PRISON FOR ADULTERERS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1930, Page 4

PRISON FOR ADULTERERS

CANON DEMANDS LAW REFORM. “Make adultery criminal’’ m the demand of the Rev. James Wall, Canon of Durham Cathedral, in a special interview with the Sunday Dispatch. His argument is strengthened by the recent ’discussion in the Divorce Court between Lord Merrivalc and bir William Jowitt, the Attorney-General on the trend of modern morals. “If a man steals my purse or my dog he is liable to a criminal prosecution, ’ said Mr. Wail. “If Jic is convicted he is liable to be sent to prison. . ■ “If the same man steals my wire, who is infinitely more to me than anything else in the world, he is not so liable ' “But why should he not be even more guilty at law than the man who steals my purse or my dog? “He has robbed me of the affections and presence Of my 'wife. He has robbed me of my domestic happiness. “The days are long past, .1 shall be told, when a wife was considered the personal properly of a husband, a mere household chattel.

“Even so, a contract remains a contract; but in addition to cheating me, the adulterer has also robbed my children of their human birthright, the influence of father and mother during their early years. “The adulterer has broken what was in law a civil contract. What redress does the law allow me? “For the loss of my wife, of my home, of the perfect development of

my children, the law allows me damages, financial damages —tainted money. “In Italy, it appears, the man or woman convicted of adultery-is to be sent to prison for a year as a social offender. “Let a Government equally strong arise in this country and acknowledge that the adulterer is as-much a publicenemy as the swindler or the thief.. “We shall see an end of the farcical

trumped-up cases, in which an hotel bedroom is taken for the night. “I am arguing thus far on the level of the secularist. “There are many, I expect far more than will confess, it openly to their fellows, who feel and know that there is in addition to the civil contract a divine contract also which is entered into at marriage, and which is violated by the adulterer.”