MARRIAGE CURIOSITIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3540, 30 July 1920, Page 3

MARRIAGE CURIOSITIES.

The vital statistics in the annual report of the Commonwealth Statistician, on the face of them, do not seem inviting, but, as a matter of fact, they are full of human interest.

Take, for example, one of the facts set out. A husband of ”83 is shown as wedded to a woman 24, and a child was horn to this marriage. Agaiti a j wife of 53 aiifFa husband of 41 had a child bom to them in the first year of their married life. Six girls of 14 became mothers, the fathers in their cases ranging in years from 21 to 40. The ages of the father and mother of another youngster are given as 17 and 15 respectively, and a girl of 16 and a young man of 23 had twins born to them. A man and'his wife,'whose ages were respectively 54 and 48,' were also the proud parents of twins. New South .Wales holds the record for twins, both nuptial and ex-nuptial' but to Victoria falls the honour of providing the greatest number of triplets. As to marriage, the Statistician records that a bride of 83 was led to the altar by a man of 44, and a man over 95 years of age took as his bride a young woman whose age was given as 28. December, in a proverbial sense, may not be inconspicions in marriage aefivities, but the statistics show that December, in Australia, is the lest popular marriage month. Dealing with the size of families, the Statistician records that in one case ?3 chilfrren have been born to one marriage, and eight females and seven males survived. A remarkable case of “wedded blisai” is given. The records shpw that no fewer than ten couples who died last year had lived together for more than seventy years.