HUSBANDS WHO RUIN THEIR WIVES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2323, 8 September 1898, Page 56

HUSBANDS WHO RUIN THEIR WIVES.

One reads and hears so many tales of how women, by their proverbial extravagance, have eventually brought their husbands to tlit Bankruptcy Court, that it may be just as well, perhaps, to look for a moment at another side of the financial relations between .married persons anel call to mind a, few instances in Avhich Avives have been ruined by the husbands avlio should, on the contrary,' have helped them in building up fortunes. There are many such instances. We do not suggest thafr they are as many as the cases of husbands being ruined by their Avives, but probably this is so only because in the great majority of cases it is not possible 'for men to ruin their Avives, avlio are not generally possessed of means. But there are many such cases, revcrtheless, . find some of them form very arjking replies to the charges Avhich are constantly being ■ made against extravagant women. A very remarkable instance came to light during recent bankruptcy proceedings against a lady in Manchester. At the time of her marriage she Avas the sole proprietrix of a flourishing business, Avhich brought in an average income of £1500 a year, and her husband Avas a junior partner in a soft-goods firm which had eA'ery prospect of being a very successful business ; in fact, at the time of his marriage, this gentleman's income from his business Avas just touching £1000 a year. Mismanagement and reckless speculation on his part, hoAveA*er, soon brought the firm into shallow Avater, and his Avild devices to avoid the rocks of bankruptcy only ended by compounding Avith the firm's creditors. To do this he borroAved from his wife a large sum of money ; but even this did not avert the difficulty, for his" firm collapsed ' three months later". Still borroAving money from his Avife, and thus impeding the pro- ' gress of her business, he went in heaA'ily for betting, winning occasionally and losing frequently, Avith the result that he became personally insolvent, and blew his brains out, thus leaving his Avife to pay his debts i and those of her business, which- latter had mpuK'ted rapidly on account .of the money she had advanced to him. A month later she Avas in. the Bankruptcy Court, handicapped with elebts to .the tune of £8000, and only a ruined business as her assets. A very striking case was that of a lady who died a short time ago in a condition! of ' great poverty, which was only kept at the border of destitution by the charity of her friends. At the time of her marriage to a ' military man, Avho left the army to Aved her, she Avas the lucky possessor of a fortune which brought her in an income of £2000 a year, and which was invested in the safest way possible — in consols. The income, hoAvever, was not large enough to satisfy the ambitions of the husband, albeit he had never possessed means of his own, and he proposed that all the , consols should be sold, as they AA r ere a very , expensiA'-e security, and the money investeel ' in a concern which would pay just two and a-half times as well. Even though his wife protested, he carried out his project, anel thereby increased the income to £5000 a year. But this sum shortly proved insufficient to meet his extravagant liabits, Avhereuporu he sold out his stock at a considerable loss, , and invested it in one or tAvo securities j which attracted his attention by the pro- j mise of large diAddends, such as were, how- ' ever, quite incompatible Avith any degree of safety. The result might have been anticipated : one after another the securities proved Avorthless, and before he had time to realise what was- occurring, he found his i wife penniless, and himself burdened Avith considerable debts. It Avas only natural for &uch a man to desert his ruineel Avife, and leave her to j battle for herself. He Avent off suddenly ! to South Africa, Avhere some feAV months • later he heard of the death from heart dis- ' ease of the Avife he had so studiously ruined. } An enterprising young woman of Bristol , hwested a small capital sum of money she possessed in a little restaurant, and by careful catering and judicious advertising she J quickly built up a business Avhich brought her in between £400 and £500 a year. Having done this she launched out in other elirections Avith almost equal success. j Everything she touched seemed to turn to , mor.ey, and she Avas on the sure roael to for- ! tune, Avhen she committed the greatest mis- j take of her life — she married a lazy man of extraA r agant habits, AA-ho ruineel her Avith the speed anel persistency of an avalanche. In two years she AA^as solely dependent upon the reduced income from her little restaurant, anel six months later that Avas sold to pay her creditors, and her lord of creation j promptly left her to get a miserable living I at charing, or any other similar work she could obtain. We could cite scores of such Avretched cases, each amply proving lioav women haA r e been ruined by good-for-nothing or extrava- ' gant husbands Avith every bit as much heart- I lessness or thoughtlessness as ever Avife cuineel husband.