MARRIAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 129, 3 June 1927, Page 9

MARRIAGE.

POPULAR AGES AND DAYS. UCPROVEMEHT IK RATE. INCREASE IX RE->IARRIAGES. WELLINGTON, this car, Aa iasproTeateat ia tbe marriage rate i≤ coied by th« Governsieat Statisiiciaa in hi* detailed surrev of marriage statistics. In 1926. there were 10.<90 : * marriages, 261 more taan ia • tae pre- j vions vear, whica :be secocd high- i est ever recorde>iThe peak poim. ia icarriagea in New j Zealand •β-aa in, 19*0, followiug tie return of the troops from Europe, when 12.175 lEaniag&s were contracted. These bizh rates continued into earlr 1921, i bat a falling oS then occarred. pre*tiin- J ably owing to adverse economic coodi- ; tkras. Tbe rale since ha* followed as < eitraordiaary evea coarse. The statistician shows :bat Easter j and Christmas are the rco*t popular ' marriage dates, and Wednesdays clairc three-S€T€nths of th« total of ceremonies. Sunday marriazes, ae adds, are rare, and Friday i*~ regarded as nnhicky. Only foor" cent of tbe total marriages are celeorated on Friday. The 13th of the nonti al*o is treated wnh re«pe<-t> the averag* number of marriages wn that day being l->. osnspared -*% it ii a daiir average of 29. The proportion of* widowed and divorced persons re-marrying continues to chew a& increase. Onif of ererr thoosaad pereons married in 1914, 11 ■were divorced and 51 widowed, but last jear's proportions are 31 divorced and 57 widowed. During tbe la*t five Tears h ia found that while 1394 divorced men re-married, the corresponding number of women was 1555. The statistician aiso shows that'the popular age for bridegroom* is °1 and for brides SI. There were tea bridegrooms between I« and IS years, wai'.e bride* included two between 14 and 15, eleven between 14 and 16, and seventy between 16 and j ,