MARRIAGE PENALTIES

Taranaki Daily News, 30 May 1930, Page 7

MARRIAGE PENALTIES

HUNGARIAN HOME RULE.

BRIDES TO BE APPROVED.

Numerous officers of- the Hungarian Army are to bo condemned to bachelorhood by an Order of Council which it was stated in April was about to be issued by the Minister of War, M. Goemboes. This- order stipulates that every officer intending marriage shall deposit sums —to remain locked up . for ; the period of liis military service——varying from £2lOO for a subaltern down to £7OO for a colonel. It is reckoned that a smaller sum can be accepted from an officer of higher rank as his pay- is higher. But in the case of staff officers and military attaches, the danger of temptation by foreign espionage agents has to be reckoned with, and the marriage guarantee is accordingly higher. Every staff! officer must deposit over £3500, and every military atache about £ll,000, before entering tho married state. In the present impoverished state .of Hungary, where only a small minority enter the army for social reasons, the remainder being obliged strictly to live on their pay, this amounts practically to an order of celibacy. The guarantee is untouchable, only the annual interest being at the disposal of the officer. In° addition to this bar, the prospective bride must also pass muster in Hungary ’before the would-be bridegroom’s brother officers. Before permission to marry is granted, written approval has to be obtained, from the senior officers of the regiment that her family is suitable to be linked with an officer of the Hungarian Army. Both this qualification and the money deposit were required before tho war, but under the Monarchy the deposit required was far smaller. Even so, it necessitated many officers surrendering their commissions and joining the police, or the customs. A number of instances are recorded where the Emperor Francis Joseph paid out of his private purse the necessary sums to enable officers or the brides who were personally known to him to marry. • Tho proposed regulations have only just been revived. During the inflation period the money qualification had to be dropped because the pre-war deposits had been eaten up and rendered worthless by inflation, rendering the very idea of such deposits obnoxious; and also because of the general depreciation of capital. The curious rule was adopted in its place that the prospective bride had to have an adequate trousseau. Amid the universal misery of the post-war years, this was not altogether an absurdity, but tho prospect of conscientious colonels solemnly. inspecting each article of the lady’s trousseau nevertheless furnished much amusement to many messes.