Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1909. DIVORCE CASES.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4418, 1 June 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

TUESDAY, JUNE 1,1909. DIVORCE CASES.

7 his above all—to thine own self be true, \nd it must follow as the night the day Ihou canst not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

One of the most painful phases of the last Supreme Court sessions was tho groat number of divorce cases. It evidenced a laxness of married relations, an indifTeronco to solemn public vows, and it disclosed an amount of social unrest and unhappiness that was truly grevious. Mothers and fathers have causo to look with moro and more enre and anxiety upon the companionships and engagements of their young people. In divorce proceedings the innocent parents often suffer more acutely than others Parents are seldom free from anxiety, and it behoves them to exercise proper supervision over their children, especially when they are of au age to think about life-long relationship.

It is sometimes marvellous how

young persons ignore their parents in such "tuailer. It does not seem to occur to th« m that their paints hove a right to be consulted, and nre the chief sufferers in many cases of divorce and legal separations. This is especially true in the case of girls. Parents can seldom shut their doors upon their adult offspring If girls who have ignored or defied their parents in the choice of husbands get deserted, or separated, or divorced, and there be children of the marriage, they go back to the old home a*s a matter of course, and the parents have to keep their daughters and the grandchildren. It is pretty hard. Children act unwisely in not taking their parents into their confidence, and consulting them about the responsibilities of marriago. There is another very serious aspect of this question, and that is the effect on the offspring. Socially they are placed at a disadvantage and stigmatised. Lacking the benefits of proper training by father and mother they make a had and sometimes ruinous start in life. Young parents often think too lightly of the grave responsibilities of parent-hood. They owe as a duty to society and to their children that they regard a fami.yas a trust —a solemn trust, of which they commit a serious breach when they bring into the world children who may prove a blessing or a curse to themselves or to others, according to their early environment. “ Marry in haste and repent at leisure,” is an adage that deserves more consideration than it gets. 1 Young persons rush too hastily into the solemn, life-long obligations of marriage.

If this Dominion is to continue prosperous and happy it can only be by the young paying proper regard to marriage responsibilities, and to home life generally. A nations wellfare is based in social relations. The home is the foundation of a state, and society must jealously watch all ten* dencies that loosen the marriage bond and man’s sense of obligation. In the United States of America divorce has become one of the dangers and great problems of the state; but Australia and New Zealand are proceeding at an alarming speed in the path of American divorces.

These are matters which the pulpit can deal better with than the press can generally, but alas ! it is a rare thing to find this question handled ably, adequately, impressively, and successively in the pulpit. The subject is usually shirked as an unpleasant one, but now and then some preachers have admirably handled it with marked benefit to individuals and to the community. AVe trust that it will be a long time before we again witness such a lengthy roll of names, suing for divoree, as was exhibited at Auckland during the Supremo Court sittings at the end of last May.