BOOM IN MARRIAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18702, 7 May 1924, Page 11

BOOM IN MARRIAGES.

leap YEAR records;!

MARKED INCREASE SHOWN.

BUSY TIME FOR REGISTRAR.

Leap, year, that delight of the penny comic paper, the last resort of the feminine love-lorn, is going ahead with a swing, and the Auckland marriage market is booming. Scoffers may say. what they like ■ about Leap Year,, may ridicule the idea that it is; a trusty aid to those whose trembling hearts fear the ignominy of being "left! at the post," bat even the most ' hardened scoffer ; must accept .'.s the evidence of figures, amdV figures for the first four months of 1924 show conclusively that Leap Year is going to establish a record in local marriage statistics. The number of tfjatriages already performed this year,, 717, is in excess of the totals for the first four months of the ; past three and comes within 10 of the: record, achieved last Leap Year, 1920, when 797 marriages were registered. The IQSO statistics, combined with those already/ available for 1924, are incontrovertible/; last Leap Year there were 2212 marriages, and ; this figure has not been reache/i . since, while the fact that 30 more marriages have already taken place in Auckland this year than in the first four months of any other year . since 1920, is an'; indication that Leap Year is or>c<j again .going to prove .Hymen's ; ablest ally and, young C»:pia's trusty friend. As ever, - the- Easter season has been one of the busiest times of the year at the registrar's office,' and this year ; the officer - in charge has been working overtime in his attempts to cope with the rush of - matrimonial business. ; This was predicted at the beginning of the year, and the prediction has been amply verified. The number of marriage licenses issued during April was 221, an increase of 52 over the figures for April last year. ; No fewer than 65 ceremonies were performed at the registrar's office. On the Thursday before Easter the official match-maker issued several score of marriage licences and personally performed no fewer than 10 marriage cere/monies— record that even the most popular minister of the Church would find it very difficult to approach. One realises, rin the face of facts such as these, that the ;-- sternly-enforced regulation, "No confetti allowed," is a most necessary one at the office of the registrar. In between ceremonies, this hard-worked officer was called on to attend to many details of passport business, and. one may speculate with interest upon the possibility .of some .' traveller, at a later date, regarding his .-. or her passport with . a dawning perplexity as to , whether he or she is preparing to enter alien territory on the strength of an assortment : of; details regarding bachelorhood, spinsterhood," length of residence and the • absence of any : just cause or impediment. Each ceremony ' took .onl an average about 10 minutes; as the '.registrar . remarked yesterday, "It doesn't take long, once they've made up their minds to do it. . They do their thinking beforehand— or afterwards And ! in many a case/' as the records of. divorce and remarriage, show, "afterwards" is right. * " Meantime, the path of ;' life stretches' ahead, and Leap Year is passing. , . . The modern "maiden's prayer" may -well be translated, with apologies to the . Persian tentmaker, , into ■' something ■ afprpmpriate and' effective during the j remaining months of 1924: ' " '/ "The Leap ear' bird . has but r a little while ,to flutter, ,"£■ * , And Lo!' the bird is on. the wing."