BRIDE AS PRIZE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 298, 18 December 1933, Page 7

BRIDE AS PRIZE

THREE MONTHS TO MAKE GOOD. MAN ’S ‘' DEPLORABLE RECORD. ’ ’ There is a man in London who has been given three montns in which to make good. 11 he succeeds his prize will be permission to many the girl he loves. His name is Frederick George Hall, and the girl is Ethel Bennett. The two lovers figured in a recent case at the Old Bailey, when the recorder, Sir Ernest Wild, luled that Hall should be bound over on probation for two years, on condition that he shopld not hold any personal communication with the girl lor three months. Hall, the recorder said, had a deplorable record, but he had come under the beneficent influence of the girl. Nothing could be worse than that tney should marry before Hall, got a good job. Ethel Bennett was at the moment in a home at Birmingham, from which, it was stated, She would be discharged the moment Hall was able to support her. From Mr. George Neve, the probation officer, a {Sunday Chronicle representative learned that Hall cannot be judged by ordinary standards. Apparently he has always had a very romantie ami temperamental nature, and it was more through an adventurous prank than real viciousness that he found himself as a boy in the Borstal Institution for three years. {Since then ho has had two convictipns for housebreaking. “About three years ago Hall met Ethel Bennett and fell madly in love with her,” Mr. Neve said. “Under her influence he has managed tu go straight ever since and has turned his attention to writing poetry. In a desperate attempt to better himself and to earn enough money to marry Ethel he has written reams of poetry, several plays and many short stories. But so far ho has been unsuccessful and his work has not been accepted.” Hall has even tried to be an actor. He has written long letters to every theatrical maninagement and every film studio in London appealing tor work, but with no avail. And all the time Ethel Bonnett has been behind him with encouragement. In a letter which he had intended to read aloud to the recorder in Court, but which was ruled as redundant to the proceedings, Hall wrote: “I have been urged on by my sweetheart, who has shown tremendous faith in my perseverance and love for her, and been inspired to more noble actions and deeds. ’ ’ But despite all his disappointment Hall is going on trying, undaunted. He is still writing poetry and looking for work—any kind of work.