GOOD NEWS FOR THE GIRLS.

Taihape Daily Times, 30 August 1919, Page 5

GOOD NEWS FOR THE GIRLS.

IVIARRT.-.'iG~E MARKET BUSY. ‘ l —'—* I RUSH YEAR FOR ORANGE 1 BLOSSOM. 1 THE snx BAL'A‘N-CE RESTORED. ' —-———'-—. 1 (Auckland Star.) The normall New Zealand girl has‘ Pleflll’ 0f P 0139 and self-reliance; she has the native aplomb_ of an independ- i cut spirit, and she is not ‘given to hysteria. There» was a period, however, towards the end of the war when, add- 1 ed to the otherr trials that shred the‘ nerves, there arrived repeated news. by cable, post and returning transport,‘ that a large proportion of New Zealand ’s sons were having their affections weaned away from their true andl bounded allegiance. It really did seem at one time as if about half the New Zealand army was likely to bring back I war brides from among the? daught--crsi of Britain and France. It looked as though our boys abroad "had been smit— I ten by an epidemic of marriage-mak-A ing, and murmurs arose, not very loud, I but just a bit nervy, from the girls! who had been waiting in New Zealand' with bright eyes and brave hearti for the day when -the boys would come home again. GETTING BETTER EVERY DAY. But the position -turns out not :to be so bad after all. In fact, one way and another, it is rcmai-katily pnomising for the marriageable girl in New Zealan'd, who is very much better olf in this regard than is her British sister,‘ in spite of the circumstances that a thousand or two of our lads are bring-' ing war brides home With them. In brief, the Government Statistician tells I us that at the end of June last the sex \ balance in the Dominion had been completely rcstored, that is to say, that‘ out of a population of 1,139,101 the pro. . portion was 569,305 males. and 569,709] females. This, of course, is as it should be, but it is not merely re-[ maining at that. It is getting better for the girl every time, for which thei immigration of men——mostly mari-age-ablo young mcn——continues to exceed the emigration by a substantial margin, there is a. reverse tendency respecting the ebb and jflow of wolnen._ln the June quarter 891 inoirewonien left New Zeala.ndVth_-an entered it, and though this excess of emigration has ‘eased off in the past two niofiths, it is still considerable. The relaxation ‘of vitihe re-1 strictions imposed” on women in the shape of travelling while the war was on, is lal'gely responsible for this sud-I den female flight to foreign pa.rt~s.: Many of them will return, but a sub‘ stantial proportion of these departing‘. ladicsare going for‘ good, having been! detained here while travelling was im- l possible. " ~ * A MARRIAGE BOOM. Another encouraging feature is the evident desire oftthe young New Zealanld’er ?to marry and sc=t"t_l.;c down, now that the horro_rs and uncertainties of. war are past. ' This is very noticeable in Auckland, and doubtless the same tendency exists in other parts of the Dominion_ The Registrar of Marriages has been an exceedingly busy man this, your. Business has boomed, in short, for besides ‘issuing an unusual number of licenses there have been an,.uncoml‘n-only large proportion of the happy couples demanding to be joined on the spot as man and wife. In 1908 a total of 1056 licenses was issued by the Registrar at Auckland. while this year the tally was 998, while several others brought the figure over the tlloll.~'a-nd mark. almost up to last yoar’s total, with four clear months yet to run, Among these new voyagers on the sm of matrimony returned soldiers constitute the major portion of the males, while the blushing brides are mostly youm: New Zcaland girls, with a sprinkling of English girls who have ‘come out ‘to be married in New Zealand, and about the customary percentage of elderly folk. who drop into the ranks of the wedded, either for the first, second. or some other time. It is so noticeable that among these brides -and bridegrooms the ma.rriage age is well below what it has stood at in the past for a, lengthy period. In the year 191-}. it was estimated that the mean marrying age for men in New Zealand was 29.95 years, and for women 26.39 years. The Observation of the Auck]{l,n(] Registrar show that‘ ‘in th'e past year the averages have been well under these ages. Youth is the natural time for marrying and giving in marriage. and as youthful marriages may 1,0 mm”ally looked upon to produce larger families this is a factor in the present marrying boom which should give infinite satisfaction to -the economist and sta.tiSti6ifl.n.