PER 'PHONE

NZ Truth, Issue 1202, 13 December 1928, Page 5

PER 'PHONE

Words That Led To Divorce PARSON'S JAUNT (From "N.Z. Truth's" Wellington Rep.) The object lesson of the successful citation for divorce- which a wealthy American financier named Gordon Fleck brought against his wife, wherein Samuel RobertsonOrr, erstwhile Presbyterian minister m Wellington, was named as co-respondent, seems to be that if one has a penchant for immorality it is well to consider excuses beforehand, instead of making them up on the spur of the moment. A L.TERNATIVELY, it is futile to wait six months before attempting to explain away one's participation m some risque situation: to say, as Robertson-Orr and his wife said, that some elders of a Presbyterian church m Vancouver, British Columbia^ mistook the telephoned words "I'm as nude as my nose" for "I'm just riudlng my nose." Anyhow, the minister has' to pay the costs of the action, Fleck secured his divorce, while the clergyman was also fined £20 and costs for assaulting Fleck's lawyer, who drubbed him m cross-examination. The church elders were scandalized by the moonlight, midnight trysts of Orr and Mrs. Fleck within the precincta of the church, and by the piquant -telephone conversations which used to scurry along the wires leading to Orr's private room from the financier's wife: — The woman: I wish you could see me now. I'm sitting here just as nude as my nose. Orr: Precious one! How I would love to see you. You are m wonderful form. Woman: Yes, but you are too old for me. Don. , Orr: Yes, isn't it terrible! (Both laughed.) Are you coming to the social to-morrow evening? Woman: No. I want to be feeling good for our little jaunt. The "little jaunt" comprised a boat trip to Victoria, Canada. Robertson-Orr arrived early at the boat, kept out of sight until the boat sailed, and then Mrs. Fleck knocked at the door of his cabin. Two elders who overheard the arrangements which the lioliday-makins: pair had arranged over the church party wire were also on the boat, and they discovered that the minister had booked his passage as "Mr. Robertson. v . The United States immigration officials at Victoria refused the wicked pair a passport to land. When the purser, the two elders and the immigration officer looked m on RobertsonOrr they found him m bed, his trousers hanging from the footrail, even though It was only three o'clock m the afternoon.

The minister told a solemn conclave of church dignitaries that he was Journeying to Victoria to bring about a reconciliation between Mrs. Fleck arid her husband. It was unfortunate for him that Fleck waved "Good-bye" to his wife as the boat slipped her moorings from the wharf at ."Vancouver, wasn't it?

Now he is without a church, and it will be interesting to learn what excuse he makes for that.