BROKEN MARRIAGES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7016, 7 February 1949, Page 5

BROKEN MARRIAGES

VICTORIAN STATISTICS PARTNERSHIPS OF LONG STANDING SEVERED Of 1681 marriages ended by decrees for divorce in Victoria during 1948, 1083 were dissolved on the grounds of desertion. There were 1660 dissolutions of marriage, two judicial separations and 19 nullities on the petition of 818 husbands and 863 wives. Misconduct was the ground on which 264 husbands and 246 wives successfully petitioned, and desertion and misconduct resulted in 10 husbands and 22 wives obtaining disolution of their marriages. Childless couples numbering 633 formed the major element in the marriage breaks. There were 329 couples with one child, 292 with two children, 120 with three children, and 86 couples divorced with four children or more. The total number of children affected by the 1681 divorces was 1904, of whom 433 were under 10 years of age. Marriages of less than five years’ duration were involved in 189 dissolutions, and those of five to nine years in 583. The biggest number of divorces occurred among couples married from between 10 to 19 years. They numbered 590. Dissolutions numbering 233 were granted to couples married for between 20 and 29 years, while only 65 marriages of 30 or more years were dissolved. The total of 1681 decrees granted during 1948 showed a decline on 1947 (2294), but was greater than 1946 (1651). However, it was more than twice - the pre-war figure of 830 in 1938. It was also nearly four times that of 1931, when 425 decrees were granted. Of the petitions set down for hearing during 1948, 356 were carried over at the last sitting of the Supreme Court for the first sitting in 1949.