EASTERN HUSBANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1928, Page 6

EASTERN HUSBANDS.

Marriage between foreigners and members of the permanent staffs in the Turkish Army and Navy will be strictly forbidden if the bill to this effect proposed by the Turkish Government becomes law. Any member of these forces marrying a foreigner is to be dismissed, while those who marry when they are on missions abroad will be fined and compelled to refund all the expenses incurred in sending them abroad. In the case of officers who have already married foreigners provision is made for their retirement on pensions. The Turks seem determined to keep their racial purity as far as their fighting forces are concerned, and to ensure that all the children of their soldiers shall be regular little Turks. But while the Turks are thus insistent on preventing mixed marriages the ex-Maharajah of Indore regards his marriage to the American girl, Miss Nancy Miller, as a gesture of friendship extended by the East to the West. It is not easy to see why the Maharajah should think that by marrying one American girl he should have extended his hand to the West in general. He seems to regard his marriage as a political event of the first importance and as foreshadowing a close union between Europe and Asia. His wife having adopted Hinduism, has hastened to explain that this does not mean *any rejection of Christianity. She regards Hinduism as containing the essence of all other religions and philosophies. Thus there is a considerable difference in the point of view of the Turkish Government and that of the Maharajah and the Maharanee. Probably they both exaggerate the importance of such mixed marriages. One cannot imagine that many foreigners would desire to marry Turks with their long tradition of the repression of women behind them. Nor are marriages of white women to Hindus likely to become so common as to constitute a close union between the East and the West. Racial difference must always count for a great deal in these matters. Without any question of racial inferiority entering into the matter most girls would prefer to marry one of their own countrymen. There are the bond of language, the common interest of national habits and traditions and the social side of life to be considered. Very few English girls marry foreign husbands, though Italian counts were once popular with those who sought a title. But now that Mussolini has purged the Italian "Burke" of all except the most ancient nobility Italian counts are likely to fade out as prospective matrimonial