Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30,1808.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXX, Issue 307, 30 December 1896, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1808.

A- modern complaint in the form of a question by -women, old-style or "new," middle-aged or young, ia " Why don't the men propose ?" Speculative writers, humorous contributors to newspapers and magazines, and journalists in search of leading article matter, have discussed the problem from all points of view, and, whatever the conclusion has been, it has been taken for granted that marriage is on the decline. But the evidence of British statistics shows that matrimony is still a flourishing institution. It is probable that the recurrence of leap-year upsets the average and the male person, and that many hapless husbands are captured periodically against thoir will. For this reason a more accurate; estimate may be formed just before the ! advent of the first leap-year in the approaching twentieth century ; for, as the century years are never leap-years, there will be no other leap-year till ISO4, After this digression, or rather, with this reservation, a referenoe to the British statistics will show that people marry, in Great Britain at least, just as much as they used to do in old-fashioned times, the " new woman " and the club bachelor and the extravagant spouse notwithstanding. The chief arguments deduced by those who declare that marriage is on the decline among English-apeaking races are thus refuted by the cold facts of figures. In England and Wales people marry at the rate of 1250 a day. Imagine that 1 Conceive that diurnal procession of blushing brides and bridegrooms marching to church and registry office — Hodge and Phyllis, December and May, Lord Launoelot and Lady Quineviere, the New Woman and the N ew Man' taking the old vows and betting about the erection of homes just aa if there were no .shrieking sisterhoods, no women's rights and clubs, no aerial navigation, no electricity, and no Rontgen rays. The average of British marriage is nearly one a minute for every day of- the. year, including Sundays— which is abundant testimony that the institution is by no means on the decline, It is a disillusionment, however, and like a cold douohe on the spring poet, to discover that the marriage rate does not depend on mutual love, but on the custom house and agricultural returns, ihe yield of wheat an acre affects the raie in the country —the table of exports and imports governs marriage in the towns. When we learn that " lard is firm," or "wheat is buoyant," or "bacon I in demand," .then we may know that the wedding march is pealing in ,the churches once every minute in the year, or that jthe matter-of-fact registrar is busy making his prosaic record of union. Bu« when ''barley is j languid and drooping," or "oats are flat," or " baoou is easy," or i

"a fall is reported in pork," the marriage rate declines. Alas! In the spring the young man's fanoy Lightly turns to thoughts of love may be true in the abstract, but the lover puts off the eventful day when market reports are gloomy ; and he hangs baok from the final deed when the exports are slow or when there is a shortage or supei abundance in the crops. There is a grim association between the orange blossoms of the bride and the quotations for flour, between the smiles and tears at the altar and the bacon output of the season — or, more appropriately, the price of rice. Statistics also destroy a favourite delusion of the novelist and the poet that the charm of rural life conduces .to ma'rimony while the sordid conditions of urban existence drive out thoughts of love. Amaryllis, recubanssub tegmine fagi, may receive proposals galore ; but it is the city maiden wlio is led most often to the church or to the registry office. "The tangles of Neasra's hair " may be loveliest in the shady groves of Devonshire ; but the banded and braided tresses of the London girl wear the bridal veil more frequently. The number of marriages in London is 173 per 1000, while in idyllic Shropshire it is only 12*4. In Melbourne the rate is ll'll ; while in the 1 Victorian provinces it is only 3-38. Tc is also noteworthy that though the young man's fancy may turn to thoughts ol love in the spring, he evidently gets off his proposal then and gives his -^acchariasa time to prepare her trouseau in the following months. £Soih in Great Britain and in Australia autumn is the period most ohosen for marriages. It is ourious, also, to note how steadily the number of oivic marriages increases. The olergytnan celebrates every year fewer marriages, the registrar more. Fifty years ago nine marriages out of every ten in Great Britain were performed in Anglican churches ; ioday less than seven out of ten are so celebrated. The British census returns show that notouly are women more numerous than men in the Old Country, but, curiously enough, that they live longer. There are 109 women between the ages of 20 and 30 to every 100 men of the same ages ; but there are 204 women of 90 years and upwards to 100 male nonogenarians. For the married state there are 11 women to every 10 men, so that every eleventh woman of the community is doomed to old-mai-dendom. Statistically, it is the matured and graoious creature of from 20 to 24 years who has the best ohance of becoming a bride, and not the young thing in her teens ; but after 24 the prospects diminish to vanishing point. Strangely enough, Anthony Weller's warning to " Beware of widders " applies most to bereaved ones whose ages range from 85 to 89— just below the alluring period of life known as "fair, fat, and forty." Finally, the confirmed bachelor should take warning that aotuariitlly he has not the same chance of long life as his married club friend. Of 100 males who remain single only 3 Burvive toe decade between 55 and 65, while 77 married men reaoh that haloyon period. It is true that the eight baohelors are not eo bald as the. 77 benedicts; but wifely oare after other essentials seems to compensate for domestic jars.