THE DIVORCE LAW.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17317, 1 December 1921, Page 2

THE DIVORCE LAW.

PROTEST BY CHURCHES. Yesterday the Rev. J. J. North, secretary of the Council of Christian Congregations, forwarded' the following letter to the Prime Minister:— "The Christchurch Council of Christian Congregations calls your earnest attention to a recent decision of the -Court of Appeal. That Court decided (in the case Mason v. Mason) that the divorce law passed last session makes it lawful for a guilty party, in a matrimonial dispute, to institute proceedings against the innocent, and to force the innocent into the position of respondent, and, finally, to affix on the innocent the stigma which belongs to a divorced person. In the case referred to, this L in 6pite of the wife's protests, has been done. The decree absolute has been issued. "We recall your promise to amend the Act if it were found to involve such extreme and unjust- consequences. We urge on you the need for instant action. Other suits are being instituted. Some are before the Courts now. The law. as now interpreted, is being operated in a way repugnant to justice. "You will,"we are sure, redeem your promise. But we suggest that, if the present session is allowed to pass without the promised amendment, your Government will become responsible for the grave wrongs that will be inflicted by the law as it now Btands. "We are disturbed to find no notice of the promised amendment in the list of Bills read by you to the House yesterday. "We recall to your notice the further fa.ct that the Restitution of Conjugal Rights Clause, which was repealed by an almost unexampled majority in 1907, on the ground that it opens the door to collusion and so to divorce by arrangement, is included in the Act of last year, and is operating in the same dangerous way. We trust, sir, that your Government's action will, in view bf the finding of the Court of Appeal, we swift and sure."