A SOUTH AFRICAN ROMANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2273, 23 September 1897, Page 55

A SOUT H AFRICAN ROMANCE.

The oddest marriage in the history of South Africa ba9 (the New York Herald reports) just taken plsca at Pretoria and in Holland. Tbe bride and the grcora were the trifle of 6000 miles aparb, and yet all the clergy of the world could nob make the tie between them more Btrong than it is to-d*y. The circumstances surrounding the case make it an almost international marriage. The bridegroom was Erne3fc Van Trotsenburg, the lwad of the State telegraphic dapar'.ment. The bride was Mi'bs E. H. Morstnan, a resident of Amsterdam, Holland. It wa«, in fact, a marriage by proxy with the aid of the cable. The circumstacce^ were so odd that they are well worth relating in detail.

All arrangements for the marriage had been made by letter and cable, the time having been ogrped upon, the difference in time between Preteria and Amsterdam being allowed for, and each party knew at a certain moment just exactly where the other was, and what it was prepared to do. In the Hotel Kiuger the bridegroom and his friends met. A wire from the cable had been run to the room, aad the arrangement had been perfected whereby it was possible to secure direct connection with Amsterdam, and therefore it was almost as easy for the bride and the groom to speak to each other as if they had been in adjoining rooms with the door open.

There were 10 friends accompanying the bridegroom, who sat beside tho little table of the cable operator, and when the proper moment came sent a message sayiDg that he was all ready and anxiouß to become the husband of the young woman. Mr Van Trotsenbnrg knew that in her pleasant home in Amsterdam Miss Rlorsman and her party of friends were awaiting the cable from him to

begin the ceremony. The bridegroom had given a friend of his in Amsterdam power of attorney to act as his proxy at the wedding. This proxy made the responses for the bridegroom and grasped one end of a glove belonging to the btidpgcoom, while the bride took hold of the other end.

It is this feature of tho marriage by proxy which gives it is name, "the glove marriage." One of the numerous technicalities of the Dutch marriage law renders the holding of the glove an absolute necessity. If this action is omitted, the marriage is not legal. Ody two cablegrams are neces-ary nowadays — one statiDg that the bridegroom is ready to begin, and the other from the bride saying that all is over and that bhe change of name has been successfully acompiished. Then the bride has a wedding breakfast, ab which the proxy, who is really tho best man, assists her. Afber that the young wife goes aboard the steamer and sets out for the land in wlrch her husband dwells.

In this instance the wedding breakfast at Amsterdam was an exceediagly elaborate affair, and the dinner given by the bridegroom in Pretoria was one of ths most notable events of the sort that has occurred in many a long day. • Both events were rendered more joyful by the constant interchange of cablegram*. In this way a regular conversation was kept up, messages of congratulation received and sent, and words that were relative to future bliss were wh-'spered in 1 o the ears of the groom and bride through, the medium of electricity. The practice of marriage by proxy dates back to the old Dutch colonial days. In those times it was quite a fashion for the youDg colonist to go to a far away land to find a home, and tbeo, »h f n he had laid that foundation, to send back to the old counlry for the fraulein who had promised to hi his before he left his native soil.

Mr Van Trotsenburg hid expected to return to olland to be married at a certain time, bat business events transpired which rendere.d such a journf-y au impossibility. He was in despair until eoine one suggested the proxy marriage, aud then the way seemed sm^ot*. So it ia that Mr Van Trotoenbu-g h»s Irs cuke, aad has e.'iien it, too. He bae nit neglected trs business, but he has a wife.

The cuifo be t .riff cas; ao Aucklau I of H- nry Brest v. Alexander ft >f c (as collector o? custom.'), a suit to a*c r am what duty ia payable on linotypes 1 , was onesided on ih» 14-th. His Honor reviewed the evidence at so ne kngbb, and ultinoiteiy gxva j'.d^ment for the plttiutiff feo recover all the (V p^sifi he had lodged in tx -t Si* of 5 per cenfc. payable upon printing machine.*! under the customs tariff. An order was also made, in accordance wifcn the proviak>»s of tbe act, that 8 per cent, should hn paid as interer-t. from July upon the exc««s so dtposiled. Goats Wire allowed to plaintiff.