MRS. DEWAR’S STORY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 47, 19 November 1936, Page 11

MRS. DEWAR’S STORY

No Problem Until Mrs. Freer Came on Scene LETTER FROM HUSBAND By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. (Received November 18, 10.55 p.m.) Melbourne, November 18. Mrs. Dewar, wife of Lieutenant R. Dewar, specially interviewed on the Fiver case, said the first step taken was when she showed the military authorities a lot ler from her husband In India in which lie declared he would not return alone from India, as be bad found complete happiness. Mrs. Dewar added: “1 understand that the authorities made inquiries about Mrs. Freer, and apparently had very good reasons for excluding her. I do not wish to make plausible and pathetic attempts to gain public sympathy, and would haw preferred to be left alone to solve our own problems, which did not exist until Mrs. Freer met my husband.” Mrs. Dewar and her two-year-old daughter are residing with her parents at Caulfield. "After my husband returned to Australia,” said Mrs. Dewar, “he asked me for a divorce. I was not anxious to make it easier for Mrs. Freer if she did wriggle into this country. I felt that my husband’s infatuation would abate when he settled down in his former environment and that he would possibly realise that he had made a mistake.” HUSBAND’S VERSION Says There is No Scandal Sydney, November 18. The statement of the Minister of the Interior, Mr. T. Paterson, regarding the identity of Mrs. Freer was in answer to a letter written to him by Lieutenant Dewar in defence of Mrs. Freer, in which he suggested that there might have been a mistake in identity, pointing out that there were two Mrs. Freere in Bombay. Lieutenant Dewar in his letter to Mr. Paterson set out “that there is no scandal in my friendship with Mrs. Freer in India,” and that “the marriage you so strongly defend was not a success for various reasons. The marriage would have peen ended suddenly in any case. T.ae banning of Mrs. Freer has in no way helped the situation: in fact it has had the opposite effect.” CABLE TO DOMINIONS OFFICE (Received November 19, 2 a.m.) London, November 18. The Dominions Office has received a cable from the Commonwealth of Australia asking for all available information concerning Mrs. Freer. No further information is available concerning inquiries by the Secretary for the Dominions, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald. Official quarters are reticent..