WIVES LEFT BEHIND.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3472, 28 April 1920, Page 7

WIVES LEFT BEHIND.

'umGr<;l)ll«fs OF WAR WEDDINGS‘

(By Frank Briant,.M.P. (in a. Special Interview.)

Since I have Been interesting myself in the luckless pligllfz of young English girls deserted ‘by tlleil' Colonial soldier-husbands, I have received letters not only from all parts of London but from all over the country.

There are various kinds of offend-', c-rs among those Colonials. I To begin with we have the man who! on going home for’ domobilisation, intends sincerely enough to send for: his wife as soon as he is once more‘. settled down, bu? who zxfter :1 tixncg becomes indifferent as to \\fhethcl"

511;) goes out to him or not, and in the long run allows the n:attol' To entirely drop. Then, of course, there is the man who intentionally -deserts his wife, and who goes off with the de-libor-.lte purpose of never seeing her again.

SOME PATHETIC CASES. 1 Some of the stories which come to my notice are really pathetic. Here, for instance, is a case of a ytmnvg woznan who Inarricd :1 Cunadinn, the la'ttcl' faithfully pl'omisi.ng to send he; £1 :1. week as soon as he was settled on the other side of the Atlantic. Although this mam has an .~'\l'ln_y pension, his wife has never hczu'd-from him since he left this chounfry, and to-day she is zxbsolutely * pcnniless.

Here is av.:otllcr v.:lse——thul. of z\ \'.'onl:m who 11-1:4 two children and whose health has broken down. She has no £l-iemls, and since her husband was demobilised she has not heard a \\'(‘.l‘<l from him.

In one instance, in which a young! wife and child were deserted -by a‘ soldier, the Australian Groverninent! have granted the inother 3/6 perl week, a sum of money whichat a time 1 like the present. is next. to useless. Some time -ago an Australian sol-l dier, saying goodbye to his fiancee, told her to follow him as soon as possible. The girl’s mother, however, decided that any such step on her rlaughter’s part would be abject ‘Folly until she had obtained fuller Hmowledge of her flancee’s antecednnts. Anxious as the girl was to nroeeed to Australia, her mother refused to allow her, and was determined to prevent her until the'_ desired information was obtained. ‘Within a fortnight it was discovered that the girl’s would-be husband was a married man‘ before he met her| DESERTED AND ROBBED..

In some cases men have not: only deserted their wives, but have actually gone off "With their savings. I am aware tluit this problem is applicable notdonly to war, but also to peace. The war, lfowever, has been the cause of a greatly increased number of "these tragedies. Englisli girls who have been deserted in this way are really in a most. pathetic plight. In this country when a woman is deserted by her husband she can in court obtain :1 separation allowance from him_ How different it. is with the Colonial. Of course, a gird’ deserted by :1 Canadian or ‘Australian soldier can readily obtain :1 legal sepziration from her husband, but of what value is that when she is utterly unable to J)l)i:1lI1 a penny from him for her upkeep“? It may be asked—cannot :1 girl deserted in this way work for her own livin-gr? That is undoubtedly so, but the lot of the girl-mother is not the same as that of the young wife without :1 child. Vile have a case in which :1 young deserted mother has not only got. to support a'cllild but also an infirm mother. HARDEST OF ALL. One of the hardest cases of all is that of a. girl mzfrried to :1 husband from whom she is unable to obtain a divorce, not withstanding that she has every reason -to suppose she has

;*'\lll right to one. - Say, for instance, a man has desorted his wife after proving un-

faithful to cer. How is the latter to prove her case if the offender is on the other side of the World, his exact wlrereabouts unknown to her‘! In this way many :1 girl on the Very threshold of life is placed in :1 particularly cruel pesition. The hushand ‘she in all probability will never see again, and yet, owing to our unsatisfactory divorce luws, she ‘is unable to free herself from an unnatural and burdensome tie. These cases have still further impressed me with the necessity of carefully ‘considering whether ;Cont'lvnue(l desertion should not be deemed adequate ground for divorce. ‘SOME HAPPY MARRIAGES.

Somctimcd Ausfralian soldiers, while Willing, and even anxious, that their Wives should go out to them, are prevented from realising this wish by the gil'l’s parenfs, the men having proved ‘themselves unworthy mates for the givls they have married. These are isolated cases, but ought not to be passed unnoticed.

W1:-at I say is tha.f_. if we warm to see the end of these desertionvs, we must make. sure that no soldier goes

back to the Colonies unucconipmiied by his wife. This, I believe, is :1 plan Wlll'Cll would do a\v2l_v to 21 \'(*l'y largo oxtem‘ with this crying evil, I have al1',e:1(1y hall 21 cordial letter from the society which works unrlm‘ the name of the Investigation of Separation Allowance Claims for the Overseas Military Forces of Canndzl, Parlizuncnt Mansionask Victoria-street‘, S.W. I hope before long to £ol‘ into further touch Vfith this society, and as :1 result to be able to bring about some vtiluable I‘€S‘nll‘t-S.

These facts -are not in any Sonso 21 general accusation against Colonial soldiers, but of the hundreds of 1;-h‘ou—‘ sands who so b'ra.v(‘ly fought in Hm common cause there are, of ooln‘.\-e’, a certain number of‘ \\'ortllles.< individuals’, from whom I am anxious to protect the English gil'l_ As :1 mat"tor of fact. I personally know sOlllO o.\'tl'emel_\f happy mmwiagvs lmvo lwon cmvxtracted between girls in this t3oun~ try -and our gallant Colonials, and many English girls are to ho congrotulatcd upon li11(lln_9; excellent husbands among our ‘s"E>'ldiol';< from eversous. .