Slaughter-house Bill. On the motion of the Colonial Secretary, this bill was read a third time, and passed. Marriage Bill.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 132, 4 September 1847, Page 3

Slaughter-house Bill. On the motion of the Colonial Secretary, this bill was read a third time, and passed. Marriage Bill.

The Attorney Genera], on rising to move the second reading of the bill, said, that two of the principal objects sought to be secured by legislating on the subject of marriage, were to prevent clandestine marriages by minors and others, and to define distinctly what should constitute a valid marriage. As to the colony of New Zealand at ihe present moment, he would ask the Council whether under any existing regulations, there was any safeguard against clandestine marriages ; and, whether any of them could undertake to say, as the law now stood, what constituted a valid marriage r He apprehended that these questions must, both of them, be answered in the negative. And if so, then he thought that a case was made out calling for legislation on the subject. Assuming legislation to be necessary, then arose the questions,— what should be the nature of their legislation ? On what principles should it be founded, and where should they look for example and guidance on the subject ? Now it happened, that within a very few years, several Acts had been passed upon the subject, by Parliament, in England, and that similar measures, adapted to meet the requirements of a new country, had been adopted in some of the neighbouring colonies. The Bill before the Council was framed, partly on the basis of the English Acts, and in some measure, after those of the neighbouring colonies, with luch modifications as were called for by the particular circumstances of the country. As regards the ceremonial of Marriage, the Bill made no rule on the subject; and did not interfere with that of any Church or religious body whatever, except to the extent of requiring that, in some part of the ceremony, each of the parties should declare, that he knew not oi any lawful impediment to the marriage; and that he took the other to be his lawful wedded wife or husband. As to the persons by whom marriages might be solemnized, the Bill provided, that they should be clergymen of the Church of England, and " Officiating Ministers," enaoting, at the same time, that every minister of a Christian congregation, of forty householders, should be entitled to be registered as an Officiating Minister within the meaning of the Ordinance. He, the Attor-ney-General, thought it probable that the Council would desire to enumerate other churches wilh that ol the Church of England ; a line would have to be drawn somewhere ; but it had been thought desirable that the Bill should be introduced in its present shape, leaving it to the Council to add to the lis(, such other bodiei as they might agree upon, rather than impose upon them the possible and invidious task of striking out what they might deem objectionable. As to the regulations proposed for securing publicity, and preventing clandestine marriages ; the Bill, as it now stood, provided as follows : — That no marriage should henceforward take place, except, either by banns, published on three distinct Sundays— by licence granted by a surrogate, after a solemn affidavit by one of the parties— by licence granted by a Deputy Registrar, after seven days notice, entered in the " Marriage Notice Book"— or, without banns, or any such licence, on the certificate of a Deputy Registrar, that notice of the marriage had been enteied in the " Marriage Notice Book," lor 21 days. The only other provision of the Bill to which he would draw the attention of the Council, was that contained in the 25th section, which enacted, that persons who objected to marry nnder the provisions of the Ordinance, might contract marriage at the office, and in the presence of a Deputy Registiar, He should be quite prepared to meet with differences of opinion, on the part of honourable members, on several parts of the Bill, and he could say for himself, that although he was in some sort, the parent of the Bill, and its appointed guardian, still he was not wedded to it, but wonld be quite willing that it should receive such correction as its faults might seem to require. The At. torney-Gcneral concluded, by moving that the Bill be read a seoond time. Tbe Colonial Secretary was ,not prepared to jsay that no legislation on the subject of fljarriages was necessary — but hejcertainly was pre* pared to urge objections to the bill as now before them. The principle involved in il was nothing less tbau one which went to give supeiiority to one church in the'colony over others, aud to this he objected ; for if it was proper to introduce the established church of England and Ireland, it was also right that the established church of Scotland should be inserted* And then there were ministers of other denominations who had been long in the colony— .the Wesleyans and the Roman Catholics— bota of whom had done much good amongst the native population — und why should they be excluded from the recognition of the bill ? Mr. Brown said, that if it was simply a question of registration of marriages that was involved in the bill, then he, for one, would pffer no .opposition to it ; but as it was intended to place one church in a superior position to all others in the performance of man;iage ceremonies, he would feel it to be his duty to vote against it. There was nothing calculated to create so great an amount of animosity amongst a community, than iuviduous distinctions of this kind being made amongst religious denojpiimtions. There had been no attempt made to stir up religious discord, since the interference with the cemetery took place. Before (hat time, all persons might bury their dead

side by side, in one common burial place — but that proper state of things was suffeied to give place to the preferences of one sect to the exclusion of all others. He thought that the bill was an interference of a similar naluie, and he therefore objected to it. There were a large poition of i lie colonists who were Scotchmen, and who had as much right to their own moiie of marriage, as the metnbeis of ihe established church mentioned in the bill $ besides other members ol the community, and even individuals, who might entertain their own peculiar ideas on the mode of entering upon marriage, should not have this bill thrust upon them b) the Council. If the bill was one that was merely intended to register marriages, — in which the civil power had a light to interfere, — then he would support it j but as it was calculated to give superiority to one church and denomination over that of otheis, he was determined to oppose it. The Colonial Treasurer rose to object to the principle of the bill, on account ol the preferences which it manifested to one denomination of the Christian Church over all otheis. If the Church of England and li eland weie the Established Church of this Colony, he did not think that even then the bill would be in accordance with the spirit of British legislation on the subject in the present day j but he knew of no law whereby the Chinch of England had been constituted the established chinch of New Zealand. He did think that the Council should pass some law to regulate marriages within the colony, but, lor .that purpose, a better bill tnight)be fiamed than the one now proposed by his learned friend, the AttorneyGeneral. He was not inclined to the plan suggested by the honorable the Colonial Secretary, of introducing the names of several denominations into the bill, while others were excluded ; he would lather the Council would agree to the plan proposed by the Queen in Council, for the regulation of marriages in the West India Islands— which was, that clergymen of all denominations, regularly set apart to the Clu'isiianjtninistry, should be competent to perform the mairiage ceremony* This would be the most liberal course that the Council could pursue, and one that he was sure would prove the most satisfactory. He had no enmity to the Church of England in thisj colony; on the contrary, he entertained great veneration for it; but at the same time, he could not admit the principle that it should, by any act of that Council, be unduly elevated above other sections of the Christian Church. Believing that the present bill was calculated to sow seeds, tending to raise inviduous religious distinctions in the colony, and conceiving that tor all the proper purposes required, a better bill might be introduced, he would beg to move that the bill be read on thut day six months. Mr. Brown seconded the amendment. Mr. Merriman would not go so f.ir as to support the amendment just proposed,,for he believed that the regulations concerning marriage in this colony were very loose indeed, and that there was some legislation necessary to secure validity in such engagements. He would not contend that the Kirk of Scotland, or the Church of Rome, or the Wesleyans, shpuld be ex« eluded from privileges that another church seemed to enjoy under the bill ; but he was prepared to object to the interference of the bill in its first clause with the laws of the Established Church of England, and he was astonished that such a clause should have been introduced to the Council. The Canons of the Church of England laid down the laws to which her ministers must conform in the solemnization of matrimony, and consequently that Council, nor no othpr Legislative Council, had the power to interfere or alter them ; or to say to the Church of England, your laws are wrong, and require our supervision. He therefore objected to the first clause, as well as to the 25th, which provides-for performing the marriage ceremony in presence of a Registrar, to be appointed by the bill. (To be concluded in our next.)