The postcard called "The Girl Question" was at the heart of a 1919 libel case in which a married woman felt accused of infidelity. Photo / Supplied
The postcard called "The Girl Question" was at the heart of a 1919 libel case in which a married woman felt accused of infidelity. Photo / Supplied
A dispute between two respectable married women of the King Country turned ugly when a saucy postcard was viewed as a libellous accusation that one had cheated on her husband.
Relations between Priscella Heath and Nellie Collett, both of Mokauiti about 30km south of Te Kuiti, had been strained forsome time when in 1919 they appeared in the Magistrate's Court.
New Zealand Truth pegged the "lampooned lady" and her libellous neighbour as "perfect lydies".
The row ended up costing the Heath family the equivalent, in today's currency, of more than $12,000 in penalty and court-imposed costs.
Heath was found to have published a libel against her neighbour, in the form of a risque postcard in an envelope which was sent to her husband, although he handed it to his wife unopened.
On the envelope was written, "Hard luck you cannot trust your wife out of your sight".
The postcard called "The Girl Question" was at the heart of a 1919 libel case in which a married woman felt accused of infidelity. Photo / Supplied
The card was headed "The Girl Question" and carried a series of pictures depicting a couple, a kiss, and a man wheeling a baby's pram.
Across the picture of the woman's face appeared the name Nellie Collett. The man was labelled F. Hose - a married farmer and neighbour of the Colletts.
When Nellie Collett saw the card she sued Priscella Health, her husband William and their son Willie.
Collett told the court Willie Heath had come to her house to ask if her husband had received the card. Willie had stated he posted the card himself, although his mother had thought of burning it, but then decided to let it go as a bit of fun.
Collett denied there was any foundation to the implication of the card, which she and her husband took as an allegation against her of infidelity.
A friend of the Heaths, Mrs Barlow, admitted she had written on the card for Mrs Heath, who was not an expert at writing.
The card itself came from Miss Gladys Heath, according to a New Zealand Herald report.
The magistrate, Mr E.W. Burton, ruled that Priscella Heath was a party to the libel and had acted with malice.
Her treatment of Nellie Collett had verged on persecution.
She had tried to avoid liability by making untrue statements and inducing her children to give untrue accounts.
The magistrate said Parliament had held that damages were due to any woman if allegations were made concerning her chastity, although no actual damage had been done. He ordered the Heath family to pay a penalty of £100 (worth about $10,000 today) with £24 costs.
