The report stage and third reading of the Scottish Divorce
Bill occupied the House of Commons from 8.47 on Tuesday evening until 1.3o next morning. A most stimulating debate took place upon the proposal that " incurable insanity " should be a ground for divorce. Members listened sym- pathetically to three forceful speeches from Mr. Westwood, Miss Horsbrugh and Mr. Kirkwood, who pleaded the cause of the insane defender whose mental affliction might be aggravated by the fear of divorce proceedings or who might subsequently recover. The latter difficulty is a very real one, but the Lord Advocate placed it in its proper perspective. He pointed out that at any given time there are, on the average, confined in asylums in Scotland 2,400 or 2,50o married persons who have been so confined for at least five years. Of that number, approximately twenty-seven recover, and of these only nine or ten are under fifty years of age. Faced with these statistics the House had not much doubt where the balance of hardship lay. * * * *
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