SUFFRAGITIS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1381, 6 March 1912, Page 5

SUFFRAGITIS.

MARCH GN WESTMINSTER. LAST CHANCE OF LEGISLATION GONE. COUNTER DEMONSTRATION. By reloEraoli~PM(i« iesoctation-CoDjrlrtl (Rec. March 5, 10.25 p.m.) London, March !i. Tho windows of thirty business promises and four post offices were wrecked yesterday in the Suffragette raid. The perpetrators woro members of tho Liverpool section. The advance on Westminster in the evening was heralded by tho firing of a rocket from tho headquarters of tho Women's Political Union. Strong polico reinforcements arrived, and the procession wns broken up. Thero were twenty thousand spectators. A number of windows were 'smashed in tho Government ofh'ces, and a contingent of the women attempted to enter Pnlaeo Yard. Brief turbulent scenes followed, tho police expelling two hundred of tho women. Arrests were mado occasionally. The spectators roughly handled the Suli'ragettes. A counter-demonstration was mado by two hundred youths, who smashed the windows of various Suffragette literature shops in tho Strand. Whilo mounted polico were clearing Whitehall, the pressure of the crowd procipitnted u portion of the masonery coping from tho Treasury into the area, and several persons were hurt. Tho Royal Academy has closed its exhibition owing to tho receipt of a warning that thero was a risk that tho suffragettes would damage pictures. Emily Pitfield, a. nurse, has been committed for trial in connection with the General Post Office fire in Roman Bath Street. Mr. M'Kenna, Home Secretary, has withdrawn from the insubordinates in Holloway Gaol permission to receive visitors. Tho consensus of opinion amongst members of the House of Commons is that the recent actions of tho militant suffragettes havo killed the Conciliation Bill, and that tho suffragettes havo no longer any possibility of obtaining their demands in the present Parliament. Tho Premier, on being questioned regarding legislation empowering tho recovery of damages from the funds of tho Women's Political and Social Union, promised to consult the Attorney-General. He added that there was a widespread opinion that tho responsibility for their acts should bo brought home to the wretched individuals concerned and the others responsible. ,■

FURTHER SERIES OF RAIDS, LONDON MUSEUMS CLOSED. London, March i. Fifty suffragettes in cabs and taxicabs, and armed with hammers and stones in stockings, raided Knightsbridge, Kensington, and High Street, and smashed windows in HarrodV Barker's, and other stores. ■ Troops from the Kniglitsbridge Barracks assisted in arresting the women. Later tho windows in 'ho residences of Lord Loreburn (Lord Chancellor), Lord Crewo (Secretary for India), and Mr. J. A. Pease (Chancellor of the Duchy ol Lancaster) were smashed, together with n number of windows in tho House oi Lords. The police, mounted and foot, were powerless,- owing to tho widespread attacks. The authorities ordered tho closing of the British and other museums. Thirty suffragettes have been arrested for raiding the principal drapers' establishments in the West End. Many windows were smashed. Parties of suffragettes smashed tho cell windows in Holloway Gaol, waved handkerchiefs, and sang "The Marseillaise." Six thousand constables are being held in readiness in view of to-night's demonstration in Parliament Square. Speaking in tho House of Commons, Mr. G. H. Roberts, Labour Whip, denounced the suffragist demonstration in tho West End" as "a . combination of hysteria and hooliganism."