RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 74, 20 December 1929, Page 6

RANDOM NOTES

SIDELIGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS LOCAL AND GENERAL (By Ooemos.) One may now tour the world on th* easy payment system. But imagine falling down on the payments fa Russia 1 * • • According to a contemporary, emotionalism fa a woman makes her attractive. Providing, of course, she doesn’t dramatise it with a rollfag-pta or something. • « « Public officers of the City of Nelson apparently specialise fa taking Involuntary baths. The immersion of the Mayor (Mr. W. J. Moffatt) in a boat that swamped first try-out, as reported yesterday, recalls to mind the fact that the town clerk had a narrow escape from drowning when the. Renown was at Nelson. Though a heavy sea was running, members of the Duchess of York’s staff and local authorities went out to the battlecruiser fa order to make arrangements for Her Royal Highness to go aboard on the morrow. While jumping from the gangway of the Renown to the launch the town clerk of Nelson slipped and fell into the sea. He was saved from drowning by Mr. H. F. Batterbee, the Duke’s political secretary, who at great personal risk, since the launch was bobbing about like a cork, managed to seize the town clerk by the trousers just as he was disappearing and haul him on board. >

Lady Fairhaven has purchased for the nation 180 acres of riverside land near Egham, including Runnymede. The site where the famous Magna Charta was signed will be thus preserved for ever. There is little, indeed, to-day, to mark the site of Runnymede. One comes upon a pleasant open space dotted with buttercups beside the river. The grass is thick and green, and possibly here and there motorist picnickers are having a wayside meal, for the main ropd ta not far off. As a matter of fact, there is some dispute as to the precise spot at which the signing of the Charter took place fa June, 1215. Some say it was in this meadow beside the river, whilst others declare it took place at Magna Carta Island, close by fa the river. Unlike the signing of historical documents to-day, this highly unsatisfactory charter, so far as John was.coi> cerned, was not signed with a. flourish of a pen in a moment. * • »

The proceedings at Runnymede started on Monday, June 15, and were net concluded till Tuesday, June 23. Thros whole days were spent • in , discussing the “Articles of the Barons.” There were 48 of these articles, and:on them Magna Charta itself was based. The whole proceedings must have been highly unpleasant for John, and must have filled the Barons with ill-conceal-ed smugness. Whilst John gave in to practically whatever . was . demanded, the barons, who were attended by numerous soldiers, refused to promise to keep the peace. The contents of the Charter gave some curious sidelights on the “goings on” of the times. -. One rarely quoted clause naively states that “persons shall not be compelled to make bridges, unless bound so to do by ancient custom.”

John, it seems, when he visited a district for a little sport or a little hunting had been in the habit of turning the whole countryside on to bridgebuilding, at harvesting-time, so that he might not get his feet wet. Widows were not to be forced into matrimony so that the King or his minions could become possessed of their lands, apparently a common little trick at that time. Whilst the King was not. to be permitted to steal wood from his subjects when he felt like building another hunting lodge. All weirs were to be abolished on rivers to facilitate inland navigation. Perhaps the most interesting sidelight disclosed was the King’s prevailing habit of seizing little children as pledges so that their parents, generally powerful barons, should behave themselves. ' Although Magna Charta is often proclaimed as a victory for the people, impartial historians unanimously declare that the barons, and not thq people, got the benefit of it. The general public got very little, and that only because they were practically the property of the barons, and for that reason of some value. There are to-day four copies of the Charter fa existence. Two are to be found fa the British Museum, and one each at Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals. - -

The Law Courts of England have refused to recognise the legality of Russian marriage. In a recent case a Russian mining engineer was unable to obtain a divorce in England tor the simple reason that he had never been married within the meaning of the English law. He was advised to try again in the Soviet Courts. It is not impossible that he would meet with success - for the marriage laws and the divorce laws of Russia to-day are certainly simple. For instance, a few years ago a prominent Petrograd Communist was married in the forenoon, obtained a divorce at midday and remarried in the afternoon. One writer says that a workman, very human and kindly, was the presiding judge at the local marriage and divorce office he visited. One moment he presided over a marriage and the next dissolved one. The marriage procedure is very simple. People wait in a long queue to be married. In strict rotation they formally declare their desire to marry and are given the correct forms to fill in. After an interval of about a week, in which inquiries are supposed to be made to see if they are married already, they are handed the marriage certificate and wished “good-luck.”

• • » Apparently public sentiment is not quite satisfied with the ceremony. It is too simple. Moreover it is contended that it is cold and somewhat unromantic in setting. Some suggest bright speeches, perhaps a wedding feast, or at least that a cake should fie permitted. Others go a step further and demand the re-introduction of the wedding ring. None complain of the cost of the fees. Both for divorce and marriage the fee is no more than one penny. Divorce is just as simple as marriage. In the event of both parties making the application the judge had no alternative but to grant it This, however, did not work welL It was found that people were coming for a divorce in a fit of temper. As soon as it was granted they returned to be remarried, having made things up. Now they are given a week to think things over before a divorce is granted. In the event of one party protesting against the divorce the case is referred to a higher court where the wort-men-judges are assisted by trained lawyers, ’