A LONDON MARRIAGE LOTTERY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 287, 6 December 1893, Page 4

A LONDON MARRIAGE LOTTERY.

Michael Harris and Nancy Jacobs having polled the highest number oi votes, were duly elected to receive a dowry of £"25 and marriage fees, and a vacancy was again declared for a couple." r i Bo ran a paragraph m a Jewish paper recently, and a i\ill Mall reporter was fired with an ambition to learn more about these folks who give couples dowries, and more about the conditions under which such dowries are won. The benevolence, it appeared, emanated from the Society for Allowing Marriage Fees and a Portion to Young Men and Virtuous Girls of the Jewish Faith. The president of this society, one would imagine, would be a patriarchal sage : with grandchildren in scores about his knees. But Mr A. Swaab, who is the head of the society, is a young man with a slight black moustache, a clean-shaven chin, and certainly no grandchildren. When not hymeneally occupied he is engaged in his business as a diamond merchant in Hatton Garden. " The society," he stated, in reply to the interviewer, " has been in existence nearly fifty years, and has done no small amount of good. It was started among a few Mends in quite a small way, and a dowry of £10 only was all that could be afforded at first. But £10, if not exactly a drop in the ocean, was not sufficient to answer the purpose in view, and as the funds grew the dowry was increased to £25." " Are the operations of tbe society confined to London?" "No, they extend all over England. The funds are recruited by subscriptions, of all amounts from a penny a week up•wards, and by donations." " It gives them a prior claim on the aowry perhaps r" No, it doesn't. I will make that clear in a moment. We assist about a dozen couples every year, the dowries and marriage feescoming to over £800. The object in giving the dowry is to enable the young couples to start a little business together. Before becoming candidates for the dowry (towards which they need not have subscribed a farthing), they have to be possessed of all home necessaries and furniture, and the man has to prove to the satisfaction of the committee that he is in a position to maintain a wife. " Only virtuous girls are to be befriended by the society, I gather from its title. Does it not become rather a delicate matter to adjudicate upon the qualifications of young lady applicants ?" " Every case is investigated by two members of the committee, i appointed annually for that purpose. They make their inquiries with proper tact and discretion, and they also investigate the character of the man. Let us go through the entire procedure. Say a vacancy has been declared, which means that we have sufficient in hand to put up another dowry for competition. We send out notices to that effect and supply forms for application. We get four, five, Bix, perhaps a dozen couples contesting for the prize. They all come before the committee in couples, and are asked questions concerning the money they have saved, the nature of the man's work, and so on. Once, 1 suppose, I must have been pressing the prospective bridegroom pretty hard, for the youDg lady spoke up, sorrowfully, ' Well, sir, you got married once, and we want to, too ! ' " Well, as toon as they have been admitted as? caudidatep, what follow??" " We give them a book of members, and tell them to go and canvass for vote?, ■, the members possessing votes m proportion to the amount of their subscnptioue." . „„ "Have you yourself in airy votes i "Ye?, I hold something like eighty YOtee." , , , , " Then you aro the target of plenty oi beseeching brown eyes and persuasive glances?"' "No, nothing out of the way, because us President I take no part in choosing the recipients of the dower. " Can yon give me a specific lu j^ u ( c f of the good the society has done t l can, and a striking one, I think, lliere are tbree members of the committee of the society, now men of position and well-to-do, who were embarked upon lite with dowries of the society •'' , 11 A lid the younii men and maidens do not reset t the inquiries of you- investigation, or regard them as at all mquisitorialP" "Uh, no! They know the ruleß of the society, and buo conditions under which they enter into the competition; and of courso the inquiries aro made diplomatically. I forgot to tell you that the marriage must take place wuhm six months of the declaration of the poll. Jt may interest you also to learn that Lord Kothschild has bcou a subscriber ior years."