MISTAKES OF MATRIMONY.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1918, Page 7

MISTAKES OF MATRIMONY.

(By .Marie Lister, in Reynolds'.) In England and Wales during the last fifteen years there have been granted 100,398 separation-orders. Each order affects two persons. Tho law unmarrie3 these 200,070 pfiople, and thereafter compels them to lives of celibacy or immorality until death releases them. Because for the.separated there is no divorce. . , The class of people who usually seek to alleviate their troubles by this means are the less educated and the poorest among us; because the method is cheap, easy, and spectacular. Yet they'are the very people who, because of their lack of education, have least self-control, and who therpfoge most need the path to virtue raade>..ea3y. , 'Separation orders are granted for assault, cruelty, desertion, neglect. But these crimes are, in the majority of cases, merely the outcome of incompatibility of temper. They are not a proof of absolute,villainy in one or other party to ."the marriage. The first quarrel is always the forerunner of the second, and the second of an infinite number of others. It is unfortunately a fact that opposite temperaments are attracted to each other. The novelty of an entirely different point of view is interesting for a time, then it jfirs, then it irritates, then it angers. Why is it that the mistakes of matrimony are the only mistakes that are irretrievable, except at cost of great sin or many lies, and much money and publicity? The awfulness of separation orders is their hopelessness. The chief desire of most people in this world is to be happy. Nature has put into us, especially women, the. craving for, a mate, which also means the longing for children and a home. Then for the separated, as they leave the police-court, hope dies. For if later an irregular alliance is fbrmejd —as it so often is—leaving out all religious considerations; society and the law give no help, therefore peaee and security arc missing. 1 The children will suffer if the secret leaks out. ; The advantages of the monetary allowance msnAi bv the Court for the woman are "so Slight as to be not worth considering. The amount is always inadequate, and usually paid only under compulsion. liv most civilised countries separation orders can, after a lapse of from two to five years, be changed into divorce. Then why not in ' England? Surely the' welfare and happiness of a quarter of a million people ought to be considered by the State? Happy people are an asset to the country, for happ people are generally virtuous people, and, moreover, they are the parents of healthy children. ■ The reverse follows. There is nothing which brings Out the-bad yi mankind so surely as a life without hope. There is nothing which Engenders carelessness and slackness so quickly as an entire lack of home influence. To ask for. a law making all separation orders, at the request of one or other party, become divorce after the lapse of five years is a moderate request. After a stormy marriage, and five years in which to ponder on -that marriage, the persons concerned are surely sufficiently educated m that respect to know themselves what is best for their welfare and happiness; to suggent otherwise is to insult their intelligence. The advantage of passing a reform law is that those people who do not approve of the principle of the law need not avail themselves of it. CONAN DOYLE'S VIEWS. Sir Arthur Conaiv Doyle, in support of divorce law amendment: "This device of separation is an attempt to effect a. compromise where no comproise is possible between an outgrown, old-fashioned theology upon one side, and common-sense and'human .nature upon the pther.side. Common-sense cries, 'Separate these'incompatible people,' theology cried, 'Yes separate them, but don't set. them free.' The result is that an enormous number of couples, certainly some . hundreds of thousands in all, receive leave to separate, but are not allowed to remarry. Can anyone conceive such a measure as that being passed in the name of morality? True morality would dissolve the unions, so that the unfortunate sufferers might have a chance to remake their lives. (Cheers.) The chain should be broken. What we had really done was not to break the chain, but to lengthen it, so that they might roam at tlie end of a tether. The result upon morality is obvious. The public mind is accustomed to the evil,, which has steadily grown [ until it has reached a point where I am assured that there are places in work-ing-class London where there are far more mistresses than wives. With respect to desertion Scotsmen think that they are ahead of'us in legislation, and when ( we learn that the Scottish law of desertion" was passed in the year 1573, and has acted well ever since, ws are bound to agree with them. (Cheers.) Yet will anyone venture to assert that there is a lower standard of morality and of Christianity among our northern neighbors? Tt is not lower morality, but it is higher common-sense which has guided their action, (Cheers.) Those who are happy in their married lives should, as a thanksgiving, do all they can to help those who are held down by the cold hand of theological prejudice. (Cheers.) They can afford to come out into the open ar l fight. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women .affected. If they remarry uud"' have families it is no exaggeration to say that 'n a few years they alone might atone for the .whole loss of the war, The question of future population is one upon which the balance of power thirty years hence mid tlie .safetv of the worhL will depend." ' I