DIVORCE SOUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23839, 14 December 1940, Page 13

DIVORCE SOUGHT

A DENTIST'S SUIT STRANGE ALLEGATIONS UNHAPPY FAMILY LIFE [jsv TKLEGJt A F'H —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WKLIXG TON", Friday A defended divorce petition was brought in the Supremo Court. Wellington, by Sydney Roland Wellington Powell, dentist, Wellington, lor a dissolution of his niarriagi! with Gertrude Pauline Powell, on the grounds of separation. The ease was heard bv Mr. Justice Rlair, Mr. W. P. Pringle appeared for petitioner, and Mr. W. E. Leicester for respondent. The petitioner, in his affidavit in support of the petition, stated that he was married on October :30, J92;J, to Gertrude Pauline Harvey, then a divorced woman, at Pukekohe. They lived together in Auckland, Wellington. Otaki and Papakura. About September 9, 1937, petitioner and respondent entered into an agreement tor separation, and this had continued for more than three years, down to ihe present time. Respondent, in answer to the petition, stated that the separation was due to the wrongful acts and conduct of petitioner, in that over a lengthy period preceding the date of the separation he was guilty of persistent cruelty toward her. Respondent also alleged that petitioner was guilty of using vile and offensive language toward her and of humiliating her by shouting allegations against her morality ami character in the street and other public places; and that he had published a false statement to the effect that since 1928 she had been an habitual drunkard.

Evidence of Son Paul Sidney Powell, son of respondent. said that when the family went to Otaki in 1925 his father used to illtreat his wife. He would knock her down, pull her nose until she screamed, cateh her by the throat, tear the clothes off her back, and spit in her face. His father would also use insulting language to his mother in the street; lie would call her "a dirty German Jew," and make disparaging remarks about her family. His father used 1,0 concentrate on writing poetry to the neglect of his practice. Witness denied the allegations of his father that his mother was an habitual drunkard. In 19.>5 his father wired up a dictaphone, and used to irritate his mother until she retorted, and he would then switch on the dictaphone. He used to taunt her about details of her previous married life. Gertrude Pauline Powell, respondent, in evidence, said that she was married to petitioner on October 30. 1923, and went to live in Epsom, Auckland. She bought a home and furnished it. and set up a surgery for Powell. Powell never practised at Epsom; he used to go on to Mount. Eden, and write poetry. As the result of petitioner not practising, she lost the home and the £BSO she had put into it. Related to Nurse Cavell In January, 1937. in Wellington, petitioner started to demand his freedom, and occasionally used cruelty toward her. lien he had brain storms he used to scream out insults against her and her children in the surgery, and sometimes in the street. He used to call her a "dirty German Jew." Witness stated that her father was a German Jew. who came to New Zealand and became a naturalised British subject before she was born. Her mother was an Englishwoman and a cousin of Nurse Cavell. Cross-examined by Mr. Pringle, respondent said that she was first married in 1896 at the age of 16, and her first husband had divorced her on the grounds of adultery. She was married again in 1907. and divorced bv her then husband in 1923 on the grounds of adultery with her nresent husband. She had a child by petitioner, the child being born in 1917. She married petitioner at Pukekohe in 1923.

Mr. Pringle, said that the petitioner had not been guilty of cruelty. The position was the reverse, and he would say that the respondent had been cruel in many ways, both physically and menially. She interfered with his business. made his life a constant nightmare by her violent abuse, and had hysterical screamine fits in his surgery. She would go into his surgery intoxicated. lie lost business as a result. Petitioner's Allegations Petitioner's wife would douse him with water, aud lie in wait tor him in the passage and hit him with a lump of wood as lie passed, continued Mr. Pringle. In her hysterical fits she would throw anything she could lay her hands on. and hit him on the head, body and face. Her particular habit was to kick him on a varieoscd and ulcerated leg. She would also throw kettles of boiling water at him. His Honor said that cruelty was not alleged against the respondent in the petition. The separation deed agreed to abandon that allegation, as well as the drunkenness allegation. "Those allegations are gone, they are dead, and they have been nicely interred." said His Honor, "and as far as I am concerned they are going to stay interred." Giving evidence, the petitioner said the suggestion for separation had come from the respondent. Her entry into hospital had been the culmination of a period of intoxication. He provided very well for his wife. The Kpsoni practice had failed because of the surgery's isolated position. He had written no poetry at Kpsoni. "It is a very peculiar thing, when a poet is writing poetry, that there must be serenity of mind and surroundings to enable him to induce the Muse." said the petitioner. He added that he had not had serenitv of mind for many years past, except that of his own creation. The case is proceeding.