FIRST SEVEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 227, 24 September 1940, Page 5

FIRST SEVEN.

WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE.

FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO. Richard John Seddon, New Zealand's great humanitarian statesman, will always be remembered by the women of New Zealand for placing on the Statute Book legislation giving them the right to vote. It was 47 years ago and on the anniversary of the passing of the Act women in all the main centres meet to celebrate the granting to them of the franchise.

In Auckland the first woman to' register wa» Mrs. Fred Baxter, ofj Reniuera, the widow of the late Mr.i Fred Baxter, who was a member of the) literary staff of the "Auckland Star" for half a century. Recalling the incident, Mrs. Baxter said to-day that she was naturally interested in the fight that was waged in those early days by the women of the country for the right to vote, but as she had a young family she had not actively participated in the campaign. "My mother was very keen on the subject," she said. "She took a great interest in politics both in New Zealand and England and gave all the help possible to bring about the great reform which Mr. Seddon placed on the Statute Book. While to her must go the credit of keeping my interest up, to my late husband must go the credit of my actual enrolment on the first day that the register was opened. It was entirely due to -him that mine was the first name to be placed on the electoral roll, and that was owing to the fact that he had taken the prescribed form home with him on the previous day for me to fill in. Because this was all in order, my name appeared a& that of the first woman to register as a voter in Auckland. I did not seek the honour."

Millions of votes have been cast by women in the intervening years, ami many of the keener politicians amidst the fair sex in our midst have lively recollections of the stories told them by their mothers of how strenuously they fought for woman' 3 suffrage until finally their efforts were crowned with

success. In a photograph that appears on this page are the pictures of seven women who are reputed to be the first seven in Auckland to be enfranchised. Their photographs were published in a London magazine in 190 C under the captions: "New Zealand. Women Enfranchised—First in the Whole British Empire." They are: Mrs. F. Baxter, Remuera; Mrs. Allsop, Upper Queen Street; Mrs. G. W. Owen, Ponsonby; Miss Fanny Brown, Mount Eden; Mrs. Adams, Remuera; Mrs. Ward; and Mrs. W. Daldv.

Mrs. S. S. Clarke, of Shelly Beach Road, Ponsonby. daughter of Mrs. Allsop, and Mrs. Hughes Jones, daughter of Mrs. Owen, both informed a representative of the "Auckland Star" to-day that their mothers had been in the van of the woman's suffrage movement. They spoke of the bitter fight that was waged for some years before the Act was passed. "Those opposed to the granting of the franchise said no decent woman wanted the vote," said Mrs. |Clarke. '"My mother said she would let them lee that one decent woman would go on the roll, and, true to her word, she was amongst the first to enter thej registrar's office and the second to be enrolled. Mrs. Owen was third."

Both ladies said that their mothers for the remainder of their lives never missed an opportunity of voting. MrsJ Clarke said that her mother was taken to the polling booth in an invalid chair in 1919. "It was the first "eneral election since 1914, and it was mv mother's last vote," she added.