MARRIAGE CURIOSITIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2155, 27 July 1920, Page 1

MARRIAGE CURIOSITIES.

BIRTHS IN AUSTRALIA

OLD AND YOUTHFUL PARENTS

The vital statistics in the annual report of the Commonwealth Statistician, on the face of them, do not seem inviting, but, as a matter of fact, they are full of human interest. Take, for example, one of the facts set out. A. husband of 83 is shown as wedded to a woman of 24, and a child vvas born of this marriage. Again, a wit'e of 53 and a husband of 41 had a child born to them in the first year of their married life. Six girls of 14 became mothers, the fathers in their cases ranging in years from 21 to 40. The ages of the father and mother of another youngster are given as 17 and 15 respectively, and a girl of It) and a young man of 23 had twins born to them. A man and his Avife, avliosc ages Averc respectively 54 and 48, were also the proud parents of twins. New South Wales holds the record for twins, both nuptial and ex-nuptial, but to Victoria falls the honour of providing the greatest number of triplets. As to marriage, the statistician recoi/ds that a bride of 83 was led to the altar by a man of 44, and a man over 95 years of age took as a bride a young woman- whose age avus “given at 28. December, in a proverbial sense, may not lie inconspicuous in marriage activities, but the statistics show that December, in Australia, is the least popular marriage month. Dealing with the size of families, the statistician records that in one case 23 children have been born to one marriage, and eight females and seven males' survived. A remarkable 'case of “wedded bliss’ is given. The records show that; no Jess than ten couples who died last year had lived together for more than 70 years.