§ MR. MONCKTON MILNESsaid, he wished to ask the hon. Gentleman the 900 Under Secretary for the Colonies, Whether any correspondence has passed between the Government of South Australia and the Colonial Office upon the subject of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, and if so, whether he is prepared to lay it on the Table of the House?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUEsaid, that a Bill for legalizing marriage with a deceased wife's sister, or rather two Bills in succession, had been sent from South Australia to the Colonial Office in order that it might receive the Royal Assent. It had remained there two or three years waiting for the decision of the House of Lords in the case of "Brook v. Brook." If the result of that decision had been to make a South Australian marriage legal in England he had no doubt that the Royal Assent would have been given to that measure. But as the result of that decision had been of a contrary kind his noble Friend at the head of the Colonial Office had thought it right to advise the Crown not to sanction the Bill passed by the South Australian Legislature. He had only to add that there would be no objection to lay before the House any correspondence that had passed upon the subject.