VALUE OF AN ERRING WIFE

NZ Truth, Issue 1253, 5 December 1929, Page 10

VALUE OF AN ERRING WIFE

— ♦ JuryAwards£2Qo To Husband (From "N.Z. Truth's" Christchurch Rep.) Assessing the value of the wife he lost at £200, a jury awarded August Annis, a Millburn, Otago, laborer, the full amount he claimed from Teone Aperina Mokomoko whom Annis joined as co-respond- ' ent m his suit for divorce against , his wife, Caroline Victoria Annis. ANNIS was married at the Milton *"* Registry Office m 1912, and of four children born, three are still living, the eldest being- a boy of sixteen. After living: for some years at Tuahiwi, a Maori settlement near Rangiora, Annis returned to Milton m 1927. His wife declined to move at the time, but promised to do so as soon as Annis had found work. ' . The pi-6mise was never carried into feffe'ct, so m May, 1928, Annis visited his wife and aocusted her of improper relationship with Mokomoko. "She told me I could do as I liked as Mokomoko would stand by her," Annis told Mr. Justice Adams and a jury when he petitioned m the Supreme Court at Christchurch for a divorce and damages. • : Annis took the children, and the two girls were placed m the Anglican Maori Girls' School,. in Christchurch. Evidence m support of the petition was given by a native, Sam. Rueben, who said that during 1928 he had visited Mrs. Annis's home at T'uahiwi and found Mokomoko living with her. Reuben told Mrs. Annis that he was giving evidence against her and she replied that she did not care. Emily Kltson, a married woman, gave evidence on similar lines and the judge granted a decree nisi, there beln<? no appearance of the respondent and the co-respondent. The function of the jury was merely to assess the damages, and after a brief retirement they awarded £ 200, the full amount claimed, with a surgestion to the cdurt that the money be put aside for the benefit of the children.