NE TEMERE BILL

Hokitika Guardian, 28 March 1925, Page 3

NE TEMERE BILL

AUSTRALIAN AXI) N.Z. CAULK ASSOCIATION PASSED BY COUNCIL. i'.Ueco ; ved this day at S a.m.) SYDNEY, Marih 27. The Legislative Council passed all stages of the .Marriage Law Amendment Bill alter a hitter debate. Several iinieii<lmeiits_ were moved with a view to modifying the vital clause of the bill, but these were defeated.

An amendment, moved by the Hon. Brown, to the clause which states that anv person, alleging, expressly or by implication, that any persons lawfully married are not truly and sufficiently married, he liable to the penalties previously cabled. was carried. The amendment stales “are net husband and wife ” and this amendment was carried bv .‘!7 to 20.

The bill was then sent to the As seniblv for Tuesday.

During the debate in the course of an impassioned speech Sir J. lai Hither.- -aid that he had travelled with one of the most respected and honourable men in the New Zealand Parliament. the lion Mark Cohen, who had told him that the passage of a similar bill by the New Zealand Legislature had definitely settled the burning question there. There will he no prosecutions under the Act and no outburst of see!arinn strife as was foresbadowed if the bill was passed here.