THE DIVORCE BILL. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 50, 27 August 1895, Page 4

THE DIVORCE BILL. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib— The division upon the Divorce Bill ipeaVß volumes for the humane tendency upon members' part in wishing to blot ont che iniquitous Bill of the past, and to intro- , dnce a measure that will at once appeal to justice and to the laws of nature. The division plainly Bhows that the present Divorce Bill is considered a foul stain upon our Statute Book, and proves that man has become more enlightened as to woman's 'present degraded and fettered position, and I trust the next and last reading will be so auccesafu^ as to completely obliterate what has in the past been a most iniquitous, unfair, and unjustifiable measure. Suoh Bills as these are oonolusive evidence of the necessity of woman entering publio life, and taking part in publio affairs. The one unhappy point upon the success of the seoond reading of the (new Bill is your very severe and adverse 'oritioism, whioh, ooming from one who has ever upheld woman and. her forward movement, oannot fail to leave a pang in. the minds of those who have ever looked to you as friend and obampion. Ac you say, the passing of this BUI will discourage men from entering on matrimony. Then; sir, judging from the many improvident marriages that are at present made, and the immense amount of misery accruing from these marriages, I should think the House ought to pass unanimously the new Divorce Bill as effeoting thiß point alone. The news of the second reading of this Bill being carried by Buch an enormous majority augurs well for it becoming law, when I am sure women in almost countless numbers in New Zealand will rise np and doubly bless the day when the Franchise Bill was passed allowing them to have a voice in publio matters, and whioh in the very near future will return them their birthright. I am, fto., GAILIA. [The laws of nature render sexual equality in the matter of divoroe a physical impossibility. It is because we respeot women that we object to an attempt to strain and misapply those laws in a manner whioh oan only result in the degradation of the sex. We respeot women and the sanctity of the institution of marriage, and therefore oppose the Divoroe Bill, whioh would injure both.— Ed. E.P.]