Laws Amended

Papua’S Divorce

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby, June 20.

PAPUA’S divorce laws now similar to those in Australian States, al though not as wide as those in some States.

Until the Matrimonial Causes Ordin ance came into force last March, there were only two grounds for divorce in Papua—adultery by the wife or, in the case of a husband, adultery together with bigamy or various sexual offences. Now a husband or wife may sue for divorce on any one or more of the following grounds: (1) Adultery. (2) Habitual cruelty for one year or more. (3) De sertion for 3 years. (4) Habitual drunken ness for 3 years, coupled with —in the case of a husband—failure to support the wife, and, in the case of a wife, habitual neglect of domestic duties. (5) Imprison ment for 3 years or more for a capital crime, or any sentence of 7 years or more. (6) Conviction for attempted murder or assault causing or intending grievous bodily harm. (7) In the case of a hus band, convictions totalling 3 years jail during the 5 years before the petition, to gether with habitual failure to support the wife. (8) Sodomy, rape or bestiality. (9) Confinement as a mental defective during the 5 years before the petition, provided that recovery is improbable. (10) In the case of a husband, habitual failure during the 5 years before the pe tition, to pay maintenance ordered by the court or under a separation deed.

Normally divorce proceedings are taken only in the State or Territory where the husband lives permanently. A wife who has been living in Papua one year, how ever, may sue for divorce in Papua al though her husband has his permanent home elsewhere. In such a case, the local Supreme Court woud apply the divorce laws of the State or Territory where the husband has his permanent home.