WIFE-SELLING SURVIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19292, 3 April 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

WIFE-SELLING SURVIVES.

STRANGE STORIES TOLD. BRITISH MINERS' WAYS. Remarkable as it may seem, wife-selling still prevails in Britain, as was shown in a case heard at the Leeds Police Court in February. In this instance, a man went to live with a married couple, and eventually the husband agreed to sell his wifo for £lO.

The system of buying and selling wives prevails chiefly in certain parts of Yorkshire (particularly in the mining districts), South Wales and Durham. It has come to ho regarded as a rough-and-ready means of solving the divorce problem. A man who is tired of his wife, and probably she of him, "meets a few companions in a public house, and asks for bids for her. A bargain is made, and for a sum varying between a few shillings and £lO the wifo is hence forward the " property " of the purchaser. A Transfer Contract. There was a striking incident in a Yorkshire public house. A miner's wife had transferred her affections to another man, and, although her husband was piqut'd, he was willing to give up his claims to her for a monetary consideration. The parties met to discuss matters —the husband, the wife (with her father and mother), and the prospective purchaser (with a friend). The husband demanded £3, but the wife herself said it was too much, and in the end he agreed to accept 30s. Then this agreement was drawn up and signed:— " Mr. Taylor to have my wifo, Elizabeth Smith, free from ms for ever, to do as she has a mind." At Leeds Assizes a man charged with bigamy pleaded that his first wifo proved troublesome, and as repeated " good hidings " had no effect he sold her tq a soldier for 3s 6d. Sho went willingly, and ho consequently claimed that ho had the right to marry again. Another Yorkshire bigamist said ho had no wife, as he had sold her for 50s; while a third admitted that ho had got rid of his wife to a chimney sweep for Is 6d. Local Convention. In the North Riding of Yorkshire there is a certain amount of wifo-selling, but thero is a convention that three conditions should be observedA wifo must not bo sold more than once: sho must not change hands for less than Is, and sho rniist be taken away immediately. A shilling docs not seem much for ti wifo, but tliero have been cases in which oven less was paid. At Alfreton, in Derbyshire, there was a remarkable scone in a public house, a man offering, before a largo company, to sell his better half for' a glass of boor. Someone accepted, and the woman promptly took off fier wedding ring and passed over to her now " husband."