1656
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 51

(2.) A Judge of the High Court may in any case, if he thinks fit so
to do, grant exemption from the requirements of this clause.
(3.) No marriage shall be invalidated by any breach of the
provisions of this clause.

286. If a marriage officer commits a breach of the provisions of
this Part of this Order, or signs any record of a marriage containing any
statement known by him to be false, he shall be guilty of an offence
punishable by a fine of fifty pounds.

287. Every party or witness to a marriage who signs a record
thereof containing any statement known by him or her to be false shall
be guilty of an offence punishable by a fine of twenty pounds or by
imprisonment for six months.

288. Every person who, by any wilful misrepresentation made to
a marriage officer, procures or attempts to procure the solemnization by
that officer of any marriage shall be guilty of an offence punishable by
one year’s imprisonment.

289. An illegitimate child, whether born before or after the com-
mencement of this Order, shall be legitimated by the subsequent inter-
marriage after the commencement of this Order of the parents of that
child, provided that at the time of the birth of the child there existed
no bar to the intermarriage of the parents other than the age of one
or both of those parents.

PART XI.
DIVORCE.

290. The High Court shall have jurisdiction in divorce and other
causes and matters matrimonial in accordance with the provisions of
this Part of this Order.

291. No decree shall be made for a divorce a mensa et thoro, or
for restitution of conjugal rights, nor shall any action be brought for
criminal conversation.

292. The High Court shall in suits for nullity of marriage have
and exercise in Samoa the same jurisdiction as is possessed for the time
being in New Zealand by the Supreme Court.

293. Any married person (hereinafter called the petitioner) who
at the time of the institution of the suit has been domiciled in Samoa
for not less than two years may take proceedings in the High Court
for the dissolution of his or her marriage on any of the following
grounds:—

(a.) That the other party to the marriage (hereinafter called the
respondent) has since the celebration of the marriage been
guilty of adultery:

(b.) That the respondent has without just cause wilfully deserted
the petitioner and without any such cause left the petitioner
so deserted during two years or more:

(c.) That the respondent (being the husband) has been habitually
guilty of cruelty towards the petitioner:

(d.) That the respondent (being the husband) has habitually, and
without just cause, during two years or more left the
petitioner without adequate means of support:

(e.) That the respondent has for a continuous period of five years
or more been of unsound mind and is not likely to recover
from such unsoundness of mind:

(f.) That the respondent has for a continuous period of two years
or more been isolated by lawful authority as a leper:

(g.) That the respondent has for two years or more been an habitual
drunkard:

(h.) That the respondent has been convicted and sentenced in Samoa
or elsewhere to two years’ imprisonment or more for any
offence of violence against the person of the petitioner or of
any child of the petitioner.