nominal wives, for it has been computed that out of a hundred convicts' marriages in Swan River forty of them only are legal, the rest being simply acts of bigamy on the part of the men. This is not, however, for want of swearing to the contrary, for, the solemn vows of the religious service itself not being thought sufficient by the colonial legislators, the reading of it is preceded by secular oaths, which the clergyman is obliged to administer, to the effect that no lawful hindrances exist to the union. This preamble, which gives an additional opportunity of perjury, is considered to supersede the necessity of banns, which are not legally required in the colony, and any marriage may take place at five minutes' notice, except in the Church of England.
A person of our acquaintance once received a letter from an unknown female correspondent in England, asking for news of her husband, who was, she said, a ticket-of-leave holder in the service of the person to whom she addressed herself. The writer proceeded to say that, in consequence of having heard nothing of her husband for a year past, she had thought it best to apply to his master for tidings of him, and concluded her letter with sending him affectionate messages from "his six sons and only daughter." I never heard whether an answer was returned to the letter; but we were told that the subject of its inquiries "turned all colours" when it was laid before him, as indeed he well might, for, having always passed himself off as a single man, he had prevailed on an Irish immigrant girl to marry him three months before.
However, although no such discovery as that of a prior wife may await the convict's bride, there is seldom much
