VOWED SHE WOULD NOT RETURN

NZ Truth, Issue 1229, 20 June 1929, Page 10

VOWED SHE WOULD NOT RETURN

A Clean Up

Wife fi{eads Pitiful Story of Husband's fondness For Other Women ORDERED TO RETURN HOME BY JUDGE « (From ".N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative). "He was going with other women .... That was my sole reason for leaving him .... I am never going back. . . . ." .-■■.*■ Eva Green, a middle-aged woman, was emphatic m her refusal to return to her husband, Donald Green, and she strenuously opposed his petition for restitution of conjugal rights. She has been ordered to return to her husband, however, His Honor, Mr. Justice Kennedy, finding m Green's favor, : 1 _ __: 7© : ; -O :

GREEN is a flaxmilier, and he. and ' his wife were living at Taipuha when y the trouble between them first arose. That her husband had acted\c6olly towards her when she returned -from a six months' holiday, and had left for Auckland the day 'after she returned, telling her that she was not the only woman m his life, were the main rea : sons for Mrs. Green refusing to return to him, according to her own story. To his counsel, Mr. Inder, Green stated that he and his wife', were married m September, 1907. There v were two children' of the -marriage', both young men now, and they had all gone to live at Taipuha, where he. had a flaxmill, about four years ago. Green told the- court that he suffered a stroke m February of last year, and since then his left side had been partly paralysed. His doctor had given him only ten days to live shortly before his wife left on her holiday, He survived the allotted span, however, and, Avhen his wife returned, he left for Auckland. Great was his surprise when his wife, whom he had left at home m Taipuha, met him face to face m Auckland. Greater still was the surprise her greeting occasioned, for, if his story is true, she told him that she had finished with him. "I don't want you or your money," were the words she. greeted him with, he said. She refused to tell him what shd was doing m Auckland. Neither

"She Was Lazy "

would she tell him why she had left Taipuha so suddenly; "(Several times m the next few days she refused to return to me. She went to relatives m Hawkes Bay and I returned, to Taipuha,?' Green concluded. Mrs. Green's counsel, Mr. Northcroft, cross -examined petitioner at considerable length;- touching particularly on the conditions under which they lived at the flaxmill. ; For some time they were m a two-roomed shack, admitted Green, and when they were flooded out . they had to live m a cook-house. His wife, he said, when further pressed, was cooking for fourteen to sixteen men at the mill. She did not make his bed at times, and he considered that she was lazy. His wife had made no complaint about the conditions nor his frequent long absences from Home. Mr. Northcroft produced correspondence from which he suggested .that Green had lost his previous position as a Government flax -grader because of liis frequent long absences at race meetings. TTiese allegations were denied. ■ ':.'"'■■■<.' He did not do a great deal q£ betting, he told the court., Mr. Northcroft produced a statement sent to him by n bookmaker for three days' transactions m May, 1928, showing that he had gambled £155/10/-. Counsel followed this up by producing two further memoranda, giving instructions for the placing of about. £20 at race meetings. Green admitted that the papers were genuine. "If you had so much money to . gamble with, could you not have pro-

ylded better accommodation for your wife?" asked Mr. Northcroft. "Not up there," replied Green, referring to Taipuha, and when asked for an explanation, he answered that the land was held on lease. "My wife has never accused me ■'; of unfaithfulness!" he declared m reply to further questions. He went on to say that she would Be telling an untruth if she said he had admitted "unfaithfulness and had blamed her. Green then went on to give an account of himself as a husband, and told the court that he had spent money on.- his wife. ! "I paid £87 on her "turn out" before she left for the holiday, and I paid her wages," he claimed. "You knew she suspected' you* of unfaithfulness. . She wanted to know where you were living m Auckland and you l-efused to tell her," said Mr. Northcroft. "I said I would take hereto where I V I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I M I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I f 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ( 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 U f 1 1 1 ( 1 1 C M l l l l l l l l l l l ( 1 1 1 MI

'"THIS house has been an absolute *• pest to the locality for some time," said Sub-inspeeter M&Carthy at the Auckland Magistrate's Court, when James and Joseph Daly, with Veronica Nelson, were charged with using obscene language. James was further charged with being drunk and the woman with a breach of her prohibition order. The men pleaded guilty and were both given six months' hard labor. Nelson, while admitting the breach, denied using the language. It was stated by Constable Needham that he had been detailed to watch the house for some time, owing to numerous complaints. On this occasion, the language could be heard from one hundred yards away, and the woman's voice was easily .distinguishable. "That's cleaned up the place for you for the .time being," said Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., m sentencing Nelson to three months' imprisonment. • iiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiii

was living, but she wanted the address," was the answer. Mi*. Inder objected to the wife's counsel making the suggestion, and his Honor sustained the objection. "I .want my wife back — I want her to return to me," Green replied -when Mr. Northcroft asked him if he thought an order by the court would make her go back to him. "That's not what I asked!" insisted Mr: Northcroft. "Do you expect your ■wife to return to you?" No answer was forthcoming to the demand, and counsel asked if he knew that a divdrce could be obtained if the wife refused to obey, the court's order for her to return to him. Before calling Mrs. Green, Mr. Northcroft addressed his Honor, submitting that a husband may not come to court asking for- such an order un- '. less he were earnest m his wish for his wife to return to him. Mrs. Green was then called. - i "When he left for, Auckland, I told 1 him it was not much of a reception to •,

give a woman; and he replied that I knew he was going with other women," was her opening statement. Asked about her husband's visits to Auckland, she said he attended the race meeting m June. He did not write to her, and she left for ' Auckland, too. Believing that he was staying at the Hotel Auckland, she inquired for him there, but she found that he had not stayed there. She met him accidentally m Queen Street, and, according to her side of the question, he refused to tell where he was living. "I am not going to tell you or anybody else where I am staying," is what she claimed he said to her. "One day when I met him by appointment he asked me to go before a solicitor and agree to' a mutual separation," said Mrs. Green. The woman went on to allege" Green had told her that he' was "going with other women," and she said that as soon as she knew that she packed and left Taipuha. "He told me himself that he was going with other women. That was my sole reason for leaving him," she declared. Mr. Inder: Did you seek confirmation of that? — I asked someone to watch him. "You paid a private detective, did you?" pressed counsel, and the woman admitted that "someone" had been paid by her to keep an eye on her hus-

Was Watched

band. She had had him watched before she left Taipuha. "What reports did you get from that 'someone'? Were you led to believe that what you allege he told you was true?" asked counsel. "He was. seen frequently,"' came the answer; and when asked where he was seen, Mrs. Green, replied that it was in* Queen Street, Auckland. "Was he ever seen under any suspicious circumstances?" was the next question. "The detective knew he was going with women, but he could not catch him," replied Mrs. Green. "And I know he is, too; and I'm never going* back to him," were her final words on that point. One of the two sons of the couple, Eric Green, about twentysix years old, told the court that he had heard his father tell his mother that he wanted a mutual separation. , Asked by Mr,. Inder if he were on the best of terms with his father, the son replied that he had not been on the same terms since he was reprimanded by him on one occasion. In summing up, his Honor said that the wife's defence failed on all grounds. She had not had just cause to leave her husband, but she had done that. He had not deserted her. He also believed that Green sincerely wanted his wife to return to him. "In my judgment, he deserves what he asks for. I paid particular attention to his demeanor and the manner m which he gave his evidence, and he displayed no vindictiveness towards the respondent," said his Honor m granting Green's application.