WOMEN & FRANCHISE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1689, 4 March 1913, Page 6

WOMEN & FRANCHISE.

THE SUFFRAGE CAUSE AT HOME. TWO STIRRING ADDRESSES. v A meeting of tho Wellington Women's Branch ol' tlui New Zealand Political Reform League was held in Boulcott Hall last evening. A general invitation to nil lui'icresteu m women's sull'rago Had been extended, as Miss Hodge aim Miss Newcombe, representing Klio Australian and New Zealand Women Voters' Association ill London, wero to speak. Mrs. C. liarle presided. • The attendanco was extremely good, tho hall being quite filled. In opening tiie meeting, Mrs. Earlo said that tho Ouaivia Newman Memorial Fund had been meeting with great success, and details concerning its operations would bo given at a future meeting. Tho extension to the Convalescent Dome wero being carried out, and it would bo a lasting memorial to-their late beloved president. They wero very glad to welcome among them that evening tho president of tho Waikauae Women's Branch of tho Reform' League, Mrs. Barclay, and the secretary, Mrs. Elder. Mrs. Earlo then introduced Miss Hodge.

Miss Hodge took as lior subject "Woman's ."Work in Local Government." She 'stated that, during the time she had been in England, she had gained knowledge of the work that woman can do in local government, and also what she cannot do. In municipal life she had proved herself extremely capable, and yet she was not .given political powers. In the Saxon and pro-Conquest itimes each freed man was responsible for- doing his own duties: now they were vicariously performed for liim. Officers were paid to perform them by rates levied bytho County Council—rates in which women paid tlicir share. In tho seventeenth century women carried out their duties, not only in their own homes, but also in connection with markets, and ths testing of goods of which they were tho judges. A "lady" was a useless lierson; the word "woman" meant "loaf kneader." in the eighteenth century a complete change had come to pass, and tho women led useless lives, 0 f which itho novels of tho day too witness. Roads were bad, streets badly lighted, sanitation shocking and men who went sr. for municipal life were often ignorant unci corrupt, only entering it because they had "fish to fry." In,JB2S the Local Government Act was passed, and electors, men and women, were allowed to voto if they possessed residential qualifications or paid rates.. Women, too, could sit for boroughs or county council elections. Tliev were intelligent enough to know if a fire brigade were efficient, if a town were badly lighted, if roads Were bad, if factories were in a, proper condition—all- of tiieso requirements were under the control of the county and borough council hoard. Greater than all _ these things, however, was I tho question of education. Tho great majority of women were engaged in educating the child 'in some way or another, and 'greater powers needed to bo opened up to them. Women teachers were in excess of men in v tho State schools at Home, hard worked, 'and poorly paid. In 1888 a Borough Council Act was passed, men and women being eligible for election. In 1889 three women were elected to the post of city councillors for London, and, shortly afterwards, tho question . was raised that women could not bo elected upon theso todies only men. There was a law case, and it was decided that women could not' sit, but that they were intelligent enough to vote. . A society of tho ieading intelligent women in England was then formed—the Women's Local Government Society for Great Britain and Ireland— arid_tliey worked unceasingly to get women on the county councils and borough councils 'for the purpose of carrying out social work among the poor, and in 1907 were successful in securing' tho right for women to sit upon them if elected. In 1910 two women wero elected to tho London County Counoil kid eleven on the Borough Council. There was a strong commercial reason why it was difficult for women to gain seats—their commercial morality—which was of a higher order than' that of men. The old tradition, also, that women should bo content to livo in obscurity whilo 'men gained fame was, and is still, held by many men. At the last election, however, 22 women were elected to the Borough' Council, and a woman (Mrs. Mary Ileton) headed tho poll. Though* they gained in numbers their power was limited, as they were still considerably outnumbered by men. In Paddington, for instance, there wero four women to 35 fnen. . Women had tho senso of futurity .more than the men, nnd they thought of tho race more. A most important work carried out by_ women was that of sanitary inspectorship, and they were -liighly H edueated women who went in for tho work. They were most thorough, and it was found that girls and women in factories- and asylums told more of their troubles to the women inspectors than they would to the men. It was very necessary that more women should bo added to the local bodies 'in England, because they, would do far moro in - tho way of dealing with defective children anil adults than men had hitherto done. The latter would not do .what was so necessary because: they held that they could not interfere with the liberty of the subject, and so the unfit wero multiplying in' consequence with alarming rapidity. • Mrs. Earle next called upon Miss r>ewcombo to speak, and the latter gave an interesting and vivid picture of the world movement of women in the suffrage question. Australia, New Zealand, and Finnland had obtained it, and the whole of Europe was in a ferment with the women s i fight for the vote., England was the storm-centre of \it all. In 1899 , an International I Women s Suffrage , Alliance was formed. in Washmg- • ton, and, since then, congresses havo • been held in various cities of tho world. ■ In 19H an international congress will bo , hold in Budapest, and Miss Newcombe ; bore to New Zealand women the greetings l of their Hungarian sisters, who wero still fighting for the granting of Parliamentary franchise. , At tho close of the addresses a number of questions relating to the militancy of tho. women at Home- were asked, tho speakers in fact b'eing quite bombarded with them. Some of the ouestioners wero condemnatory, but Miss Hodge submitted that these women were as much martyrs to-day as were the women who died at tho stake in olden times for their faith. Lives had been lost, health wrecked, and everything sacrificed, not for the women themselves, but for what tliey thought was the betterment of tho race in' tho future. , rMrs/ Darling' pwnosed ft hearty voto of thanks to Miss Hodee and Miss Newcombe for their most interesting addresses and, in doing so, said that she did not think that the women of New Zealand had risen to the opportunity that had been given them. Un till now women had not taken any active interest in elections to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, tho municipal elections, and the harbour board elections, and there was an immense amount that women might do for the cause of education. The voto was carried with acclamation.