WEDDING FACILITIES CHAT WITH THE REGISTRAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVVII, Issue 36, 12 February 1909, Page 3

WEDDING FACILITIES CHAT WITH THE REGISTRAR.

A MATTER OF EXPEDIENCY. The Wellington Registrar had just concluded the solemnisation of a marriage, and had a few minutes to spare to talk with a. Post reporter. The question was asked whether the Registrar's Office was entering into competition with the churches in regard to marriage business. Mr. Hodgkins thought it was. . Last year 237 marriages were celebrated by the Registrar, out of 1070. Of these there were 266 celebrated by Presbyterian ministers, 220 by Anglican ministers, 145 by ministers of the Roman Catholic Church, 82 by Methodists, 32 by Baptists, and 30 by Primitive Methodist ministers. There had been, Mr. Hodgkins added, a steady increase of marriages by the Registrar since 1898. In 1907, 21.98 per cent, of the marriages celebrated for the Wellington district took place at the Registrar's Office. Last year the percentage had increased to 22.14 per cent. Some care was taken in pursuing enquiries still farther in order to ascertain., if the fact were ascertainable, why the Registrar's Office and not the church was steadily gaining ground in the important part connected witb the marriage contract. It did not appear that the parties who preferred Mr. Hodgkins as celebrant were actuated by any hostility to a minister of religion and legality. The whole matter resolved itself into a matter, firstly, of expense, and secondarily, of expediency. The modest sum of £2 5s paid to the Registrar is the first and last' payment by "parties about to marry." It would seem to be more costly in the churches. CLERGYMEN'S FEES. How much more costly it is rather difficult to find out, so much depending upon the view taken by the minister and the fashionable character or otherwise of the church. It may be £1, it may be £5, in fact, some ministers stipulate for £5 ss, plus Registrar's feqs, which, for persons resident in the district for the requisite time, are £1 2s 6d. It may be done for half a guinea clergyman's fee, if the clevgyman is prepared to accept it, and" it may^be very much more. "Fully choral" services will cost money, and the pe*opener, sexton, or whatever the hunbie functionary who is generally about in the. church at such times, will require to be remembered. Then there is thiwedding cab, or three, four, or • six cabs. White horses, though costing no more to feed, nor possessing an ounce more tractive power, are charged more for than flea-bitten greys, roans, or bays. The little bit of white ribbon on the coachman's whip has a commercial value, and must accordingly be paid for, and if the dismal spectacle of a driver in a billycock hat, or even a cap, is to be avoided, then extra must be paid for the high silk hat of respectability. Again, there is the photographer, and the wedding breakfast, or what serves for it, to be paid for, and the whole bill, if the tiling is to be done property, will make a Targe hole in savings that in many cases would be better applied to the menage. It seems to be quite clear that many couples are driven to the Registrar's Office to avoid the expensive conventions of marriages. Mr. Hodgkins seemed to think so when the matter was put to him in that light. BRIEF, BUT BINDING. You see it's all over in ten minutes. There's no fuss, positively no waiting. "Then a man can get married at noon, his \\ife can go home and get the piece stiaight, and a hot tea rqady against her newly-wed husband's homecoming in the evening?" ■ "Yes . that has actually been done," the Registrar replied. Then he went on to tell of his clients — for so he regarded them. "They realise that the contract can be done quickly, cheaply, and economically here," he added. "No fuss, no frill, no confetti. The parties can come down in a tramcar single and return in tin same car married, if they wish. So far as I can see, it is no intention of th 3 paities who come here to be married to slight the religious character of matrimony, but a desire to avoid the expense of marriage by a minister inside or outside a church." It was suggested to Mr. Hodgkins that his cold, legal form might not be so attractive as one in which "the voice that breathed" and wreaths and bouquets, with a large and interested congregation of ladies, both married and single. There were, he thought, other advantages, and he mentioned one which some single ladies, and perhaps some married ones, might like to file for future reference : The Registrar exacts no promise from the bride to "love, honour, and obey." That was a law of the Church, he said. NO RING REQUIRED. There was once a philantnropic eltigjman in the East End ot London who mairied couples without fee rather than they should not be married at all. He acted under the pressure of circumstances. *f the fee was a barrier he wculd lpmove it. He even provided a gold ring ; but an absent-minded bride went otf with the ring one day, and the next couple hud to be content with the ring on a doorkey to convey the symbolic idea of unity. No trouble of that sort arises at the Registrar's Office. A ring is invariably used as a matter of course, but it is legally superfluous. The Act is silent about it. Not only people who wish to register births, deaths, and marriages fly to the Registrar's Office. There are others. They apply to vhe office for dog licenses, for cemetery plots, for information sbout assisted passages, and even for licenses to hawk fruit. The office is egarded as an information bureau about anything and everything _ connected with the State or the municipality. The staff is kept busy throughout the day, and occasionally the Registrar himself is called to attend to some urgent matter on Sundays and holidays, and often after office hoars. He appears to be the only Government officer, apart from the policeman, of whom hundreds have any personal knowledge.