PETITION TO PARLIAMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1934, Page 9

PETITION TO PARLIAMENT

APPEAL BY DIVORCED WOMAN. TERMS IN MENTAL HOSPITAL. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Sept. 7. A claim for compensation on the ground that the petitioner had been wrongfully divorced was ventilated when the Public Petitions Committee in the House of Representatives to-day referred a woman’s petition to the Government for most favourable consideration. The facts were that the woman had been in a mental hospital but on several occasions was allowed out on leave—on one occasion for 19 months. It was stated a legal opinion had been taken that the periods during which the woman was on leave were counted as the time she was in the institution. When she was served with the papers she was on leave, but she consulted the mental hospital authorities and was assured her interests would be watched by the Solicitor-General and his department, but no action .was taken. The woman had been cured but the husband had re-married after the decree absolute was made.

Speakers felt that the woman had suffered grave injustice and contended that the Court was told she had been continuously in the institution for seven years and was not informed of the periods of leave. They considered that had the judge been informed of the full facts the divorce would not have been granted. The report was tabled.