Supreme Court.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 50, 3 March 1904, Page 2

Supreme Court.

NKW PLYMOUTH. UKUNKSDAY. MAKCII 2. I (llefore His Honor Mr Justice j Kdwurds.) I The Supreme t'ourt sittings were continued on Wednesday morning. | Pl'ilLlC TRUSTICK v. WILLIAM HI AIPIUUKS. This action mine before Mr Jus- J t ice Kdwurds on Wednesday, Air Kerr appearing for the Public Trustee, and Mr Alyers (who was instructed by Messrs Wilson and Grey) for Air Humphries. The Public Trustee sought an order that Air Humphries should be declared to be a mortgagee in possession of certain interests in Katahangae, Purakau, and Kaioiniti native reserves, and that he should be ordered to render accounts as between mortgagor and morlgagee. The facts, which were admitted, are as follows :—in .March, 1898, certain natives who were supposed to be entitled to interests in these reserves gave Air Humphries a mortgage over their interests in the above named reserves and in certain other native reservws, under which, ,in August, 189*1, Ah- Humphries exj ercised his power of sale. The sale 1 was under conduct of the Registrar I of the Supreme Court, and Air liurn--1 phries purchased all the interests comprised in the mortgage for £IUU, and took a transfer from the Registrar. He was unable to get his transfer registered against the three blocks mentioned, and it was subsequently found tjiat. reserves were vested in the Public Trustee, and that the native benelicinries should not have been allowed to dispose of them. In 1901 legislation was passed which provided for the validation of all dealings with the natives in respect of these aud otlM reserve,* eirtcred into under simitar circumstances, and iu April, .1902, Mr Humphries obtained a decree of the Native Land Validation Coii'-t, validating his mortgage and the transfer from the Hiipreme Court under the power of sfhe in the mortgage. In 1902, however, by hoctfori 15 of the Native t iu\ AJaoii Land Laws Amendment Act, 2902, power was given to the Public Trustee to apply to the Supreme Court to vary or annul thj.» decree made by the Validation Court, aud this Act ateo declared that the transfer from the Registrar of the Supremo Court to Mr Humphries should be null and void. The Public Trustee accordingly applied to the Supreme Court in March, 1903, and, after hearing both sides, Mr Justice Conolly ordered that with the exception of a small part of Hatahangae, comprising the graves of Ani Heta and others the decree of the Validation Court should stand. In the proceedings now before the Court it was urgued on behalf of the Public Trustee that the statute having declared that the transfer from the Registrar should be null and void the sale to Air Humphries was in the same position, and that he was therefore only a mortgagee in possession and that the Public Trustee was entitled to an account from him as between mortgagor and mortgagee and entitled to redeem the lands from the mortgagee. On behalf of Air Humphries counsel argued that the annulling of the transier was not an annulment of the sale and that had the Legislature intended that it should be so Olien it would have been specilicallv enacted accordingly, and that the true intention of ihe Act was to give thel'ublic Trustee another opportunity of impeaclwng the fairness of the transactions which had been validated. I his the Public Trustee had failed to do and the Supreme Court allirmed the valuation decree aud Air Humphries was entitled to the benefit, of the sale by the Registrar. Counsel further pointed out thai had it been Intel (led that Air Humphries should be a mortgagee only then provision would have been made for determining the rummer of taking accounts which as the mortgage and transfer included eight pieces of land and it was only sought to constitute him mortgagee in respe* of three of them must necessarily be very intricate.' Altei. heanng fh e arguments advancbv counsel his Honor intimated t 4isLT ,u tukt ' ,i,uc,lJ tunsi "- After a long argument by Mr Kerr, lot llw 1 ulilic Trustee, mid Sir Slyera, lor the defendant, his Honor reselves his decision, FLEMLVU V, SI'KXCK. In the case Fleming v. Spence, nil adjournment was grunted till Tuesduy next, on the application of Air J alone instructed by Sir Jellicoe, >° i'W 3pencc% costs of £;<> os. IN DIVOHCE. Daniel IJenle v. Susan lieale.—lVt ition on the ground of adiilterv and intemperance. Sir Wilson (instructed by Mr Foy, ol Iluwern) appeared for the petitioner, and called The petitioner, a painter, who etnted he was married in Xew Plymouth in 1891, to I,is wife, who was then u widow. Mrs Julian. lie discovered ahoitly alter marriage that, his wilt» was of intemperate har bits. .Subsequently they removed to Unworn, where, in VJVJ, he had to get a separation on account of drunkenness. lie took her back, but had to get another separation in I'JO.'J In September, lilO.'l, he went into ilawera to get some material, and his step-son asked liini to call at his mother's house to get a parcel, lie knocked at the door about 8,;-IO p.m. but. got no answer. After hanging lotind a little while he tried again, llis wile answered him, and opened the door. He saw a man's hut and going into the bedroom pulled from under the bed a man named C. McKenzie, and gave him a thrashing. His wife admitted misconduct, but sniil McKenzie had forod his we,? in. ' M'' I'\>y unve evidence that he [iaid out the maintenance order, but after the McKenzie episode he was instructed to slop Ihe nl'lowmice. She admitted Unit McKenzie h;f(l been in the liou.se, anil Inter on admitted to him and her husband that McKenzie was there. On that occasion she was under ihe influence 1 of liquor. 'lhe Judge saiil he was not satislied as to the service of the notices on the i espondent and the co-respon-dent. Ihe ease would be adjourned until Tuesday next in order to obtain the allidavit of Sir Foy's clerk liodfrey v. (iodfrey.-llu.sband's petition, on the ground pf ;idultory. ' Mr I'o.v (Mitweru) appeared* for petitioner, and detailed the facts leading up to the separation. It was alleged that the wile had committed adultery in June, ]<J<)2, in Little Kegent-street, Ilawera, ' with some person or persons unkn^vii, Arthur (ip'Jli't'.i', ilio' petitioner, said he wns married to Kate Mornim at I'upttuui, In June, IHHiI, Tliev lived together in Canterbury until J-biH. when they came together to Ilawera. They lived n< Unwell „ m | ■Mannia together. There were seven children iroin the union. In 1902 petitioner shifted [worn Sfannia to Ilawera. At tliat time lie and his wile lived apart, the petitioner paying her rent and other expenses, The husband only viHit.-y | U:r , w |ro Illy, tile liitit week tif til,, separation, ntitl was askejl In nn Insolent manned what he wanted. He had never visited her since. His wife lived nroimd Ilawera for some time flf:.-.--wards, and the-; iy,;iit p. 's,nikj" Y (1 '".i"?! 1 H'ce. Hiii' was (rented in th)> i\cw (Mymoulh hospital in August last, and shor|l\' ftftt'l'\ v *U"lri she came |,j |,j, M j|.asking hi be. taken back, lie replied that she had suited herself without, considering him at nil ; S he ruuld go t»l !'!h' Ivtlk iitiev herself. The mot)>(■!• only topk charge of the- youngest child lor u few weeloj ai'ier the HcimrtMltni. and the petitioner hud maintained the whole famitv but for that. Dr. Leatluun, medical superintendent ut the Ke\e Vt.vmouih'hospital, deposed .hat he had attended Kute Godfrey on July 12, I'.lOa, His Honor K:\id that the admissions or communications submitted by a patient to a medical adviser, aud any iuformnHon obtained by him, wore not privileged, and were not admissible as evidence, tie felt it his duty to inform the doctor of this. Mr Foy then called Lilian Maud Godfrey, daughter o,{

tiki petitioner, who stated that on Juno 2*l, IDO2, she came home to Ilawera from a "visit to Masterton, She came by the mail train, arriving at 5,H0 in the evening. She went to her mother's house 'in Little Ke-gent-strect. The house was a very small one, of two rooms—a bedroom and a store-room. She stayed in the house (hut night. A man came to the house, ami was admitted by her mother to the bedroom in which they were .sleeping. Ai 1) o'clock her mother got dressed and went out with this man, and was admitted later l.ijr the witness. Next morning there was a bed made tip in the next room. There was no necessity for it. Witness .went to Manaia that day, and saw her mother there on the following Sunday. The latter said she had lost £<> from under her pillow on the night mentioned by the witness, and was going to Napier ■will) the man who visited, her then. Kosina Tyson, a laundress in J-la-wera, who lived in Little Hegent- • street in iJawera, in .June. 11)02, related that Airs (Jodfrey had applied one afternoon for rooms. The woman "ran Air (.Jodfrey down," saying he would do nothing to keep her, and that she had to keep herself. Airs (Jodfrey said that a man just out from (Jermany was coming to live with her. She had fuel him at Jones', anil asked him to visit her. The man had said he would come very frequently. The woman admitted that she was then enceinte. It was not Air (JodiYey's, but she would go down on her Knees and swear it was. The Corinan was going to give this to get a divorce, and then take her to (Jermany. Mrs Godfrey again came to her residence after leaving the New Plymouth hospital, and after saying she had been ill, remarked that she was house-keeping in New Plymouth, and making los per day. Air (ieorge (Jray, solicitor, gave formal evidence as to the service of the citation on Kate Godfrey on Feb. 8. The respondent admitted ht*r identity, lie had previously had to turn her out of a house iu the town. A decree nisi was granted, to be made absolute in three months,

APPEAL. POLICE v 4 UOIG, Mr acting as agent f>»r Mr T. W'ilford, oi' Wellington, solicitor fo* the appellant, applied for an adjournment, as Mr Jellicoe had been retained to conduct, the ease, and would be in Court on Monday. His Honor said it was almost an insult to the Court to expect it to dance attendance on Mr Jellicoe. Mr Kerr objected. He understood that Mr Fuzherbert had been prepared to argue a preliminary point that afternoon. Mr Fitzherbert said that although prepared to argue lie could not see his way to do so at present, in the luce oi' the telegram lie had received, until he had deiitiile instructions. Mr Jellicoe was coming up on unHis Honor asked why the telcgrum had been sent to'Mr Myers. Mr Fitzherbert said that Mr WibUtrd had suggested Mr Myers us counsel for Mr Doig, as he (Mr Wilford) could not attend as the r*sult of an accident. Hut M* Myers, being Crown Prosecutor in Wellington. was debarred from conducting cases against the Crown, and as Mr Jellicoe was coming up on another case it was decided to retain him. His llonor ivl'used to adjourn Ufe case till Tuesday, but in order t<o allow of Mr Fitzherbert being instructed fr©m Wellington, the case was allowed to stand down till Friday moaning at JLU.Ut).