DIVORCE ACTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23840, 16 December 1940, Page 3

DIVORCE ACTION

LENGTHY HEABING DENTIST'S ALLEGATIONS WIFE'S STATEMENTS DENIED [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Saturday The hearing of the defended divorce petition, in which Sydney Roland Wellington Powell, dentist, Wellington, is seeking a dissolution of his marriage with Gertrude Pauline Powell, on the grounds of separation, entered its fourth day in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday, before Mr. Justice Blair. Respondent, in answer to the petition, alleges that the separation' was due to wrongful acts and conduct of petitioner over a lengthy period, and alleges that he was guilty of persistent cruelty, wrongful statements, and constructive desertion. Mr. W. P. Pringle is appearing for petitioner, and Mr. W. E. Leicester for respondent. Quiet Disposition Sydney Roland Wellington Powell, petitioner, in evidence, said that in 1937 lie filed petitions for divorce and separation, but these were abandoned and an agreement for separation was entered upon on September 9. 1937. His wife went into hospital on May 28 of that year as the result of an extended period of intoxication. It was untrue to say that lie had not provided adequately for his wife; he had provided well for her. He denied that he had ever neglected his dental practice to write poetry. Petitioner said he was a man of quiet disposition, and knew of nothing in his nature which could be construed as abnormal. He admitted that he wrote poetry at Otaki, and said he would continue to write it. He never allowed his writing of poetry to entrench on his dentistry hours. One night he went home and found his wife in the wash-house. She had just finished burning a valuable collection of musical compositions and songs. In March, 1937, at Courtenay Place, she obtained possession of a number of manuscript poems he had written, and destroyed them. Coat of Arms Taken "I have written poems," said witness, "which I have been told will stand the test of time." His wife destroyed and buried in the garden a valuable fountain pen of his. and she also destroyed a- valuable book of Milton's poems which he possessed. His coat of arms was even taken, and, to his belief, destroyed by his wife. Petitioner admitted that he had once pulled her nose. This was when, she had called his mother "a dirty low cook." He had never used violence on her. He had never knocked her down, but he had seen her intoxicated on the ground at Otaki, Courtenay Place, and Oriental Bay. She had a- cast-iron throat, and even drank the surgery whisky neat. She was also an inveterate smoker, and used to inhale every mouthful. Cross-examined; witness denied that he had ever publicly suggested that some of Mrs. Powell's children were illegitimate. He had not screwed his wife's nose, though he had pulled it; he had never spat in her face or called her a dirty German Jew, but had called her a German Jew. Froin April, 1931, to October, 1935. he received no regular assistance in his business from Mrs. Powell. On one occasion his son Paul visited him at his Oriental Bay flat and asked him why he was selling up the home. Paul attacked him and thev fought for at least an hour and a-half.