Other People’s Weddings.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue I, 2 January 1904, Page 50

Other People’s Weddings.

A CHAT WITH A MARRIAGE REGISTRAR. ’

It was not with a matrimonial intent that the writer called on the registrar of marriages in an important and extensive district in London, but rather with a view of obtaining information about the wedding ceremonies of other people. “A great many foreigners,” said he, “come here to be married; and sometimes when I eannot speak their language, and they are unable to speak a word of English, it is extremely awkward.

“A year ago a Russian couple came to me to be married. Neither of them could speak a word of English, but they brought with them a third party—a Pole—who was supposed to act as interpreter, but whose English was apparently limited to the phrase ‘married at once.’

“Finally, I gathered that the couple wanted to be married without giving the necessary twenty-one day’s notice. This can be done by paying £2 17/1, which is the price of a license, and entitles a couple to be married within twenty-four hours after having received it. “The Russian duly paid for the license, and the following day I married the pair. Six days later the woman came in with another interpreter this time, who explained that both she and her husband were under the impression that they had only registered a promise to get married, and wanted to know when they could get the’ceremony performed. When she heard that she was really married she seemed quite overjoyed, and clapped her hands. “When a couple come to a registrar’s office to be married, both the man and woman must separately make a solemn declaration to the effect that there is no reason why they should not be joined together. “This declaration is the important part of the legal ceremony, and must be repeated in the English language by the contracting- parties. If they cannot speak English it must be said to them by the registrar’ in the English tongue, even if the registrar could speak their language fluently. “I have often married French and German couples who could not speak a word of English. As, however, I can speak both French and German myself, I have explained the meaning of the declaration to them in their own language, and then, in order to comply with the law, repeated the words in English. The strange part of the law, however, is that Welsh couples are legally entitled to repeat the declaration in their own vernacular, if they wish to do so; if not, they can repeat it in English. As a matter of fact,

out of 2GO Welsh people that were married here in the past fifteen months, not one repeated the words in Welsh. "Every notice of marriage must be entered in a book kept for that purpose, and neglecting to do so once eost me nearly £3. A couple had given me the usual twenty-one days’ notice of marriage, but I forgot at the time to enter it in the notiee-book, and the notice only dates from the day on which it is so entered. I discovered my error three days later, but it was three days too late, for on the day on which the twenty-one days’ notice expired the couple came and informed me they wanted to get married the following day. Now. I could not legally let them do so until three days later. so I paid for a license for them out of iny own poeket, which cost me exactly £2 17/1, but which entitled them to be married on the following day. “Sometimes when a man comes to give me notice of marriage he seems to think that the registrar’s office is also a bureau of advice on every domestic subject, and asks strings of questions about the cost of housekeeping. One man the other day wanted to know whether, if he gave notice of marriage, he could be legally compelled to get married. I told him the law in such a case compels no one to get married. “I marry some very queex - couples sometimes. A year ago a Russian couple came here to be married —the man was over sixty, and the woman close upon the same age. Both were exiles from their own country, and the man had been in a Siberian prison for twenty years, and then made his escape.”