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Mr. Thorburn[1]: With respect to the matter before the Chair, I could hardly acquiesce in the propriety of bringing any pressure to bear upon Her Majesty’s Government suggesting legislation upon this matter, which has been so often and so prominently before the legislature of this country. There is no difficulty in any of the Colonial legislatures passing a Bill giving effect to marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, or not, as they please[2]In the Colony that I have the honour to represent, I think the matter has never come up, and probably if it did, as there are a very large number of Roman Catholics in the country (a persuasion to which I may say I do not belong) I think they would probably oppose the Bill;[3]and between them and the Church of England, which would probably represent two—thirds of the legislature, they would probably not pass the Bill, and we should then practically be in the same position as the people of England are. So when we Colonists come over here I think we ought to be satisfied to take the law as we find it in this country. A man if he does marry his deceased wife’s sister can always protect his property by the operation of his will; and I think, with all due deference to other members of the Conference, it would be rather out of place for us to suggest legislation to the
- ↑ Now Sir Robert Thorburn.
- ↑ No, except this: that some are deterred from altering their law solely because they cannot get these marriages recognised in England.
- ↑ This is an assumption scarcely warranted by observed facts. The Bill passed in Canada was introduced by a Catholic, and had the almost universal support of Catholics throughout the Dominion, from the Metropolitan of Quebec downwards. In Mauritius, where a similar Bill has been passed, the Catholic population is to the Protestant in the proportion of 13 to one. Under dispensation these marriages are fully recognised by Catholics everywhere.
known to object to these marriages per se, though some hesitate to give them legislative recognition until they have been declared legal by the Mother Country. See also the remarks of Mr. Upington, p. 27.
