ON A TOPIC OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 800, 25 April 1910, Page 4

ON A TOPIC OF THE DAY.

* | ENGrLISH VISITOR'S VIEWS. . • ;!..-■ "I find that many women; in • the ... • 'colonies do "not- : understand the real. Hoinij'' ; iiid. Miss' Aitken',' "a----f . £ Visitor • from. Bourneville, addressing a Wellington >:.wo:meh OTteahiay."They get ail their:ldeas. 5 from' the English' newspapers; and: froin. j. ' the cables, which deliberately select froiu-. }'< VthS/'story. of tho movenient 'only. what .- . ; : is! sensational and,grotesque.". -• ■' V 'W3iatfl r e the .women asking,'for,? .Not :j';i^i-:tho %iult'ov ,:but for ; the.vote .ou.itie.'samd S,;.' -basis-as the men. This would" mean f 1 that in Great -Britain 1,250,000 -women - would have the vote; - as " against K 7,500,000 men, arid with that : propor- | lion jt would.seem ridiculous' -to sugthat the - men's ;; would-be., I,: . swamped-by theirs.' . .- --

Aitkeri very briefly sketched the- ; . history of. forty .'years of earnest franchise,..- years which ■: brought ..tho women no nearer;.their-, i-' 'goal.; She :told how at last the ■ women-

calmly andifirmly.-to; adopt militant,;':mctliods,.:They;hadrthe'ibest --. 'of_advice—theoretical advice- -from /such ■ , -politicians as Mr. - Lloyd-George, who ;hadysjK)ken'bf, the. fight that was'neces-. ;- fiarjj. before' any liberties could bo/gain-' f.": v cd.. They decided to fightj;. and decidedtodoitwo ithings,.to oppose. the.'Groyern-: elections by can.vassing • and- ; . speaking against, their nominees, : and; g;,5.:;.by • shoeing''.that tho women .-would- not give; thdr consent to a system of gov- ' . eminent • which;-they - had no " share:' Now,ihowover, they havo abandoned E - --- ''.vth'eir imilitant, methods,; and their latest !; - 'idea, is that; every woman whb .wants the ; vote shall writo dircct to Mr. Asqnith !. to say- so. - - ; Miss, Aitken, thou' showed' how /in- |>' vic--.{;3efensil)le. had'been ' the - treatment; of Suffragettes"who were-sent't6- r giol.', 'i '. 1 " English politicians,-the--speaker.con-f;; tinued, are. very tolerant *of interrup-. ; ,-tionsat their meetings,- so longias; the - interrupter is not a. woman—no woman may now raise her voice in a political /-- ■ meeting—or a mail championing •- her • - 'cause, and Miss Ait-ken quoted a story; . . told shout a man : in a crowded recent .-;:Y; -election meeting, who wanted to get'out' . ... and catch his train.. It was; impossible to get out, so he conceived tho idea pf ' being put out, and to ' that end-he stood op .and . cried aloud ."<\"Down''\with Chamberlain!" That proving-ineffectual,' ho cried ' "Down' with .Tariff Reform!" "and; still no notice was taken'"of"-'his' ; ' clamour, though ho .tried other - cries. At last he' exclaimed "Votes .'for Women," and next moment ho was in the street^ explaining to'a policeman— ;.'.'lt's all right; I,only wanted to catch a train."