site was hop-picking in Kent. “This letter is a special bit of stutt, ha informed the jury. “It shows how she loves me when she writes:— I have left my only pal at Lewisham. I anj wotbo off down here than if I were at home with you’!” (Collapse of claimant’s counsel.) OVATION TO.MR JONES. The. crowd in the public gallery became quite out of control when Mr Mardy Jones was called. It rose and cheered him as he went* into the wit-ness-box holding the hand of his eteven-yoar-old! daughter, Phyllis Olive. Counsel handed in a medical certificate, showing that it was impossible for Mrs Jones to ‘be present because of the illness of her other daughter, Veda. Mr Jones stated that his wife while working on his behalf in an election campaign met with an accident which resulted in the breaking of her leg anc she was laid up for five months. Counsel: During the whole of those | five months did your wife make a single oomplaint?—-Not one. She sang most of the time. Her pleasure at your victory at the poll was adequate compensation for her* breaking her log P —That is so. Two written testimonials in favoui of Mr Jones were presented to the oourt, one from Mr Rhys J. Davies,

Under-Secretary for Home Affairs, and the other from Mr Frank Hodges, First Civil Lord of the Adtnirality. The former was to the effect that if Milton, Shelley, Morris, and Bernard Shaw could have pooled their genius they •would have failed ignominiously to sing' adequately of the delightful matrimonial life Of Mr and Mrs Mardy Jones. NO ADVANTAGE IN QUARRELING. Opposing counsel to claimant: Do you really mean JSo say that you have not had 1 a quarrel with your wife for twelve months and! a day?—Claimant: That is so. Don’t you think it is an advantage to have a quarrel sometimes ?—No, not in our case. ' You have never experienced the joy and the pleasure of making it up? — No. Mr McEntee M.P., for West Wal thamstow, appeared to give evidence for Mr Mardy Jones. Counsel: Have you ever the company of Ins wife?—Yes, in the House of Commons. Counsel: Oh! only in the House. He would not be likely to throw thijigs ftt her there. The jury were unanimous that Mr Jones had first claim on the flitch, and. after making a declaration on the ancient Ifneeling-stone that he had never been guilty of nuptial transgression or wished himself unmarried again, the member for Pontypridd received the sentence of the court: This is the custom of Dunmow well' known, Though the pleasure ha ours the bacon’s your own. Mr Jones stated that he proposed to offer the flitch to the Pontypridd Hospital.