SYDNEY DIVORCE SUIT

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11783, 20 March 1924, Page 9

SYDNEY DIVORCE SUIT

COMING CAUSE CELEBRE NOTED AND WEALTHY PAIR. HUSBAND’S HUGE INCOME. (Auokland “Herald” Special.) SYDNEY, March 13. nr. I P en< l' r lK divorce action between Mr Lebbeus Hordetra, youngest brother of Sir Samuel Hordern, ana his wife is already exciting Sydney society, though it may be several months before the “cause celebne” is listed for hearing in court. Both Mr and Mrs Lebbeus Hordern are young, well-known, and handsome; the bride herself was wealthy, and the bridegroom is tremendously noh. Dramatio developments of a romance framed in the most luxurious setting are promised as the divoroe action proceeds. The service last week of a petition for divorce upon Mrs Hordern from her husband was a climax to a long history of marital differences, whiah had already been in legal dispute. Mr and Mrs Hordern were married in Sidney in October, 1912, and their son was bom in April, 1914. But. in June, 1919 after initial steps in legal conflict, a deed of separation was drawn up between husband and wife. By this deed Mr Hordern agreed to allow his wife £BOOO a year clear of State or Federal income tax. This is the largest allowance to a wife ever known in Australia. Its tax-free character makes it higher than the £9OOO a year granted to Lady Dudley, who Lord Dudley afterwards on the question of liability to taxation. LEGAL LUMINARIES. Great legal luminaries will shine in the divorce drama. For Mr Lebbeus H. Hordern, Mr A. B. Shand, K.C., and Mr S. v. Toose have been retained. For Mrs Hordern Messrs R. Windeyer, K. 0., A. R. J. Watt, K. 0., W. J. Cnrtis, and A V. Maxwell will appear. All these retainers were arranged some time back. Mr Hordern, a grandson of the founder of the great business of Anthony Hordern and Sons, Ltd., has an income estimated at £IOO,OOO a year. He has been a princely patron of art, and from one visit to Europe is reputed to have returned with about £30,000 worth of pictures and statuary. He Is, moreover, a studious man. He reads economics, and can quote from many authorities on the relation between capital and labour. But he was never inclined to enter actively into big business. He is now wholly dissociated from business connection with the giant Arm. Keenly interested at that time in aviation, when the war began he presented, a seaplane to the navy, and it went away in H.M.A.S. Australia. In 1921 he lent a seaplane for a survey of the eastern coast. He liimself had bought but never used it. Finally, Mr Hordern tired altogether of his hobby. His ’planes are now packed away in parts. Of late years Mr Hordern has been rather a recluse. WIFE TRAVELS ABROAD. Mrs Hordern was before her marriage Miss Olga Monie, one of the society beauties of the day. Her father, who was a railway contractor, was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, becoming in his later years there captain of the Bchool. When he died, after a successful business career, lub estate was proved at over £BO,OOO. Miss Olga Monie spent the formative years of her life at the Loretto Convent, Sydney. She had not long been out in the social world when, at the age of 20, in 1912, sho was married to Mr Hordern at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. During the brief period which separated her school days from her married life she was one of the handsomest and most ponular girls in Sydney society. After the estrangement from her husband, she left Sydney in August, 1919, taking her hoy with her. She visited Egypt. England, and then travelled extensively in Europe and America. She camo hack to Sydney in June, 1922, by herself. She had left her son at school in Pans. She was hero for several months but went abroad again. Sho stayed away until her arrival on the R.M.S. Maloja last week.