of the People of Victoria. 119 



851 had entered into the married state. There are, there- 

 fore, more than 30 per cent, of the entire number of women 

 living on tlie gokl-fields of the age of fifteen and under 

 twenty, cither Avives or Avidows. This proportion is nearly 

 twice as high as the average for the entire colony, and is to 

 the ratio for Great Britain as 12 to 1. 



As regards the numerical deficiency of females on the 

 gold-fields, there Averc at the period of the last census, 16,144 

 bachelors, aged twenty-one years and upAvards, to 4,301 

 spinsters aged fifteen and upAvards ; that is, making a com- 

 parison Avitli a disparity of six years betAveen the ages of 

 males and females, nearly 11 to 1, or an actual excess of 

 41,843. 



Disparity between the mean ages at which men and women 

 marry is a point of too much importance to be overlooked in 

 discussing the conjugal condition of a people, because great 

 inequalities in age, just as inequality in other respects, is not 

 unfrcquently a source from Avhich disunion in married life 

 springs. As regards this point, it may be observed that 

 against 846 of the 851 Avomen AA^hom I liave already noticed 

 as haAdng been married under twenty years of age, there 

 Averc but 34 husbands belonging to the same age period. Of 

 the age-period twenty to twenty-five there Avere 5,180 Avives 

 to 1973 husbands ; Ijeing altogether 6926 married women to 

 2007 married men under tAventy-five years of age. Taking 

 the married of all ages on the gold-fields, the average age of 

 the men appears to be thirty-five years, and of the Avomen 

 thirty, being a disparity of five years, or tAAdce as great as 

 that of Great Britain. This seems to correspond very closely 

 Avith the diflerenee betAveen the ages of men and Avomen about 

 to marry, as recorded in the marriage registers of the colony, 

 and presents a marked contrast to England and Wales, Avliere 

 the disparity is only one year. An average disparity of fiA^e 

 years betokens a great inimber of instances of very young- 

 women being joined to men of mature years ; and deducing 

 from one disparity other disparities, we are led to infer that 

 there arc many unions of persons unsuited in rank, educa- 

 tion, and temperament. The attractions of wealth on one 

 side overcome objections on the other which Avould in ordi- 

 nary circumstances be insuperable; while the difficulty of 

 procuring suitable Avives, no doubt, often leads men to selec- 

 tions Avhich they Avould not make in more favorable positions. 

 As an instance in support of this vicAv, it may be mentioned 

 that the marriage statistics shoAV unsuitability as regards 



