MAN AND WIFE

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14767, 5 October 1921, Page 7

MAN AND WIFE

'From Our Gorrcspond' , nt\ LONDON, August 12. Why a man should not marry his I deceased wife's sister if he desired to I a:i(i she was willing, in the full know- | lcu\-'f a sister-in-law acquires of a man and his habits, to have,him was long a puzzle to the philosophic mind. Judgj ing, however, l>y the noisiness of the I campaign it; favour of such unions, one i was almost .(riven into Uie belief that I |hc real aim and object of every (rue man was Lo marry his deceased wife's i sister. The Danish (ioverninent is go- ; ins ;l bit beyond anything of the kind yet sanctioned, in regard to degrees of consanguinity, in a Bill it is presently Im submit to Parliament. Under that Bill the young widow of an aged husband may marry Ihe deceased husband's son, that is lo say her own stepson, and transfer a maternal to a conjugal relationship. It floes not seem quite nice, but. bless you. it is up-to-date, and what more you want? Under the present. Danish law, a woman can many her deceased sister's husband or Ihe divorced husband of her sister, but by some oversight a man cannot marry his deceased brother's wife or the divorced wife of his brother. That is to be put. right and everybody marie happy. We suppose there is something to say in favour of keeping marriages well within the family, so to speak, although it has taken a few centuries to get the idea to catch on. We are an oldfashioned world, even though the methods of men alter with the process

of the suns of whatever it is thai does it.. They are also going to bring the divorce laws up-to-date in Denmark and provide further examples for reluctant England. At present, the Minister of Justice runs the divorce mill, but in future parlie s are lo have the right, of going to a court instead. In the case of unfaithfulness permission lo the divorced to marryfnimediatcly. is to he given on condition that, (he marriage is not with the co-respondent in the case —so delicate and so strict are they in Denmark. Divorces on Ihe ground of "tempermcntal differences" are to be continued and the period within which a re-marriage may lie undertaken is to be reduced from three years to IS months. Obviously sufficient, time for reflection. All these things surely make for the happiness of homes and the edification of children. The only interesting divorce case being reported just now--—for Ihe aristocracy have temporarily left off divorcing each other—is that in which Mr Lou Tellegen, actor, is trying lo get rid of his wife, known on the stage as Miss Geraldine Farrar. It. is understood that the lady admits having described her husband as "a perfect lover, but too domestically inclined." That should act as a serious warning to a man who insists upon even helping in, not lo speak of his doing, Ihe washing-up.