SEPARATION SOUGHT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 734, 6 August 1929, Page 1

SEPARATION SOUGHT

SEQUEL TO ELMSLEY CASE S.P.W.C. WILL ASSIST On the grounds of persistent cruelty, Letitia Anne Elmsley is applying for a separation order against her husband, Peter Alexander Elmsley, a farmer of Waerenga. Elmsley was acquitted at the Supreme Court yesterday on a charge of failing to provide his wife with the necessities of life, so that her life was endangered, and the case excited wide interest on account of the pathetic story told in the Magistrate’s Court by Mrs. Elmsley. The application for separation was first called before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., last Friday, when an adjournment was made on account of the non-appearance of defendant or his counsel, Mr. Noble. Mr. R. E. Fawcett appeared for Mrs. Elmsley. To be successful in the application for separation, it is necessary for petitioner to prove cruelty, and witnesses from Waerenga will have to be called. Mr. Matthews, solicitor for the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, stated this morning that the society would give Mrs. Elmsley any necessary assistance in making her application. The society had been interested in the case from the time when it had been first reported to the office. “Two months ago Inspector Molesworth received a report from four farmers who were neighbours of the Elmsleys,” said Mr. Matthews. “In consequence of allegations in the report, she communicated with the police at Mercer, and it was through her efforts that Constable Rimmer was sent to investigate the conditions under which Mrs. Elmsley was living.” According to Mr. Matthews, there were numerous cases of a like nature investigated by the society.