| Notes |
- TRAGIC MARRIAGE
Waiter Fails To Feed His Own Wife Refuses To Return.
A slender woman, with tears in her eyes, sat in the Wellington Magistrate's Court this week. Neatly dressed, she carried in her arms a small boy, who slept peacefully through proceedings which revealed the tragedy of an unhappy marriage.
Helen Mary Muncey complained that her husband, George Robert Muncey, was an habitual drunkard, that he had been guilty of persistent cruelty to her, and that he had failed to maintain either her or the children. Cross-examined by Lawyer Sievwright, who appeared for the complainant, she told the Court in a faltering voice that, owing to her husband's neglect, she had been forced to battle for existence. Her health was bad, but she refused to return to defendant, who, she alleged, was suffering from a certain disease. "I could not possibly live with him as,he is in the habit of going about with other women," she said scornfully. Mrs. Muncey told the Court that her husband would not work as he thought too much of the opinions of girls in town, Witness was at this stage accommodated with a chair in the box. Questioned by Lawyer Leicester, complainant alleged that on one occasion she found work at a restaurant, but her husband came along and told the proprietor that she was no good. Later she accepted a position in the household of a Mr Dunn, and the defendant had a fight with the latter in his backyard. Witness stated emphatically that she would not return to her husband as she had already given him too many chances. He had offered her a back room at a restaurant where he was working, but she did not consider this to be suitable accommodation. Charles Muncey, father of the defendant, in reply to a question by Lawyer Sievwright, stated "-that he did not consider the room offered by his son suitable." Then George Robert Muncey; the husband a pasty-faced young man with a pronounced stutter, stepped into the box. He denied the allegation of drunkenness and cruelty and maintained that he had given his wife money. He earned 25/- per week at a restaurant and was willing to provide a home for her as soon as he could find a more remunerative billet. He admitted that he was suffering from a certain disease. Magistrate Orr-Walker, S.M., said that he considered defendant should pay something towards the maintenance of his wife and children. An order for 15/- per week would be made to be distributed between the three.
(NZ Truth, NZ Truth, Issue 974, 26 July 1924)
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d. 1968, New Zealand