OH, ARCHIBALD, MOST CERTAINLY NOT!

NZ Truth, Issue 1180, 12 July 1928, Page 7

OH, ARCHIBALD, MOST CERTAINLY NOT!

SHIP'S ENGINEER LANDS LOVE SHIP ON ROCKS

Men of the sea, life chickens, sometimes come home to roost, and this is the story of a very wily bird who came surreptitiously home to roost, thereby hoping to evade paternal responsibility. The old story, of course, is of illicit love on shipboard and some involved circumstances. But the merest chance— a veritable whisp of favorable circumstance— led to the recital of the facts m the Wellington Maintenance Court last week*

: . .£ 'THERE is no need to talk of balmy 1 nlghtfe, placid seas and tropic moons. i, The plain fact is that love-making took place on this eventful voyage of the Remuetfa, bound from Southampton to Anckland In the spring of 1921. No, she wasn't the caretaker's daughter and he wasn't Rudolph Valentino, Pate's die casting them respectively as Immigrant girl and beunlformed engineer on : the vessel. 'In a literary nutshell, the truth is that Mary Keler Hooker placed too implicit a faith m the soft avowals of love enunciated by Archibald James White. . . According to the manner. In which you choose to apportion the blame, Fate, or White, or both,, played her a sorry trick when she was left an expectant mother, to battle out a lonely existence far from her homeland. After six years of uncomplaining toil m the service of her bonny young son, a small obituary notice m a Wellington paper recently, led to the discovery of the man who had so shamelessly deserted her. "Molly" Hooker read of White's mother's death, the particulars also pointing unmistakably to the whereabouts of White. Archie White had apparently been living for five and a-half years m the same city as the girl whom he had so neglected. And n^ver a word of his presence. In such a case. the law allows only six years after the birth of a child for an application for affiliation and maintenance orders to be lodged. Through the unexpected obituary notice, . Molly thus located her. erstwhile lover and lodged her application within six short days of the expiry of

Romantic Voyage

the time provided for by the statute. It was on the second Sunday after the Remuera left' Southhampton that Molly Hooker met Archie White, an engineer on the boat. A friendship blossomed and ripened between this maid and man. On September 20, when the ship was only twelve days-j ourney from Auckland, Molly, trusting m the man's love, gave all that a woman can give to a mani They were intimate on several occasions m his cabin after this until the boat reached her destination on October 1. Never before had the girl cast discretion to the winds, but sloe believed m his avowals of love. Even . White, it was alleged, knew this and one day, sitting on the 2nd class companion, he said to her: "Had I known the girl you are, Molly, I would never have done this." The day following the boat's arrival, Molly came on to Wellington, but it was not until some time later that she discovered her condition. The Remuera was then on her tour of the New Zealand ports. The first letter she received from White came from Lyttelton. It ran: "Dear Molly. Golly! A letter a .day! I am afraid I can't • cope with that . . . Do I miss you? You bet I do. Why, I have hardly been ashore yet, so fed up and lonely . . . I've still got the flowers you brought. They remind me of the sweetest and best girl pal I have ever had the luck to know. Do I know you dear? . . . Yours with all the best, Archie." Molly wrote to White and on October 26, he wired her, "Cheerio, be back soon, Archie." Later she received his letter; it was headed "At sea," and ran: "Dear Molly: I received your letter iiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimininiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiininiiniiiiniiimiiiiniiiiiuiiiiiuiiiiii'

How White Treated His "Sweetest Girl Pal"

(Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.)

3 . : _ — « just as -we Trere leaving: the wharf and only just had time to nip ashore and send wire. Sorry to hear such bad news, but cheer up Molly, things may not be as bad as you think. "Don't forget to trust and depend on me to do my best m any oase . . . I sincerely hope for your sake, dear, that you may be mistaken ... Au Revoir, dear, and cheer up and don't "worry. Archie." Down m Port Chalmers, White wrote again reiterating .his love and affection for the girl who had sacrificed her all to him. He headed it: "To the Best Girl Ever: "Well, Molly dear, what's the news?;, . . . You musn't let anything- worry you dear because I everything: will . come right m the end. I am just longing to see you again and I don't want a white-faced, worried-looking little Molly to meet me at the wharf. So cheer up and we'irmake the best of a bad job . . . I've still got some of those flowers you gave* me, just proving to you I'm' not the flirt you think me. Your ever-'lbvlng Archie." It is not hard to conceive that with all these declarations of love White would have stood by "his pal." , When the Remuera came back to Wellington on November 6 of that fateful year, the pair had frequent meetings and on November 9 it Was suggested that some medicine ,could be procured.

White said he would proourethis but had no money. She gaye him £1 with which he procured some capsules. At no. time did the man deny "his responsibility m the matter, but he never, m so many words, said he was the fathef of her unborn child. He was looking for work ashore at this . time and said he would stay and take v care of her through her trouble. Thinking the man was genuine m his desire, she answered some advertisements for him stating his" qualifications as an engineer,- a list of which he had given her. Nothing suitable could be procured and ultimately, on November 15, White sailed away on his boat, but with definite assurances that he would return. Molly waited and- wondered In, her brave little heart when she would see her man again. She wrote him a letter care of an address which he had given her, but m the fullness of time this was returned through the Dead Letter Office! And then, out of the silence, came a letter from Southend, London. Archie wi'ote: "Dear Molly: Very sorry I haven't written before . ... . I reckon :by this time you will have learned that I saw you for probably the last time m Wellington. . "I got the throw;-out, the sack, when I arrived m good old London and I'm

Evasive Promise

Quite A Stranger

3 : : ( afraid that it will be pretty near impossible for me to get baok to New Zealand again ... "I have really tried to get back . . . I'm about on my beam ends. "Well, cheerio. Yoiira SINCERELY, Archie." Left with this cold, crisp letter as the end of her romance, Molly set to work through the New Zealand Shipping Co., to locate her errant lover. Cold comfort to her aching heart was the final reply she received from them:' It was to the effect that they had been unable to trace him, but "Mr. White had apparently signed off the S.S. '• : '■' Remuera on her last voyage."" The baby was born the following year, .on June 24, - . . -■■ 1922, and then for .. . six long weary years, believing all the time that White had not returned, she struggled to maintain herself and support her child. It was on June 12 last that Molly saw m the Wellington evening . paper an obituary notice notifying the death of Archie White's mother at 16 Russell Terrace. She knew the name and that night her sis- - ter-in-law called at the house to see If, by any remote, but helpful chance, Arohibald White could be locatedi The very man—father of the child — opened the door to her. White wasn't too pleased to see her, either, but pro-

mlsed, m an evasive manner to come and see Molly some night during the week. The following night, In company with, her brother-in-law, Molly called at the house. White again opened the door. "Good evening, Archie," she said, and with perfect sang froid, the man replied: "Hullo, Molly, — you're quite a stranger." She told him that, according to what he had said to her sister-in-law the night before, she little thought he had been m the same city so long. He had been back m New Zealand "■ ■ five and a- half years without communicating a word to the girl! He told her it came as a great shock to him to learn about the child and remarked: "So far as I recollect, you told me you were all right before I left." Archie promised to come and see her but failed to : do so. She saw a solicitor on June 18, six years all but six days after her baby boy was born. A summons was issued against White. And that is substantially "her tale as told to Magistrate Salmon m the\Welllngton Maintenance Court last week, when she at last brought to book' the man who had loved and -evaded his responsibilities. Lawyer Douglas Jackson skilfully guided her through the legal shoals

m ■ as the girl told her tale In a straightforward and honest manner. White denied paternity of the child and brought Lawyer W. P. Rollings along to help him. Under cross-examination, Molly admitted that there was a cabin-mate of White's whose name was Archie (Walker), but she had nothing to do with him. .There had been a party m the cabin one night I—three1 — three men and ' three girls. The women were friends of hers while the men were White, Walker and an electrician working on the boat, known as "Sparky." • .". .. From what she had since ascertained, Molly said that White had arrived back m New Zealand on May 23, 1923, working his way across. She had never seen him, "but," she said, "had I known, I would have gone after him.," She denied knowing that her brother was working with White m the P. and T. department five years ago. Molly's sister-in-law said that she called on White as the result of seeing the notice m the paper, and asked him "If he was aware of the fact that he had a son six years of age?" White denied all knowledge. Lawyer Rollings, m support of hiß contention that Archie White was not the father of complainant's child, said the evidence was Incomplete and insufficiently corroborated. In the witness-box, White said that he shared his cabin with Archie Walker, who was off duty while he was on. He was not responsible for Molly's condition. • ■ He denied absolutely, buying capsules for the girl with money he had taken from her for the purpose. ;/

Pretty Conclusive

I . _J White, who Is now engaged to be married, said he was employed on the permanent staff of the Wellington City Council. Prior to that he had held several .positions m the city. Asked how he accounted for the tone of his letters, he said it was such a long time ago he had forgotten. It might have been because Molly, was out of work, etc. Magistrate Salmon intimated to Lawyer Douglas Jackson that he need not cross-examine the witness, and forthwith delivered his judgment. His worship said he had been much impressed with the straightforward and honest account given by the complainant. The only question that arose was one of corroboration and m this case he thought there was ample. The photos and letters were themselves pretty conclusive of a close relationship. It was impossible to place shy othejj^ construction on them. It was certainly a most lucky coincidence that she had seen the notice m the paper. "Complainant," went on Magistrate Salmon, "is a very respectable woman and not of the type that usually comes before the maintenance courts. She had been deceived but had since behaved m an admirable manner m supporting the child for six years. She deserves the fullest consideration of the court." He adjudged White the father of her child and fixed the maintenance at 15/- a week, granting complainant £50 as past maintenance, inclusive of .medical expenses! , White also has to pay lawyer's fee (two guineas) and witnesses' expenses (£1). • iiiiitiiiitniiiiiiiniiiiiniiiiiiitititniiiiiiiiiiiifttiuniiiiiiiiiiiiiitMiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiniiiiiiitiiiiiitnn.