SINGLE BLESSEDNESS COSTS A FORTUNE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10973, 12 June 1903, Page 6

SINGLE BLESSEDNESS COSTS A FORTUNE.

In Argentina a man is supposed to have arrived at the proper age for taking a wife when he is twenty years old. The man who does not marry at twenty is fined sdol a month for* every month he remains unmarried .until .he is thirty,-~when the. fine is lOdol a month until he is thirty-five, when it is increased to 20dol a month, and remains at that figure for fifteen -yeap.- - If at fifty the man is an incorrigible bachelor, he has to pay SOdol a month, and continues to do so until he is seventy-five, should he live so long. After that age' the State realises that Ms value in tlie marriage market is limited, and lie, is fined only twenty dollars a year, and even that payment coascs should h% live to be eigktyv Even if a man nas married- and has the^mis? fortune to be a widower, the Stale still declares that he must not remain wedded tohis \jife"s memory longer than three years, or he must pay for the privilege. The only condition under which a man is exempt from the fine is if he has proposed three times in a year and been rejected each time. That, however, would be such a sad confession of lack of charm on the part of a man that he would not be likely to admit it. For the privilege, therefore, 'of remaining unmarried a man would have to pay, supposing he lived his .allotted period of seventy-five years, no less than 'l2,7obdol. and ' although a wife would probably ,cost more than that, it is only a cynic who would say bachelorhood is cheap at the price.