NIGHT SPEN IN CELLS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19423, 7 September 1937, Page 2

NIGHT SPEN IN CELLS

AUCKLAND MERCHANT INFORMATION OF WIFE FEARS OF DESERTION (Per Press' Association.) AUCKLAND, last night Arrested as he was coming down the gangway of the Awatea on Friday night, on charges laid by his wife, of having failed, and of intention to fail, to provide her with adequate maintenance, a young Auckland merchant spent that* night in the police cells, only to be released on bail when he appeared before two justices of the peace in the Police Court on Saturday morning, and only after his wife had intimated that she would withdraw the information she had laid. As the presiding justices did not have jurisdiction to deal with the case it came before Mr. Wyvern Wilson S.M.,~tOrday, when Mr. A. K. Turner.. counsel for the defendant, registered an emphatic protest and invited the magistrate to make a public pronouncement upon the unusual circumstances, which counsel aJlegcd "amounted to nothing less than a scandal." "My client is living apart from his wffe under agreement to separate," said Mr. Turner. "On Friday night he owed no money for her maintenance. It had all been said up. He went aboard the Awatea with a well-known Auckland solicitor and two other friends to see the solicitor's mother off. "Ticket Not Purchased" "He had not either applied for or purchased a steamer ticket to Sydney. As he was.almost at the foot of the vessel's gangway to return home, he was arrested on his wife's complaint. "He had no intention of leaving the country. His car was on the wharf, and if the police constable had watched where he went, he would have seen him go home. He protested to the police constable that he was not going away, but he was taken to the police station and lodged in the cells. There he spent Friday night, and though a friend was present and offered to put up £IOO as bail, he was not allowed bail. His coat, collar, and tie were taken from him. "He had no redress at all, despite the fact that he was an innocent citizen. I am mentioning these facts, as it has got around town that my client was arrested." Mr. Turner said it was his respectful contention that such a state of affairs showed that it was within the power of any irresponsible woman, or wife, to take private action against her husband to cause the arbitrary arrest of an entirely innocent man, who had no redress. Wife Thought He Was Going Mr. Fawcett, appearing for the wife, said the defendant had contemplated going to Australia at one time, and his wife thought he was going. The magistrate said the wife had sworn an information on Friday that she had reasonable grounds for supposing that her husband was leaving New Zealand. "He was arrested and now she does not want to go on with the case," said the magistrate. "If her statements are untrue, and she had no reasonable ground for saying what she did, an action for damages can be brought against her, but this is a case of husband and wife. The information is dismissed for want of prosecution." Referring to counsel's complaint that the defendant could not be dealt with on Saturday morning because a magistrate was not available, Mr. Wilson said the court was closed on Saturdays. That was one of the effects of the 40-hour week. The magistrate made no pronouncement about the other matters raised by Mr. Turner and told him he could carry it no further.