ALIMONY AND ALLOWANCES

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 10 June 1933, Page 11

ALIMONY AND ALLOWANCES

rp HE matrimonial injustices which are being borne by thousands of husbands in Britain who are separated from their wives or divorced are likely to be drastically revised if the Bill which Lord Snell is to introduce becomes law.

Lord Snell, who is .prominently identified with the Divorce Deform Union, says he intends vo press for the establishment of special Courts of Domestic Relations. Tile whole problem of alimony and -allowances, which are being paid to the tune of £10,000,000 every year, would be examined in a fresh light. It is estimated that since the war 2-1,000 husbands have been divorced by their wives. By far the greater proportion of these arc paying alimony amounting to anything between 30 i)er cent, and 41 per cent, of their incomes. In addition, an average -of 20,000 separations are ordered by the police courts every year, and while 'the amount of maintenance allowed is smaller, varying between 15s and £2 a week, millions of pounds are paid annually by these separated husbands. Mrs Seaton-Tiedeman, secretary of the Divorce Deform Union, recently

Ten Millions Yearly in Britain

expressed the opinion that a court should have the power to cancel the payment of alimony immediately the wife married again. “As the law is at present,” she said, “a woman can perpetuate any spite she may have against her late husband by making him pay for the rest of his life, even though she may be married again and in prosperous circumstances. He, too, may be married, with a wife and children to support. ’' The police courts, Mrs Seaton-’Tiede-man added, were not the most competent courts to adjudicate between married people who could not pull together. Petty sessional courts were already overburdened.

“Where the -wife's health lias been impaired permanently by reason of the treatment slie lias received prior to her divorce or separation it is only right that the man should pay,” Mrs Sea-ton-Tiedeman continued. “The courts at present, however, are unable to discriminate between the villain and the honest man who just cannot get along with -his wife.” The latest figures show that one in every 96 marriages end in the divorce courts.