DIVORCE FIGURES

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 103, 3 May 1934, Page 13

DIVORCE FIGURES

A.-HIGH" PROPORTION

INTERESTING ANALYSIS

SOME SURPRISING RESULTS

On. the face of it, judging by divorce statistics, it might seem as if New Zealand is in need of classes for all sections of the community, on "How to be Happy Though Married." Speaking in round figures, some 10,000 weddings take place in New Zealand each year, and each year tho aid of the Supreme Court is sought for the purpose of dissolving some-800 of these marriages. That indicates that eight out of every hundred couples who enter into the bonds of holy matrimony find those bonds so irksome that to gain their freedom they are willing to face the publicity and expense of divorce proceedings. How many other marriages crash but never reach the stage of divorce proceedings is purely, .a matter of conjecture; statistics on this aspect of matrimony are not available. : Although eight couples in every hundred .invoke the aid of the Divorce Court, only 6.5 gain their objective, that feeing the present' New Zealand ratio of divorces to marriages. That this ratio is slowly but steadily on the increase is due to either of two causes. It may be that an increasing number of young people marry in haste and then repent at leisure; or it may be that a common-senso view of matrimony is taken more widely than used to be the case, : and^ that more and more people are coming to realise that where marriage has proved to be a hopeless failure the most sensible thing is to be divorced. New Zealand stands fairly high amongst countries in its divorce ratio. - The fop place is taken by the United States, where 17,3 of every 100 marriages end in divovco. In Japan, 10.2 similarly, terminate. New Zealand's percentage, 6.5, is' very much higher than England's, winch is only 1.1. It is higher, too, than in .most of tho Australian ; States, only New Soufr 'Wales beating it and that by a small margin. New Zealand's percentage has been steadily mounting in recent years, but at the present rate of progress several generations will lapse before a'figure as high ana startling as that for the TJmted States is reached. when does Marriage pall? An analysis of .the most recent divorce figures for New Zealand shows some rather interesting results. Fully .30 per cent, of the divorce petitions filed emanate from those who havo been married between five and ten years, and another 25 per cent, after between 10. and 15 years. Figures for marriages which have failed after less "than five, years':, trial and for tVjso which have lasted from between 15 and 20 years before crashing are just about the same, each representing about 12 per cent, of the. petitions filed.. One might have that a marriage which had-lasted for between 20. and 30 years would be looked upon as a per: ' manency, but over 150 of these are dis: solved every year. , Who most frequently seek divorce, the unhappy husbands or the unhappy wives? Petitions for divorce are .filed in the ''ratio-of about,four by wives to three by husbands. In over i n. quarter of the cases there are no children, and in about a quarter there is one child resulting from, the marriage for ; which a dissolution is sought. THE COMMONEST CAUSES. Adivorce in New Zealand can be obtained on eleven different grounds. Nearly half "of the' divorces granted leach jrear., howev'er^'are'-oii the^gfourids of mutual separatioli, the parties having agreed to live apart for the statutory three years prior to seeking a divorce. Adultery or desertion, singly or in. combination, the figures being practically'the same for caeh, are the grounds oh which, a divorce is sought in ab'cmt half the cases. Noii-compli-ance with orders for.the restitution of conjugal rights and • other '■ grounds make between them a very small total when compared with those just cited. "Once bitten, twice shy,"' probably holds good for matrimony as-for other experience's; Of! New Zealanders who . obtain divorces only between 3 and 4 per cent, .make a second start in tho matrimonial stakes, and slightly more divorced women than divorced men remarry. On the other hand, more widowers than-widows marry again.