BREACH OF PROMISE.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 84, 14 November 1872, Page 2

BREACH OF PROMISE.

Aikkv v. "Wij.kixso.v.—Tlii.s was :ui:iic-Liidi for b'.ieach ojf ' promise of marriage tried at Liverpool on August 21. Tlnf plaintiff, Miss Airey, is a member of an old and respectably family at AVnrton, near Lancaster, her: father having oc( »-• ' pied the position of u.s6rt of "statesman" there, but as his means were not large-)7is daughters qualified themselves for business. 'J/hc ]il:iiii(.i/'i* (hlcrs.it jirto I,lie employment of the defendant,,Mir the proprietor of a largo millinery and hosiery establishment in Liverpool'in September, 1808, a+id became lii.s manager find Superintendent. In October, LSG!), he said lie made lip his mind to make her his wife. Hot account of the proposal wis that, he caught hold of her hand one day when they were together in one of'the departments of the sliup, and that she remonstrated, saying, "You are the master and lam the assistant." lie thereupon said, " Miss Airey, the best thing you ciin do is to become my wife," and at a subsequent meeting he regularly proposed to' her. She required a week to tliinlc of it and to consult her friends, and at the end.of it accepted him, and they became engegeiL Tho defendant, it appeared, was considerably older then the plaintiff, being iihout forty years of age, sind ho was however, a widower with two • sons,. and ho appeared to >;i7<l that tin* marriage-could not come off for sonm time,v/.s lie wanted to put his two boys out to sehoo 1 lirsl,. and in the meantime he did not want to have it spoken of. Therci weJ'e no letters of great importance, .but two from' tho defendant to the plaintiff received when she-was staying awayjwere read, in which the' defendant addressed her :is " My dear Lizzie," and in one of which he wrote about this "awful toothache" as well as about business mutters. In May, 1870,- the defoliant began to talk about the wedding,, which was accordingly fixed for August, but as the time :ipproaehed he postponed it, and again from time to tinio afterwards, and in the spring of this year the plaintiff at length made iq") her mind that she would not continue on the footing on which they were any longer, .and she therefore left his employment, and eventually consulted a lawyer. Her evidence Vvas corroborated,by that of her sister, also in the dofendantfrf-einploynicnt, who spobe to seeing the defendant frequently kiss the plaintiJC in different parts of the establ:shment.' J&jfendant's cass-was a denial of the promise to> marry, and his counsel, in aiv amusing speech, ridiculed tlio idea of thcuininipassioned letters which had been rend being written by a*t engaged; man, and. also suggest ed that the kisses spoken to were at most only heard,. possibly not more thnn iniagined, by the sister. The jury in the end returned • a verdict, for the plaint ill'—damages 405.; and his lordship afterwards said ho would do ;.'iiything t hat was asked of him - in the way of certifying or staying execution..

| A OiiKf'jriiian contemporary says : —Though most rchic- ! tant to trouble our readers' viiLh otir personal and peculiar | concerns, and sensible that it is the height of impertinence j to do so, we cannot refrain from once more adverting t.i ! the controversy which has been raging for the last fourteen j days between- ourselveS and the Alia California on the j subject of the weather in February. j\s we are now de- | tennined to bring the ilebAte to a conclusion, wc shall, | with our usual impartiality, give a brief summary of the j arguments on both sides. Un Monday before last, the Alta, as many of our-readers will recollect, came out with ! the extraordinary assertion that tlte weather is generally cold in February. "Whether this egregious falsehood origi- ; nated in the ijreposterous ignorance of the booby who w>xI conducts the Alfa, or in his notorious contempt f<r ! vcracitvywe leave it to a candid public to determine. Le. that as it may, we immediately set tnc Alta, right in ouil paper of the same evening, by stating the fact that theweather, is seldom cold in February. f Jo this the Alta, with its usual intemperate violence, replied that the weather is always cold in February.. To which we, of course, replied that the weather is never cold in I'ebruary. will our readers believe it'! Yesterday, stubbornly i existing all conviction, and plunging deeper and deeper into the mire of .ignorance.and duplicity, the A ita had the assurance to assert that the weather is as cold as a cucnmber 111 February. We have omitted the personalities and vituperations with which-the Alta lias loaded us in the course of this controversy.. "We disdain to recriminate. Wc consider all personalities beneath a gentleman, any, wrapt up in dignified silence, we only smile at the abuse of this imbecile°idiot ) this thrice sodden dunce, this demon in human shape—we mean in a shape intended to be human —this red-haired, blear-eyed, low-bred, long-eared donkey, this shirtless ruffian, this walking corruption, this drinking swearing, fighting, lying, slandering moral assassin, this ninety-nine times whipped, and one hundred ancT ninety-nine times kicked poltroon, this, in short—.this editor of the Alia. Once for all, to put an end to thecoutroversy, we assure the Alta, point blank, that the: weal her in Fcbrua-iy is as hot-as \csuvius..