MOTHER O' MINE

NZ Truth, Issue 968, 18 October 1924, Page 5

MOTHER O' MINE

« NO ONE CAN REPLACE HER. A Girl's Tribulations. Mother-in-law's notoriety wins only by a short head from stepmother's as a breeder of domestic discord, it seems. List to this girlie's cry to "Truth": I have a stepmother whom I very much dislike. My father desires that 1 address her as "Mother," and I write and tell him it is impossible, as I dislike her, and loved my own mother very dearly. The stepmother reads the letter, and writes to me m a very nasty tone, and I immediately retaliate by telling her to mind her own business. , Furthermore, I said that I knew, only too well, that she had designs on my father before his wife died, and within twelve months of her death she wrote to him and said "Why not share a home with me?" I consider that is the equivalent of a proposal of marriage, and I told her so m the letter I wrote her. She says I have insulted her, and if I do not immediately apologise she will take steps to make me Co so. What steps, if any, can she take to make me .apologise, and if I still refuse, what can she do then? I am not yet eighteen years of age, and I have been working for my living since I was thirteen. Is a father liable for his child until she is sixteen years old? Through my stepmother I was sent away from my father's roof at the age of thirteen. Could I force him to keep me, away from home, until I was sixteen? Hoping I am not causing you any inconvenience. — Yours sincerely, "TRUTH'S" ADMIRER. Not a bit of it. At the expression of your admiration we glow with pleasure to tell you that as the alleged libellous statement was contained m a letter written by the girl to her stepmother and as the statement was made to no one else, there is no publication and therefore no libel. The. stepmother has therefore no right of action for defamation, and cannot compel an apology. She has no remedy. Even if the stepmother can show publication, the girl would have a . defence if she can show that the statement is true. As to the claim for maintenance for the three years until the daughter attained 16, there is no enforceable right. It is true that a father can be compelled to maintain his children by periodic payments, but this is a claim for past maintenance payable 1 m one amount. Had an application be^n made to the Court when the girl first left home no doubt an order would have been made, but the Destitute Persons Act does not allow the recovery of past maintenance m the way suggested.