THE DIVORCE BILL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1876, 25 June 1888, Page 4

THE DIVORCE BILL.

Mr Samuel's Divorce Extension and Amendment Bill is an attempt to carry into effect, m connection with the marriage laws, the proverbial principle that " What is sauce for the goose should be sauce. for the gander," mso far as it proposes to give to a wife the came right, of claiming a dissolution of marriage, on the ground of infidelity, that belongs to the husband when the wife is unfaithful to her marriage vows. We cannot understand how any liberalminded) fair man, can posßibly contend ■ sgainst, what appears to us, to be so obviously just a principle, and yet we learn that it was bitterly opposed and this particular clause resisted by the use or abuse of the forms of the House m the Committee on the Bill on Thursday night. It Beems to us that some of the opponents failed to notice the distinction between rendering ft marriage void and rendering it voidable ; the mere commission of the breach of faith not ipso facto annulling the marriage, but being only a ground upon whioh it might, be annulled upon petition, and yet these are two very different things. We think that Mr Samuel is quite right m seeking to place the sexes on a footing of equality, and are quite with him m * holding that either party, to a mutual contract, should have the same rights as the other m the event of the breach of that contract, and this indeed was affirmed three or four sessions ago by the House, and would, we believe, be affirmed ugain, if a vote were taken m a full House. The tacticß of the opponents of the Bill are directed to the prevention of this, and it is unsatisfactory to find as the result that these tactics were so far successful on Thursday as to have wearied out hon members who, towards the morning, drifted homewards, leaving only a bare quorum. When work upon this Bill is resumed m Committee on Wednesday week, we hope that obstructive tactics will be abandoned, and that the decision of a full House upon the matter will be obtained. The Bill is not limited to this one provision, but proposes also to make attempted murder, wilful desertion for seven years, or the commission of crime, resulting m a sentence of penal servitude for life, or for seven years, or upwards, causes for divorce. It is, we think, reasonable, that this should be the case, but for our own part we should be glad to see the first point, that of placing the sex upon an equality, gained, and the others may perhaps stand over for farther consideration. Probably too it would be wise, m view of the terms of the reply of the Home Secretary, to the New -outh Wales Government with reference to a similar Bill from which the Queen's assent was withheld, to add a clause suspending the operation of the proposed measure until after the passing of a special Act m a future j Parliament, fixing the date upon which it shall take effect, it being plainly intimated by the Imperial Government that Her Majesty's assent is only withheld until it has been conclusively shown that the proposed legislation is m accordance with the general desire of the people.