Story Of Alleged Freer Case Letters

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1936, Page 8

Story Of Alleged Freer Case Letters

Wrong Woman Said To Be Involved

rpHE full story of the correspondence which is alleged to have A passed between the Australian Minister of the Interior, Mr. T. Paterson, and a man who was stated to have given information regarding Mrs. M. M. Freer was published in the “Sydney Daily Telegraph” last Thursday. Reference to this correspondence was made in a cable sent to New Zealand last week.

The “Telegraph” states that, in his efforts to obtain further evidence to support his banishment from Australia of Mrs. Freer, Mr. Paterson went to a great deal of trouble to collect information from an actor living in Sydney. Although the man did not request it, Mr. Paterson gave the promise that if any use was to be made of his information his name would never be revealed.

The “Daily Telegraph” gave the name of Mr. Paterson’s informant as Walter Townsend Hunt; and set out in black type an alleged criminal record, beginning in 1931 with three months’ gaol for alleged false pretences in India. Two other Sydney convictions, one with 12 months’ gaol for alleged false pretences in Sydney in April, 1935 (falsely promising women parts in a film “The Love Child”), and another conviction for perjury, carrying a sentence of nine months in gaol are also set out in black type.

“Shameful Cor.espondence.”

Mr Hunt also stated that his letter was exti’emely tentative. He was not at all prepared to swear that the Mrs Freer who had come to Australia was' I lie Mrs Freer he had known. He said he told Mr Paterson that he had no objection to his publishing this letter or reading it in Parliament. Mr Hunt wondered why he did not do so. He had also suggested that the Minister could easily discover whether or not Mrs Freer was a Eurasian by getting her birth certificate. Nothing had apparently been done about that either.

The paper then goes on to relate the full story of the “shameful correspondence.” which, it is alleged, passed between Mr. Paterson and the informant Hunt.

“One of the highlights,” says the “Telegraph.” “is that even Mr. Hunt does not now pretend that the information, for which Mr. Paterson thanked him, referred to the M s. Freer who was banned. In fact, when he was shown a photograph of the Mrs. M, M. Freer now in New Zealand, he said definitely last night this was not the woman about whom he had written to Mr Paterson.”

“Not The Same Woman.”

The- representative of the. “Daily Telegraph” then showed Mr Hunt a photograph of Mrs Freer larger and clearer than those previously published. “It that the Mrs Freer you knew in Bangalore?” • Mr Hunt studied the picture.

The report proceeds;— “When first I heard of the banning.” said Mr. Walter Hunt, who lives at Neutral Bay, “I understood that Mrs. Freer’s first name was Vera, and remembered that while I was in Bangalore I had met a Mrs. Vera Freer. “She lived in Infantry Road, Bangalore, and often came to the hotel where I was staying. That was about four years ago.

“No, that is not the same woman. lam definite on that point. In previous pictures I thought there was a resemblance, but now I see that it is not the same woman. This is an English face.”

“A Good Deal of Gossip.”

The following letter was written by the Minister to Hunt.

“She was about 23 years old, with black hair. I cannot say what colour her eyes were, but they were not brown, and they were not blue. “Her features were Eurasian and she called herself an Anglo-Indian, which nowadays in India means a Eurasian. She had a little boy, who was dark. She said she had been divorced.

Minister’s Letter,

“Dear Sir,

“I desire to thank you for your telegram of November 1 in regard to Mrs Freer. Although there is adequate information in the possession of my department to justify the action taken by me in this case, I am anxious to obtain as much corroboration as possible, particularly from people in Australia who knew Mrs Freer. In your telegram you refer to ‘Vera Freer.’ I presume she is identical with Mrs Mabel Magdalene Freer, which is the name of the person restricted from landing. I should be greatly obliged if you would kindly let me have any information which you possess regarding this woman. If the information is used, your name, of course, would not be mentioned. An early reply would be greatly appreciated. “Again thanking you for your telegram.—Yours faithfully.

“I could not say for certain that she was a Eurasian, but I thought so and there was a gocd deal of hearsay on the subject. There was a good deal of gossip about her generally, as there would be about any woman living in cantonments, who had had a child and who was divorced from her husband. The hearsay might or might not be true.

Wire To Mr Paterson.

“Thinking that this Mrs. Freer, whom Mrs. Paterson had banned, was the Mrs. Vera Freer I knew, I wired him: ‘Endorse your action against Mrs. Freer. Knew her in India.’ I then received a letter from Mt. Paterson thanking me for my communication, and suggesting that I should Help him to corroborate the information about Mrs. Freer in his possession.

T. Paterson

Interviewed by 4he “Daily Telegraph” in Auckland by radio telephone, Mrs Freer emphatically denied that she had ever been in Bangalore. She vehemently denied that she was a Eurasian.

“I wrote to Mr. Paterson then telling- what I have told you, but I emphasised that the Mrs. Freer I knew might not be the Mrs. Freer he had banned, and pointed out that what I knew was largely hearsay.”

English Parents,

Both her parents wore English, and she was born in England, she said. Questioned on the radio telephone.

Mrs Freer said she had never met the man who alleged he had met her in Bangalore. She did not care whether he was an actor or teacher of elocution. She had never met such a person. She was definitely not Mrs Vera Freer, and obviously the man had met some other Mrs Freer. The man 'had said that a Mrs Vera Freer had given him a cigarette case. “I have never possessed a cigarette case, nor have I ever given one to any man." declared Mrs Freer. “The cigarette case may have been inscribed ‘Maie,’ but I have been known by that name and 1 never gave it to him.”