THE MARRIED WOMAN OF THE PHILIPPINES.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MARRIED WOMAN OF THE PHILIPPINES.

There is no need for a Married Women's Private Property Act in the Philippines. Custom gives the Tagal wife all the rights she requires, as Miss Lucy 'Garnett shows in a Fortnightly Review article : — ' The property of a bride is never settled on the husband. If a man is poor, and his "wife well-to-do, so they remain throughout their married life, v lie becoming simply the administrator of her possessions, but having no right to them. If a husband becomes bankrupt in a business in which he has invested some of his wife's fortune, she ranks as a second-class creditor under the Commercial Code. Even on her death the husband cannot, save under a deed executed by her in the presence of a notary, derive any benefit from her estate, as her children, if she have any, and if not, her nearest blood relatives, are her heirs. Thus it not Tinfrequently happens that the father of .wealthy children is himself impecunious, and dependent On their generosity for support ; though at the same time he is compelled by law to manage their affairs while minors, and at their majority to render a Btrict account of his stewardship. A married woman continues to use her maiden name, to which she adds her husband's with the prefix * de.' This she abandons ■when left a widow, save for the purposes of business or convenience. Children also bear the names of both father and mother ; that of the mother comes last, and is consequently the more prominent.' Marriages are arranged among the Tagalsby theparents. Says Miss Garnett : — 'Tagal mothers are mercenary to a degree, and, when both parties are natives, if a hitch, occurs it is usually owing to a disagreement about dollars. If, however, the suitor is half-breed, or European, he is unconditionally accepted, ambition and vanity getting the better of avarice. These preliminaries settled, the donations propter nupiia.l are paid by the youth's father to the bride's parents to defray the expenses connected with the wedding, and a settlement, termed in Tagaloc vigaycaya, is often made by him on the bride. The young couple then present themselves to the priest, though not necessarily together, kiss his hand, and inform him of their intention to marry. The cleric appoints the day for the wedding, and publishes 4 the banns in the church. The religious Ceremony takes placo at the conclusion of the first mass, between five and six o'clock in the morning.' Finally, we are told that morality is not a first consideration among the Tagals, especially apparently where their relations with Europeans are concerned, but the Tagal husband keeps watch on his wife with a jealous eye.

At latest advices a singular sort of famine «* was raging in Klondyke. Nails for the sluice-boxes were scarcer than food. One man refused an offer of 4500 dollars for 10 kegs. He insisted on 5 dollars a pound, and he got his price. Another enterprising individual collected all the old rusty naila bo could find, and sold them for 3000 dollars.