COSTLY DIVORCE.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18625, 3 May 1932, Page 7

COSTLY DIVORCE.

FIELD v. FIELD. HUSBAND AWARDED DECREE. EXPENSES OVER £20,000. United Press Assn. —Klee. Tel. CopyJlght. SYDNEY, May 2. Judgment was delivered to-day in a society divorce suit which has broken all State records. It has occupied 87 days and a total of 103 witnesses was examined. The legal costs are estimated at more than £20,000. _ The parties were Sydney John Field, meat exporter, and his wife, Ivy Field, who initiated the suit, alleging misconduct. The husband filed a crosspetition on the same ground, joining three persons as co-respondents, two -of whom were struck out of the oase during the hearing. The third co-respondent, Roland Nott, warehouseman, was to-day adjudged guilty of misconduct with Mrs Field. Mr Justioe Owen found that Mrs Field had been reckless and untruthful in her charges against her husband, and that her allegations with regard to his misconduct with other women and her charges of cruelty had not been proved. On the other hand, Mrs Field was held to have been guilty of misconduct with Nott in the early part of last year. Counsel for the wife and Nott announced their intention of appealing. The husband’s alimony payments of £SO a week to his wife were reduced to £ls. A decree nisi was pronounced. The husband was ordered lo pay his wife’s costs, also the costs of the two corespondents eliminated from the case. Nott was ordered to pay Mr Field's costs.

The case has been before the Court since May 28, 1931, when Mrs Ivy Gladys Field petitioned for a divorce from Sydney John Field, and applied for £IOO a week alimony. Petitioner sought the divorce on the ground of her husband’s alleged misconduct witii two women. The husband filed a cross-petition. Petitioner’s counsel, Mr Custis, K.G., stated he understood Field’s estate was worth £1,000,000. His wife had been accustomed to a palatial home, servants, motor-cars, and £SO a week, but she was not offered more than £ls a week out of her husband’s income of £SOOO a year. Mr Maxwell, K.G., counsel for respondent, said the income was £3OOO a year. Pending investigation, the wife's alimony was fixed at £2O a week, but later the amount was raised to £SO. Respondent, in an affidavit, said he was employed by T. A- Field, Limited, at a salary of £520 a year. His only other income was 4J per cent, per annum interest on £53,700 deposited with his company.