HONOURED TEN-YEAR PACT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 56, 8 March 1946, Page 4

HONOURED TEN-YEAR PACT

TWO MEN MEET IN WANGANUI THIRD OF TRIO KILLED IN ACTION. Contracted 10 years ago by three mutual friends, a reunion pact was honoured in Wanganui yesterday by only two of the party. In the course of the war which had passed in the intervening years the third member of the agreement was killed. The whole thing started, when in 1936 the three men—Messrs. G. C. Johnston, R. W. Orr, and C. D. Weller —were lodging together in Wanganui. In the papers they read of five men who had met in Wellington in accordance with a pact signed 10 years earlier in Christchurch that they would meet every tenth year. This idea appealed to the Wanganui trio, so there and then they agreed to meet at the Wanganui Post Office corner at noon on March 7, 1946.

The years passed and the friends went their separate ways. Both Messrs. Weller and Johnston joined the 2nd. N.Z.E.F. and served in the Middle East. Corporal Johnston was killed at Sidi Resegh in 1941. Mr, Orr served with the Army in the Pacific as an interpreter.

Mr. Weller returned to take up residence at Wanganui and Mr. Orr settled again at Hastings, where he had been living since leaving Wanganui some time before the war. On Wednesday Mr. Orr recalled the pact and the forfeit of £2 10s it would cost him if he did not attend. He made a hurried trip to Wanganui, arriving here yesterday in time to be at the Post Office corner to meet Mr. Weller as the clock struck. Mr. Orr was formerly on the staff of tne “Chronicle.”

The pair then adjourned for refreshments and to recall their days together in Wanganui. A new pact was made. In 10 years’ time they are to meet again, this time probably in Hastings. The three friends in their days together in Wanganui were keen sportsmen, participating in rowing, athletics and other club activities. Mr. Weller was a New Zealand harrier champion and the other two were also well-known members of the Wanganui Harrier Club.