Rigby J:

This was a wife's petition for divorce on the ground of her husband's adultery. Since the matter may hereafter require some consideration elsewhere it is perhaps desirable that I should state the grounds on which I considered it proper to grant her a decree.

2. The petitioner was married to the respondent, Desmond Thomas Charnley on the 15 February 1947 at the Roman Catholic Church at Butterworth, Province Wellesley in the Federation of Malaya. At the time of the marriage the petitioner was aged 19 and the respondent 21. The petitioner's maiden name prior to her marriage was Shirley Ann Wee. She is of the Chinese race and was born in Butterworth, Province Wellesley, in 1928. At the time of her marriage her husband, a British subject, was serving with the RAF. Station at Butterworth. The petitioner is, therefore, a British subject both by birth and by virtue of her husband's nationality. After their marriage the parties lived and cohabited together in Butterworth until they sailed together for England on the 6 March 1947. Shortly after their arrival in England the husband was demobilized and obtained civilian employment with a wellknown shipping firm in Liverpool. They lived together at various addresses in Liverpool until 1952. During that period there were two children of the marriage, a girl born in October 1947, and a boy born in November 1948. According to the petitioner, apart from some minor quarrel over a girl named Betty, whom they met at a dance and to whom her husband appeared to be attracted, the marriage was a reasonably happy one.

In the early part of July 1952 the petitioner's health was ailing. She was losing weight and her Doctor recommended a temporary change to a warmer climate. It was accordingly agreed that she should return to her home in Malaya for a short visit of about six months. The husband borrowed the money to pay for her passage. According to the petitioner's evidence, which I accepted, she and her husband parted on perfectly happy terms. It was clearly understood that it was only to be a temporary parting and she had every intention of returning to England and to her husband and two children. She left England alone in July, 1952 and arrived in Penang in August. On arrival in Malaya she stayed with her mother in Butterworth. After she had been here for some months she wrote to her husband for maintenance. The husband replied that whilst she was away from him living in Malaya he could not afford to send her money. After she had been in Malaya for about six months she wrote to her husband saying that she wanted to return to England. According to her testimony, her husband replied to that letter saying that he had no money to pay for her return passage, and even if he had he did not propose to pay for it. Neither of those letters have unfortunately been produced in evidence. The petitioner said that she had destroyed them. Having regard to the lapse of time since they were written it is not entirely surprising that they have been lost or destroyed. At that time the petitioner had no real reason to believe that her marriage was foundering - still less that it was broken - and she had every intention of returning to England. I accepted her evidence that the letters were no longer in existence and I believed her testimony as to their contents. Thereafter, she made an attempt to work her passage back to England by answering an advertisement by an Army Officer who required a nurse to accompany his wife and small child to England and was willing to pay for the passage of such a nurse. Unfortunately, that attempt proved unsuccessful. As time passed by letters from her husband ceased, but she continued to receive letters at varying intervals from her husband's father. A number of these letters were produced in evidence before me. They are, quite clearly, affectionate letters written by a father to his daughter-in-law. The letters progressively demonstrated his increasing disapproval of his