TO PAY ALIMONY.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17982, 29 March 1930, Page 9

TO PAY ALIMONY.

WELL-KNOWN ACTOR SUED,

SLUMP IN PROFESSION BLAMED. Unless William Mayne Lynton, wellknown actor, now married to Nancye Stewart, pays his former wife, professionally known as Annie Hughes, £6 a week alimony, and £SO on or before May 1, he will be arrested on a writ of attachment. Mr Justice Owen made that order in the Divorce Court at Sydney. Annie May Lynton had applied for a writ of attachment for the arrest of William Mayne Lynton, her former husband, on the ground that he had fallen into arrears of alimony ordered by the Court to the extent of £527 Os 6d.

Lynton asked for a reduction of the amount of alimony—ordered at £6 a week on August 28, 1924—0 n the ground that owing to the present theatrical conditions in Sydney he was unable to pay. An offer had been made by Mr Reimer on behalf of the petitioner to accept a lump sum, and allow the balance of the arrears to stand over generally, and the Court had adjourned to enable the representatives of the parties to confer. When procedings re-opened, his ■Honour asked-: “Has any agreement been come to?” Mr Braddon, for the respondent: I am sorry to say It has not. Mr Reimer again suggested that if Mr Lynton paid £SO as a lump sum within a fortnight, and continued the payment of the £6 a week alimony, he would give an undertaking that the petitioner would not- enforce the payment of the balance of the arrears. She would be prepared to forego that. Defendant’s Position, Mr Braddon drew' attention to the position of Lynton. As soon as the play, “My Old Dutch” ceased running in. Sydney he would he again out of employment.. The condition in the theatrical profession was really progressive. Since -July last year his earnings had. been £520, the rate of his receipts being £BOO a year, and that amount was subject, to numerous reductions owing to his necessary expenditure as an actor. His average weekly earnings were £ls, and-if he continued to pay £6 a week alimony that sum would he reduced to £9, and that would he reduced further by expenditure necessary to his profession. He would probably find himself quite unable to meet his obligation. Mr Justice Owen made an order for the writ to issue, but that it should not be enforced so long as the respondent ■paid the £6 a week, provided that respondent paid £SO on or before May 1; | Mrs Lynton undertaking on her part i that she will not take any steps to | enforce the payment of the balance | of the arrears if these conditions are carried out, or until a further order of I the court.

j Mr Justice Owen, in giving his deci- | sion. said that under the order of the Court, the respondent had been called upon to pay £6 a week, and had unfortunately fallen into arrears. Mr [ Lynton had been perfectly candid in | stating his true position, as to what he had earned, and also his expenditure; but it really was his own fault that he had fallen into arrears. The Theatrical Slump. , "-Unfortunately,” went on his Honour, "the condition of things in the theatrical world is very serious, at present at any rate. How long that may continue no one can say. There is no evidence to form any judgment upon that point. At the present time the opportunities of earning an income are very poor. “I think the offer made by Mr TSeimcr on behalf of the petitioner is a generous one. “So far as Lynton’s request for reduction is concerned, he has mistaken his position, and has been unwise in not coming to the court before. It has been said that he desired to avoid publicity; but that is not a sufficient reason. He allowed himself to get deeper and deeper into debt when he had the opportunity, at any rate, of coming to the court to ask for a reduction. “Ought I to make a reduction? I don’t think I should. The order I am making is, I think, a fair one, which he himself must do his best to obey. “He must keep up his payments, or show some good reason for not doing so by making further application to the court.”