DOES MARRIAGE PAY?

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21379, 23 June 1939, Page 13

DOES MARRIAGE PAY?

Sir,—May I ask “Cupid” where he buys 'his coal? He evidently knows where to get it very cheaply if he can supply heat for the water and home out of what is left from 3/after paying for light. I have to pay 7/- a bag for coal for the open fire and 5/9 for coal used in conjunction with coke for the incineratox Eked out with wood at 3/- a bag, we cannot spend less than 10/- a week on firing I may say the incinerator is lighted in the morning and is allowed to go out when the water is hot, and the living-room fire is usually not lighted until after the evening meal. So please “Cupid”, how do you do it?— I am, etc., MRS BUDGET. Timaru, June 22. Sir,—i am glad "Eligible Bachelor” has decided to stay single. He may be eligible, but scarcely desirable in his present cold calculating state. May I call his attention to the thousands of happy families throughout South Canterbury and the length and breadth of New Zealand on much less than £5/10/- a week. Under the present conditions for workers, particularly your clerk with £5/10/- a week, if they cannot make a success of it, then they deserve failure. In 1934, a married man, wife and three children were compelled to subsist on 19/- per week and pay 8d in the pound unemployment tax off that. Those were the days when it was not possible to contemplate matrimony: single men 35/- a week less tax, and a monthly stand-down week. I’Jl bet there weren’t many “eligible bachelors” then. They were Ineligible through absolute financial stagnation.

“Is marriage possible?” would be a fairer title to “Eligible Bachelor’s” communication than “Does Marriage Pay?” because he gives no evidence of wanting to commercialise matrimony. He merely wants the penny, or should I say “peach and the bun.” I do not think any healthy-minded man or woman ever questions “Does marriage pay?”, for with good luck the returns are wonderful: glorious companionship, a cook, a nurse, a slave, wonderful children and r beautiful home are possible in New Zealand on less than £4 a week. So it pays and is possible all right. I have got them.

My advice to contemplating couples varies slightly from that of "Eligible Bachelor,” although with him, I agree that a steady source of income is most desirable. The chief essential is that the couple adore one another, and not merely their own ideals or their brain-images. If marriage is looked upon as a sacred duty for the production of children and the building of homes for these, then I say definitely that if each party to the contract is determined to contribute the maximum of service, sacrifice and love to the other, they can’t go wrong. Those are the qualities that contribute most to matrimonial bliss and success. There are as many failures where there is excess of money as paucity of it, probably more. Think of Hollywood! Although at present guided by monetary considerations “Eligible Bachelor” was quite right in deciding to remain single and I hope he will stay like that until he discovers somebody absolutely essential to him and he is absolutely essential to someone. I do not endorse sickly sentimentality, but to suggest that there is the '.slightest anxiety with £5/10/- . week, with Social Security here and a working man's Government in office, sounds worse than spineless.—l am, etc., DAD. Washdyke, June 22.

Sir, —I have read the various letters on “Does Marriage Pay?” and feel that I cannot let the opportunity pass without giving “Eligible Bachelor” a metaphorical pat on the back for the very sensible and businesslike view he takes of this evergreen question. The other half of the partnership would need to be a paragon of all the virtues to enable a decent standard of living to be maintained, and give any children that measure of education—the very best that could be afforded.— which is their birthright. After all, the matrimonial lottery is the biggest gamble life has to offer, and where one woman may, by her devotion to duty and determination to succeed, come out victorious on £5/10/- a week, another may ere long be in a hopeless financial muddle. We have all come ..cross at times, and pitied too, those chaps who, though earning a decent salary, seem to have chronically empty purses, while others, earning less, can always lay their hands on spare cash when needed. Of course, it’s all in the management. “Eligible Bachelor,” sensible fellow that he is, believes in looking before he leaps, and quite right too. Better to be safe than sorry. 1 am, etc., UNCLE BILL. Temuka, June 22.