MARRYING THE MUTILATED

Taihape Daily Times, 7 December 1917, Page 3

MARRYING THE MUTILATED

ITALIAN SOCIOLOGIST'S WARNING TO GIRLS. Paris. Whenever half a dozen men of different nationalities get seated around the same table at cafe or restaurant the conversation turns to the question of what each nation is doing to ensure its "place in the sun." Everyone is afraid of being forced to take a back seat simply from lack of number«„ ...!.....-.„ The French papers propose" to let every child take its mother's nan e. Some even suggest the endowment of the child by the State. The action of Milan magistrates who annulled a marriage simply because the wife was incapable of child-bearing received the sanction of public opinion, although it was a departure from tradition. While anxious to promote marriage however, Italian jurisprudents recommend legislation to prevent inexperienced young girls marrying badly crippled men, They say that an exaggerated feeling of Compassion or even patriotism may lead them to contract such unions. This care for the well-being of the woman contrasts with the German method, the Government doing all it can to induce war widows to marry one of the "glorious mutilated."