MERRY WIDOWS

Southland Times, Issue 22131, 27 September 1933, Page 6

MERRY WIDOWS

STEADY RE-MARRIAGE RATE. BIG SAVINGS IN PENSIONS. Widows in Britain are still wonderful. At least men seem to think so, fcr widows are re-marrying at a steady rate, says a London writer. Official figures show that 130 of them are marrying every week. They are making husbands happy. The widows are also doing their best to help the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ease the burden of national finance, for they are struck off the widows’ pension roll on re-marriage. Attractive widows save the Government £150,000 a year. And there are 6500 women receiving pensions trying marriage again every year.

The amount of a widow’s pension is 10/- per week. Many of the widows have children, but they only cease to draw their own weekly 10/- on remarriage. Their children’s allowance continues.

Perhaps it is this weekly dowry that makes widows more attractive. Perhaps it is the fact that they often have a home already furnished for a new husband. Perhaps it is—well, anyway, the Government likes these “merry widows.” They save money. In some cases re-marriage involves the widows in a distinct financial sacrifice, especially where the new husband is earning a relatively low wage. In such cases the widow has perhaps been out of work herself, and her income from this source coupled with the 10/a week pension she has been drawing from the Government, has enabled her to live a comfortable life in her small home. On taking her new husband, however, she frequently has to give up not only her pension, but her own work and wages. The figures show in fact that most of the women prefer to make their new married life a full-time job. And as many of the widows marry widowers with children of their own who need looking after, a decision to stay at hom c often becomes essential.