HABEAS CORPUS CONUNDRUM

NZ Truth, Issue 854, 1 April 1922, Page 5

HABEAS CORPUS CONUNDRUM

THE SORROWS OF THE SALAMANS

Hilda Father And Scots Mother Fight For Eurasian Offspring

WHITE MOTHER, DIVORCED, LIVES WITH CHINESE

..The unnieetability of East and West, of which. Mr. Kipling sings, seems to be an established fact so far as the Salamans are concerned. 'Abraham Walley Mahomed Salaman is a Hindu. Recently he divorced his wife Madge. She ,is a white Scots woman, and was born m Aberdeen. At present she is acting as housekeeper to Loui Lock, a Chinese merchant, of Wellington, and Abraham Walley Mahomed has instituted proceedings under Habeas Corpus to secure the custody of the child of the ill-starVed union, aged four years, and christened Ayesha ("She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed") Salaman. Mr. Justice Hosking- heard the opening of the case before Christmas, when two days were occupied m the hearing of a sordid story of marital unhappiness and misery. On Saturday last the adjourned hearing was taken when the sorry, tale was reopened again. Mr. E, Q. Jelliooe again appeared for the mother and Mr. W. E. Leicester for Salaman. . Mr. Leicester stated that Salaman had obtained his divorce m 'consequence of his wife having given birth to . : ;■!.■■ .. , , . . TO AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD to a man named ■ Chandler. Salaman had ceased to live with her iii 1917, and as the child was only then five months old he allowed it to stay with' the mother. From 1917 he had provided his wife with a/ house and 27s 6d a week maintenance. She allegedly left this house towards the end of 1920, talcing the child with her. Since then he had not contributed any maintenance. Early m December- last Salaman visited a house m Rintoul Street, where respondent and the child were living. Respondent refused to allow him to see the child, and when the child came into the garden, three Chinamen rushed out of the house and took the child inside. Petitioner carried on the business of herbalist m Auckland. He was a man of some substance arid he had not taken the child away before because of its tender years. Now he wanted to take it away before.it became influenced by its present surroundings. Mr.- Jellicoe unwound a lengthy legal argument m opposition^, to the petition. He contended that Salaman had never shown any real parental affection, but was a stranger to the child. He had not made suitable arrangements for it and- he had abdicated -to' his wife his parental right since the child's birth. .Should he remarry, the child might be at the mercy of any woman. The suit Was tantamount to condemning the child to the habits and customs of Asiatics. His Honor pointed, out that the Chinese were also Asiatics and said that the suit appeared to him to be a conflict between CHINESE AND HINDU INFLUENCES. Mr. Jellicoe: The child is now with its mother, your Honor, arid is with Chinese. The Chinese profess Christianity, and the child is still under the influence of its European grandparents. Certain ;Hindu races, to one of which Salaman belonged, regarded female children as mere chattels. Mr. Leicester, for petitioner, contended that she, being- a white girl, should haye^had enough feminine i*j"tuition to prevent- her being led astray by a man ofcoloi*. ' The marriage took, place after she had informed her parents, excellent Scots people, that as the result of her intercourse with a Hindu, Salaman, she, had got into trouble. The child was not born for sixteen months after the pair had married, and counsel suggested that it was an act of cunning on the part of respondent m urging imaginary pregnancy on her parents as a reason for hastening the marriage. The con-

ceivable hypothesis was that the parents looked) with favor on Salaman, who was prospering m business m Wellington at that time as a silk merchant. Then the war broke out and' his business failed and he went to Auckland A PENNILESS MAN. ■ There he made headway again*, and he and his wife then found that they could, not live together. They entered into a formal deed of separation and there was' no suggestion whatever ofdesertion. Salaman was certainly lax m his payments, but he did not wilfully evade them, but that was because lie did not understand that he should have paid the money regularly into the Magistrate's Court. Respondent left no stone unturned to paint her character as white as she could, added counsel, yet three days after the marriage, when they should have been enjoying- the delights of the honeymoon, there was evidence that Salaman threatened to leave the house owing to her carrying on with another man. Later she got m tow with a married man and allowed him to seduce her. The illegitimate child of this white man was born m the house of a Chinaman, who paid the sum of £30 to keep out of the divorce, court. That fact was admitted. Mr-. Jellicoe That is' admitted: It was blackmail. Mr. Leicester: .Here we have a wealthy Chinaman at whose house the woman lives, saying that her status is that of a housekeeper. This Chinaman can well afford to have a woman of his own race. If the child is left m such surroundings THE SAME STIGMA will attach to her as to her mother. It was unlikely that a white woman would take refuge ill a Chinaman's house unless the door of her own people was barred against her. Mr. Jellicoe: There are hundreds of white women married to them, as respectabl© as anyone In Wellington. Mr. Leicester asked the court to look at the difference between the two parties before the court. On the one hand was the woman living m circumstances which had only one suggestion. Contrast the man with this. He had made good m a strange town and was now' anxious to make a home for his child. Petitioner based his claim on the following- points: That custody should be given to the innocent party. That the mother has been, and still is, A PERSON TOTALLY. UNFIT to be the child's guardian, and is m every way incapable of looking after it. That the father on the other hand was a fit and proper person to look after it. That it was, m the welfare of the child that she 'be placed m the care of her father. His Honor seemed to regard the proposition as a pretty tough sort of nut to crack. .He remarked that he could not make a neutral order, giving the child over t& the care of a third party. The question was whether the child should be treated from a Hindu point of view or from a Christian one. The child was partly Hindu and partly Christian — m a general sense. Mr. Leicestei' stated that Salaman intended to bring- the child up m the Christian faith. Mr, Jellicoe inquired if his Honor would like to see the child, but the court frowned and remarked that it was always suspicious of seeing children m such cases. Such children were sometimes tutored. Anyway, this child did not know its father. "This is a matter of very great importance," concluded his Honor. "It will he very difflctilt to arrive at a proper verdict." Decision was reserved. •