Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1932. CHILD MARRIAGE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 20 January 1932, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1932. CHILD MARRIAGE.

A few years ago Dr. Katherine Mayo published “Mother India,” an indictment of the system of child marriage in India. It was vehemently attacked by many Indians, who challenged the accuracy of the author’s statements. Her “Volume Two” will not be open to this criticism, because the material upon which it*is based is the evidence offered to and the report of a committee appointed by the Government in 1928 to investigate the whole question. This committee had a personnel of 10, of whom nine were Indians and the tenth was an English lady doctor. Of the nine Indians six were Hindus, ad three were Moslems. The majority of them .possessed legal experience, either on the Bench or as practitioners. In 1925 the age of consent was raised by legislation from 12 to 13 years. This measure, however, proved a dead letter, because the marriage of girls below that age was still permitted, and marriages of girls who were not yet in their ’teens were frequent, especially among high-caste Brahmins. According to their tenets, the younger the bride the greater is the merit acquired by the husband. The difficulty in combating the practice is that it is part of the web and woof of Hindu religion, and immemorial social usage. Religion does not merely sanction such unions; it enjoins them as a pious duty. Many enlightened Indians heartily disapprove of them, but dare not defy public opinion. They give their immature daughters in matrimony because if they do not they may be formally outcast, or, at the least, will incur some degree of ostracism. It is scarcely necessary to enlarge upon the evils for which these marriages are responsible. They are sapping the physique and the mental vigour of the race. They condemn many young girls to an existence of misery. A Hindu may divorce his wife on any pretext or none. Her chance of remarriage is remote; her life is spoiled. The juvenile mortality rate and the death rate in childbirth are terribly high. In Bengal alone 700,000 children under the age of 15 |

die every year. In 1929 an Act was passed forbidding the marriage of girls under 14, but it is easy to evade. In the first place, Hindu records are imperfect and it may be impossible to tell the actual age of a child. In the second, how are the authorities to know when a breach of the law is committed? There is a provision' whereby a complainant may lay a charge. But here, again, fear of public opinion will be a deterrent as will be the requirement that complainant must enter into a bond. The British were able to put an end to such abuses as suttee. But the self-immolation of widows was a public ceremony and was relatively uncommon. From the nature of the case, the suppression of child-marriages is a very different proposition. The only effective solution will seem to lie in education, and the creation of a popular sentiment against the system. Yet this, unfortunately, is likely to be a long business.