Losing the significant

An interesting paragraph written in a judgment by Justice Stuart Morris, referring to a tale as told in told in Sir Robert Megarry, Miscellany-at-Law (1955), p 345:

I do not suggest for a moment that the council has deliberately attempted to deceive the public by failing to explain the policy shift contained in the proposed new strategic statement. But I am nevertheless reminded of the town clerk in England who wanted a divorce at a time when that remedy could only be provided by Act of Parliament. He achieved the objective by drafting a long Bill about waterworks in his municipal district; and including in a long paragraph about filter beds and stopcocks the phrase "and the marriage of the Town Clerk is hereby dissolved". The Bill was passed into law. No-one noticed the words about the town clerk’s marriage. Even though this is an example of deliberate deception (which I find did not occur here), it illustrates how a significant matter can be easily obscured when included in a mass of detail.