TWO WIDOWS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19008, 8 May 1924, Page 9

TWO WIDOWS

PROBLEM FOR JUDGE. (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 7. A peculiar position has arisen in the disposal of the estate of the late Fred William Collins, of Edgeware Road, St. Albans, a baker. He left a will bequeathing £l5O a year to my wife,’’. It is now found that he had two wives, one in England and one in New Zealand—one legal wife and one illegal.

Mr. Justice Adams, at the Supreme court, was asked to decide which wife would benefit under the will. Collins married Charlotte Jane Smart at the Parish Church, Bilston, Staffordshire, England, in 1885, and lived with her for about three years. Then he left her and she never saw him again. She still lives at Bilston. He came to New Zealand, and in Christchurch, in 1889, went through the marriage ceremony with another woman, who appeared in the proceedings as Emily Sophia Collins, his widow. He often referred to her in Christchurch as “Mrs Collins.” His will was made shortly before lie died, in April, 1922. The Judge was asked whether, in the event of deciding in favour of the New Zealand wife, the English wife would be entitled to any provision under the Family Protection Act. Both widows were represented, as well as several nephews and nieces, beneficiaries in the residue of the estate.