THE MARRIAGE MEASURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20793, 12 August 1929, Page 2

THE MARRIAGE MEASURE.

CONVENIENT PRELIMINARIES

(From Our Own Correspondent./

LONDON, June 28.. At the Summer Session of the Church Assembly the Rev. W. P. G. M’Cormick moved that the Marriage Measure be considered for revision. The purpose of this Measure is to enable marriage to be solemnised in any church which is the usual place of worship of the persons to be married, or of either of them. For the purposes of this Measure no parish church or public chapel is to be deemed the usual place of worship of any person unless he is enrolled on. the church electoral roll of the area in which such parish church or public chipel is situate, and where any persons is enrolled on the church electoral roll of an area in which he does not dwell such enrolment shall be sufficient evidence that his usual place of worship is a parish church or public chapel in that area. The Bishop of Lincoln moved an amendment to re-commit the Measure to the Appointed Committee,, and to give an instruction to this committee to amend the Measure so as to provide that the publication of banns of marriage in the parish of residence of each of the intending spouses shall be sufficient to authorise the solemnisation of marriage in any church in the country, provided that due notice is given beforehand of the name of the church where the marriage is intended to take place. His object, he said, was to bring the law of marriage' into harmony with what prevailed in Scotland. The Church of England in respect of marriage was more strictly bound in the matter of residence than most of the other citizens of the country. Nonconformists and, he thought, members of the Roman Church could get a certificate from the registrar’s office and, having got that, could be married in a place of worship in the registrar’s district. If no, such place of worship could be found, then they could be married in a place of worship of their denomination in a neighbouring district. Such a reform as he suggested would, he thought, be acceptable to members of the Church of England, and would be welcomed by the whole community. There was no practical or legal obstacle in the way of such a reform. The Bishop of Norwich objected that the Bishop of Lincoln’s amendment touched on the fringe of the subject. “If I could stir Somerset House, the Church Assembly, Parliament, and everybody in England,” added bis lordship, “to try to overhaul these marriage preliminaries and make them something sensible instead of something futile and misleading, I should indeed be thankful for the result of a quiet little campaign that I have been trying to carry on for the last 15 or 16 years.” It was agreed'that the Measure should be considered forthwith, and its further consideration was ultimately adjourned till the autumn session.