THE SUBTLE NATIVE

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 167, 17 July 1920, Page 5

THE SUBTLE NATIVE

AN INTERRUPTED WEDDING

[from our cor'respo.ndent.l

WELLINGTON, July 16. An amendment to the marriage l;iw extending the hours of solemnising marriages from 4 p.m. till 8 p.m., authorising Salvation. Army officers^ to officiate, and improving the marriage and divorce record system, was put through committee today.

This gave an opportunity to Mr R. McCallum (Wairau) to raise a curious point of law/ involving a little romance. He stated that a young European in his district wished to marry a Maori maiden aged 19, and her father attended at the Registrar's Office to give the required consent ; but a disgruntled suitor objected to the marriage, raising, with the subtlety of the natiA'e mind, the point that as the bride's parents had lived together in Maori fashion, as was the case with manj highly re»speetable natives, her father ■ had no authority to give legal consent. The ■ Registrar declined to perform the marriage ceremony. The Member for Wai ran suggested that the law was defective in a^ technical sense, and .suggested referring the. point to the Attorney-General. Sir William Herries, Native Minister, treated the matter lightly, suggesting that the Member for Wairau had become involved in the subtlety he ascribed'to the native mind. However, there was no objection to referring the matter to the Crown Law Officers.