Breach Of Promise Cases.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 63, 16 March 1931, Page 6

Breach Of Promise Cases.

It Occurs To Me,

Al FTER hearing a breach of promise case in which a man broke an eight years’ engagement for the sake of a wealthy widow, a London bachelor judge declared that the plaintiff’s action was degrading to womanhood. In this he shows that he has retained some of that idealism regarding the opposite sex that proper people in a single state ought to have, but, unfortunately, he overlooks the fact that there must be some protection for women, particularly for those in the less sheltered strata of society. The man who thinks so little of a woman is well lost. The increasing number of broken engagements shows that people to-day realise that it is better to face the fact of unsuitability before, than after, marriage, and to have the courage of one’s conviction. But this is a case where a woman has spent eight years of her life on a man, and, in faithfulness to him, has, in all probability, lost other opportunities of happiness. In such circumstances, it is impossible to assess the damages. A certain natural delicacy does detain women of gentler nurture from the public exhibition of their affections, but, unfortunately, the stress of existence robs others of this compunction, and it is these very women who need most this means of redress. B.E.S.