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New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 889, 21 October 1854, Page 3

It has .frequently been our duty, for several years past, to invite attention to the proceedings of the " Marriage Ordinance Committee," in connection with the object which they were appointed to promote, viz. the amendment of what was believed to be objectionable, and felt to be li.irrassing, in the Colonial Marriage Ordinance of 1847. But we never referred to the action of the Committee with as much gratification as it affords us now to announce that its existence, as an organization for the attainment of a particular and most desirable object, has come to a termination—for the most sufficient and satisfactory of all possible reasons,--because, that object has been fully accomplished. At a Meeting, held on Thursday, arrangements were made for liquidating some small expenses incurred in the prosecution of the work: a cordial vote of thanks was unanimously passed to Mr. T. S. Forsaith " for the zeal and ability with which he introduced and conducted the Marriage Bill through the House of Representatives," unci a similar vote to the Chairman "for the trouble he liad taken in assisting to prepare the draft of the Bill, and for his conduct as Chairman and Convener of the Committee;" and it was resolved " that the objects for which the Committee was appointed by a Public Meeting having been satisfactorily attained by the Marriage Act ■which has recently passed the General As Seriibly, the functions of the Committee have terminated, and it do now dissolve."

The organization, the necesssity for which has been thus happily brought to an end, had existed for more than five years, the Committee having been appointed by a Public Meeting in August 1849, when the embarrassments and hardships experienced by large poitionsof the community in consequence of the Law of 1847 had already been found so galling as to excite a strong and general desire for the rcpe 1, or at least the extensive modification, of several of its provisions. We are now in possession of abundant documentary evidence showing that Sir George Grey himself—although he dil not withhold his assent from that Ordinance—never anticipated that it would prove a finally or universally acceptable measure. In one of His Excellency's Despatches to the Secietary of State for the Colonies, (a copy of which, on the motion of Mr. Forsaith, was requested and obtained by the House of Representatives), we find Sir George Grey stating that the Legislative Council of 1847 had " so altered the Bill he had submitted for their consideration, that he felt quite convinced it would never work satisfactorily," and that he "gave his assent to the measure reluctantly." and only because " it Mas absolutely necessary that something should bo done" to remedy the "confused state in which ho found the Marriage Law existing in New Zealand." His Kxcellency added, — " Bat I felt so satisfied that tlie*"community generally, when the law lind been brought into operation, would find it unsuifed to the circumstances of the country, and eo inconvenient in practice, that the Legislature would he compelled to retrace their steps by making the necessary amendments in the law, that 1 delayed in 18-17 transmitting for Her Majesty's approval an Ordinance which [could not roeomme.nl for confirmation, intending, when experience had shown the necessity which existed for alterations in it,

to transmit at the same time the original and the Amended law for the purpose of being; laid before the Queen."

It is thus made clear now—although, of eouise, it could not be so well, or so publicly, known then—that the Governor himself substantially concurred in, and approved of, the movement which found expression in the Public Meeting of 1849, and in the several Petitions in support of it which were, at that period and afterwards, addressed to the Legislature This disposition on His Excellency's part found practical manifestation, however, in the cordiality with which ho entered into the various representations made to him on the subject,—in his himself suggesting, as well as officially giving effect to, the appointment of Ministers of the unprivileged Bodies to act as Deputy Registrars until a new measure could obtain the sanction of the Legislature,—and in his introduction of the Marriage Amendment Ordinance of 1851, which, we are convinced, was brought forward by His Excellency, as well as prepared and supported by the AttorneyGeneral, (who, in his speech in the Auckland Session of the Legislative Council in 1849, sketched by anticipation an outline of its leading features), with the most sincere desire to remove the grievances complained of, and to place the Marriage Law on a footing that would be satisfactory to all classes and denominations in the colony.

This end was so far accomplished that, while the Amendment Ordinance continued in operation, the functions of the Committee remained in abeyance, no cases in relation to Ministers or Religious Bodies having arisen which could not be met by one or another of its provisions. But the disallowance of that Ordinance by Her Majesty threw the whole question back into its original position, with, indeed, additional aggravations; and then the Committee felt bound by the trust confided to them in 1819 to resume proceedings which had become even more called for than at first. We need not occupy space by any recapitulation of the steps adopted to bring the subject before the General Assembly, as the matter is of such recent occurrence as to be known to all who took any interest in its progress. The only ground on which the maintenance of the Committee in its organized, existence, could have been thought desirable, was the possibility that the Marriage Act might be disallowed at Home, in the exercise of the power vested in I ler Majesty, by the sbth clause of the Constitution Act, to declare, by order in Council, Her disallowance of any Bill passed by the General Assembly, at any time within two years after an authentic copy of it shall have been received by t'je ecretary of State. Some measure, having specifically the same objects with this, was admitted on all hands to be urgently called for. Not only did the parties who felt themselves aggrieved by the restrictions of the Law of 1847 press for it, but, as we have seen, Sir George Grey and the old Legislative Council acknowledged its necessity. Lord Grey in his Despatch announcing the disallowance of the Amendment Ordinance of 1851, declared his expectation that " the Representative Legislature of New Zealand, when assembled, would no doubt consider the whole question" with a view to "adapting the Law en this important subject to the real wants of the community." And His Excellency the Officer now administering the Government, in his speech on opening the Session, distinctly called the attention of the General Assembly to "the unsatisfactory state of the Law for regulating Marriages in New Zealand." Again, this particular measure was advisedly moulded in its most important feature on the recommendation of Lord Grey, who stated, not only as his own opinion, but as that of his predecessor Lord Stanley, that the power of granting Licenses — (called in this Act " Certificates," from a desire to avoid even the semblance of unnecessarily trespassing on Icclesiastical forms or usages) —should be vested exclusively in the civil authority. This, his Lordship states, was "the course recommended by Lord Stanley in several eases in which it was proposed to amend the law of Marriage in different Possessions of the Crown." It is not likely that a measure which was deliberately based on the recommendation of both Lord Stanley and Lord Grey will be looked on with hostility by any considerable party at homo. Moreover, the Bill received all but unanimous support in the Legislature. One division in the House of Representatives affirmed itsleadingprinciplesby a majority of not less than four to oue; and in the Legislative Council there was abso'ute unanimity as to its principles, the whole of the members of the Council as well as the great majority in the House of Representatives, canvassing its details only in a spirit of friendliness, and with an evident desire to make it as effective as possible for the carrying out of its purpose. A remarkable fact, illustrative of the union of political parties in its support, was that Messrs. Fitzgerald, Sewell, and Weld, the original " Responsible Ministry,' had given the Bill careful consideration during their term of office, and were, after their retirement from oll.ee, its active supporters; while the introducer and conductor of theßill through the House of Representatives was Mr. Forsaith, who on the resignation of the Ministers, was "sent for" by His Excellency as Mr Fitzgerald's ministerial successor.

His Excellency Colonel Wynyard, in proroguing the Assembly, spoke of the measure in terms so apposite, as well as so commendatory, that we place them on record once more. After alluding in this, as in other instances, to the late period in which the Bill was presented for his assent, as precluding his giving detailed consideration to all the provisions, His Excellency continued, —

'■ I have much pleasure, however, in declaring my entire approval of the principle on which the Act has been based, and I am happy to believe that the Assembly have succeeded in devising a measure which,—without disturbing the pood feeling which has hitherto subsisted between tbe various religious denominations, —without creating invidious distinctions between them, —and without unnecessarily interfering with existing usages—will be found mora efficient in its provisions than the'disallowed Ordinance of 1851." To all this we may add that, out of dco~s, the principles of the Bill not only received no opposition from the Clergy of the Churches favoured by the Ordinance of 1847,' hut that some valuable amendments in the details were owing to the suggestions of Clergymen --and many valuable amendments, ii is just to say, to gentlemen of the highest and position—who,

if they had been influenced by sectarian or exclusive views, would have been hostile to a measure which deprived their own ecclesiastical connections of a previously possessed pre-eminence in privileges. The petitions to the Legislature in favour of the Bill wore signed numerously by members of the Churches of England and Rome, as well as by members of the Bodies immediately interested in its success. Putting all these facts together, we cannot think that there is the remotest probability that the Act will be disallowed at Home ; and we therefore, on full reflection, entirely concur in the dissolution of the Committee, on the ground that its work was completed,—a step the mention of which has led us into a more copious review of the history of the Act than we had intended, or than it is likely there will be any occasion for our repeating.