(1.) This appeal is against an order appointing Ernest Henry Shave and his wife Ethel Mary Shave joint guardians: of a minor named John Christopher Peterson--under Act VIII of 1890. Mrs. Shave is the aunt (mother s sister) of the minor. The application of Mrs. Shave and her husband was opposed by Fanny Emmeliue Peterson, the mother of the infant. The infant is the posthumous son of Alfred Peterson, who died by an accident on the 15th January 1911, and was born on the 25th August 1911 at Darjeeling. He was, therefore, about 71/2 years of age at the time when the application was made and is about 8 1/2 years now. Mr. Peterson at the time of his death was the manager of a sugar factory earning Rs. 375 a month and commission, and on his death Mrs. Peterson was left in a destitute condition. She had four other children whom she placed in charitable institutions, two of (he boys went to La Martiniere, the elder being now an apprentice in the Lilooah Workshops. The third boy is at Kalimnong and the daughter is on the Bruce Foundation at Muasourie.
(2.) When the infant was between two and three months old, Mrs. Peterson brought him to her lister Mrs. Shave in Calcutta and made him over to her as she was going to be trained as a nurse. In so doing she acted very properly and she at once went through a course of training as a nurse so that she might earn her own livelihood, and be in a position to maintain her children.
(3.) The respondent s case is, that the child was made over to her absolutely to be brought, up as her own. Mrs. Peterson, on the other hand, says that she never agreed that the child should stay permanently with the Shaves and did not part with him for good. It appears, however, from Exhibit 1, a "Progress Book" in the handwriting of Mrs. Peterson, that the " baby was made over to my sister, his aunt, to bring up as her own." It also appears from the evidence that in 1914, Mrs. Paterson and Mrs. Shave went to the Rev. Mr. Henderson with a project of re-christening the child. It further appears that the infant calls Mrs. Shave his mother, and Mrs. Peterson aunt Emmy. " There is no doubt;, therefore, that the child was made over to Mrs. Shave to be brought up as her own. There is also no doubt the evidence that Mrs. Shave and her husband are very fond of the child and have treated him like their own child. The boy was at school at Allahabad at the time when the application for guardianship was made; bat is now, we are told, at school at Kurseong.