A Father's Search For His Nine-Years-Old Child

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 1

A Father's Search For His Nine-Years-Old Child

LONG, long ago — for sixteen . months is a long span of measurement for ..the childish mind to grasp— v Mummy told Daddy that she was going, * on~a- holiday, to some strange town called Inglewood, .where there were some nice people who would be pleased to see her and Ngaire. Little Ngaire did not know— by the mercy of Providence which watches over 'Children she ' never will ' knowthat for a long time her mother and the man who" was to be her new Daddy had been living a lie; that when George 'William. -'.Spears sailed .with Mrs. Brosnan and the small girl on the "Marama," they were merely consummating the chapter of misalliance * ffiilifih they had : commenced four years All that ."stands out : mdst pro- ! ... minently m: Ngaire's mind is that ■ for -sixt^eh' months she ; tried to „' understand what had happened to her own Daddy; why "Mr. Spears'!, was to be called "Daddy";, and how it came, about that .everyone called her Ngaire Spears; why every? , thing seemed so different.

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Dunedin Man Travelled to West Australia to Rescue Little Daughter from Unfaithful Mother and Foster Fate THE DRAMATIC QDYSSEYI)F WILUAM BROSNAN

....-• ■ „ . . ■ • . ■ . .■..■■■-.■■■■ *• (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative)

Fora small girl; nine years of age, Ngaire Brosnan has passed far along the highway of .experience, while through the avenues of her wistful mind must flit the mingling recollections of a Mummy who found a new Daddy- of the day when, many months ago, she was .taken . away . from her home m Dunedin, whirled through New Zealand, and on to a big ship, where there were lots of interesting things to kee and find; of the new Daddy who took them to a big railway station m a place called Australia; ot thSengine which drew them onwards to another place called Perth, her old Daddy left far behind. .v Oftenshe thought of him ... often ... and one wonderful day he found her. Now she is back m -.. fcDunedin, with her brothers and the old Daddy. ' , . ||v-- But what of the Mummy and the other, the new Daddy?

If that is aIL she remembers, well and good. It is well. that, the smooth eraser of Time has ac,t-ed. so cleanly, so surely upon the fibres of her memory. But if this U.s.ojourn.. of her's meant adventure to Ngalrei itafepiesented the ntsar-sacrifibe bf that which her father, William Brosnan, held i most dear m life. It meant, too, months of bitter anguish, dreadful anxiety as to the fate of his little- ghi,,;months of questing arid questioning throughout the length and breadth of this Dominion, across the Tasman, and through the honeycombed cities of Australia . . . seeking . . .seeking . . . And when he had thrown his last penny into the hungry maw; of fast travel and ceaseless quest, night and day, upon trails which led him hopefully forward, then as abruptly brought him face to face with temporary'defeat, he turned back, alight with the determination to secure more money which would be the means of dis-. covering the hiding-place of Ngaire. But what of Spears' own wife? . For some years she had suspect- • ed her husband and Mrs. Brosnan • of guilty amours, but it was not until 1924 that she definitely asked ,him to take his choice between herself and the other woman.

She begged him to cast away the memory of Mrs. Brosnan. He refused, with the result that the couple entered into a deed of mutual separation, which they revoked at Spears' request, after being parted for. three months. Some time m June, 1927, Spears, who was said to be a fairly prosperous iiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiimimiinmiiiiii bookmaker m Dun^ edin, told his wife that he contemplated taking- 12 months' holiday m the Homeland, and during that period, would make her an allowance of • £ 2 15s. weekly. jB v t he omitted to acquaint her with the fact that he had instructed a land agent named Kidd to sell the Spears' properties. He expressed a definite wish that under no circumstances was the Public Trust Office m Duhedin to disclose his whereabouts, should any inquiries be made from outside. On July 11 he left the city, saying he would stay a week or so m Christchurch, whence he would join the "Maheno" at "Wellington on July 22. A . short while before the boat was scheduled to sail, Mrs. Spears telegraphed "Pleasant voyage," little imagining what' irony the message held for herself, but hop.ing, no doubt, that" her- husband would be happy on his trip. Spears was also very friendly m his conversations with Brosnan, and, be'ore he left fo r Christchurch, said he would drop Brosnan a line from time to time. The only communication which Brosnan received directly or indirectly from Spears was, however, en-, tirely at variance with nis expectations. It k was tn

. Twelve months ago to-day ' we stood : on the sea-girt shores of our compact little country, our gaze fastened \ ex- : pectantly upon the blending spaces of 4 water and cloudy our ears acutely taut, every sense straining to apprehend the mobile dot whose appearance would, represent the fruition of New Zealand's cherished hope. .-...• •But when the waning daylight had quenched itself beneath the black coverlet of night, when Despair was the. sentinel on the hill-top, and Hope had crept away through the kindly darkness which

the effect that his "wife had gone away, never to return. Incidental to the departure of Spears was tne disappearance afterwards of Mrs. Brosnan, supposedly ,; on holiday' ■witfr sorf i^^.a*lvfet?*'9g^^o^^aiifa E —a situation .wßich.Vbre4^n.'^.Br.'6 t 9iia.nth c resolve that, whatever the ' ob - staclos, he would search for his wife, regain her , affections, and bring her back to the home she had left. Close scrutiny of shipping lists, records at the Government Statistician's office, and every available avenue of information which might lead him to a sign, however slight, enlightened him hot at all, and it ' tvas not until he }

travelled farth elno r t h that he learned of her having journeyed with their child Ngaire from Te Kuiti to Hamilton. Up till then she had used her own name, , Eagerly scanning the passenger lists at Auckland, he found neither the name "Spears" nor , "Brosnan," and was about to close the book when he caught sight of a peculiar, back-hand signature which he had seen so often before.

Below the name "George Frant cis" appeared the handwriting, so affectionately familiar to him m years gone by, of his wife, but now . signing herself "Nora Francis," signifying her passage also on the ■ "Marama" with Spears. I Some days afterwards Brosnan re-

Good-bye For Ever

also hid the agony of grief m the eyes of the women who waited, the sea crooned its requierrv — and two valiant men had Passed. Beyond. . Came Morning, and upon her tablet of memory was graven the enduring marks of Endeavor's -, noble chisel, fashioning the names 1 of Hood, and Moncrieff, because, unappalled by the twists of misfortune that ever must lie m the jjath of a forerunner, they blenched hot from the course they had set . across the Tasman Sea. We ought not to dwell upon their failure. Theirs was a pathetic,resolution to achieve, and becauso

ceived a letter from.' his, wife, saying "Good-bye" to him for the last time— a letter posted by her brother, living at Inglewobd, m the North Islands from between seven , to ten days after the the wish of : Mrs. Broshan; • ■■.-.• About. Six mbnths later Mrs. Spears was awarded a charging order on' the property. of her husband, additional to an allowance of £2 15s. a week, because, although regular maintenance had been paid by Spears, there was the risk of his properties, amounting to a sum m the neighborhood of *£ 10,000. being sold, and the money transmitted to the secret address known only to the Public Trustee m Dunedin, which would cause the wife to become flestitute. Meanwhile, Brosnan s^yept. over many false trails m Sydney and Melbourne, covering many thousands of miles m the six weeks of constant endeavor between the two cities, and spending much money, only to experience the sharp agony of disappointment brought about' by defeat.

Exhausted m mind and body, his capital at its lowest ebb, Brosnan returned to this country, an overwhelming.ache m his heart for the little girl whose disappearance seemed so utterly complete. After a few more months m his home town, he was.abie. to raise some

they lost' everything m essaying to plumb the deeps of Attainment; because their- every effort, was inspired m the heart of their country, New Zealand should remember with proud gratitude the names pf these two sons. ■ . Looking across thjs Sea- of Remembrance, we: catch the! faint definition of a watery, monolith, piled from the ' crested ' rollers which lap the resting-place of two ; heroes, and, we bow our heads, our minds %arid hearts welling with sympathy for the women, who waited for the men who never .: /returned/^ : '\ l: . :> ■' ' ' .'■'■ ' \- : . .

more money, but, as though his trouble was not already sufficient, his permanent employment as a commercial traveller had to be sacrificed, and when he sailed on November: 2 of last^year. nerve- wracking search ; ..for little Ngaire, but also with the- realisation that wheh he returned to New Zealand he would need to seek a neAV job. Arriving at Perth m November, l\e scrutinized the Federal electoral rolls, and was at length rewarded* with the hint he had sought for sixteen months. The name of Geoi-ge William Spears, and the address shown as 21, Outram Street, West ' Perth, one of the better quarters m the city, met his glance as he followed the direction of his moving finger down the page of statistics. "What do you want?" enquired Brosnah's wife, who opened the door m reply to his knock. He replied that all he wanted was Ngaire. After considerable discussion, Mrs. Brosnan accompanied her husband to the Thomas Street school, where the small girl was called out to. meet her father, and, after some reluctance on the part of her mother, handed qver to Brosnan, who took her away to the home of some friends of his. Two days later Brosnan took Ngaire to the Zoo, and while they were walking along one of the paths, .they came face to face with Spears and his "wife."

Mrs. Brosnan created a scene by hysterically pleadiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiii ing «with her husband , not to take the little girl. away, tfut, although she employed every artifice known, to a distraught mother —alternately pleading, : cajoling and crying - — Bros nan remained adamant. Spears must be a man with, a surprisingly easy conscience. F o r instance, ■ whe n Brosnan was returning from the house m Outram Street, after a visit to collect his little girl's clothes, from his tapci he sighted' Spears walking m the direction of the house. ; Brosnan shook his fist at Spears, who, misinterpreting , the gesture, waved back m the most friendly fashion. There was a somewhat lively encounter a t th c gateway of th c house, although Brosnan was able

to master a desire to attack Spears. On Tuesday, November 20, the now happy father arrived at the Perth railway st at ion about 8.30 a.m. ore-, paratory to boarding . the overland express which was due to leave at nine o'clock ' for Sydney. - t . ....-,■ In anticipation of some, last des-. perate attempt by the mother to. regain possession of her daughter, Bros-; nan had made .ar - . . rangements for . plain - clothes detectives to ...keep' an eye on his little party, comprising himself and his small daughter and a married couple

mmHnmtmmmimiimiMmimimiimmmmmmmmmmmmmiimmmmm who had 'befriended him since his arrival from Maoriland. But nothing untoward happened, nor was there any sign of Mrs. Brosnan's whereabouts, so he decided to . board the train to superintend the packing of his luggage.Suddenly, there was a scream from the direction of the platform. The agitated father rushed from j the train just m time to witness the detectives loosening the grasp of Mrs. Brosrian from the shoulders of Ngaire. . Mrs. Brosnan, heavily veiled . and keeping: well out of sign t,. had awailea her opportunity, and ,as soon as her, husband left Ngair^'s side, she rushed over wl^ere 'the 1 ; child stood on the. departure : ; platform, md dragged'her jtalkingr to her. .:■■/; . TThat was: the i last .eventful "episode m the whole unfortunate misadventure. ' NoSy that Ngaire <is with her , two older brothers m IDunedin, she must wonder why all those strange things happened to her, and why her Mummy had not come back with her. But she is glad that the old Daddy is with her once again. '. =ji(uiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiitiiiiiiuiiiiitiiii{itiiiiitiittiiii(iiniiitiiiiiiiiiiittiiuttitit|f"