BROKEN BONDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 April 1926, Page 4

BROKEN BONDS.

ls I)I.VORCEfs rx SYDNEY. ii* | id ! SYDNEY, .March 25. *- Chesterton olive spoke el the Divorce n Court a- one of the typical iuslii it’d tiea- of to-day. lie. au.-e of its facility Is fur ••culling up families with tb** m -peed of a sausage machine.” Although i In* in:ilogy is snmewhai coarse ,M the l mill of the remark >s suggested M i*v tin* Svdm*y Divorce Court records. u ‘ I'lie figure*,, it nun be sla.'il by way 1,1 *•; orefa* e. -bow linn ibe fewer tin* 11 ,-bildren ihe greater the number of tii--11 , vim’oos. The figures di los.* also I bat n.ere biisuand.- pell; vu lor diioree ' r ' than do -.vivos; that I ben* are more *'• eases of adultery u:;iiiist wives than husband-', but that in regard to desort ion husbands are the greater otfendors. During tbe past the years, in A eases in which adultery has been the I ‘ s ground of divorce, 029 wives and -193 ,l ' husbands hive been the offenders; in 0 the (.use of desertion 1270 'husbands u have deserted, compared with 071 wives. 11 Desertion is emily the commonest '■ ground of divorce, and, it may be " added, tin* easiest ground. Between '"11873 and 1877 only 73 petitions were " ; lodged. That was in tbe good old puritanical days iho exemplary spirit l * of which flie “flappers’’ of to-day are U urged always to remember by their "I grandmammas. The petitions for di- ' vorce rose steadily in the State until 1 St) I when something like a marital 1 upheaval must have swept the eoiinG try, for close on 1800 petitions were "* lodged that year. Tbe war period of 1914-17 witnessed a "total of 3030 eases. AVbile 'lie figures since I lien have declined, they are still of sufi’irienl proportions to cause some dis- ' quiet among those who do not regard lightly the wholesale dissolution of the marriage tie. file figures suggest that 1 10 to I t ytiirs of married life is the greatest average limit before the Court is invoked. During 1924. for example, tlu* total divorces granted Lo people married for that period numbered 242; ' followed by 140 for those married from 15 to 19 years, and 81 for those who bad enjoyed or perhaps only endured married life for 20 to 21 years before , iho crash came. | |