WOMEN AND THE VOTE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1695, 11 March 1913, Page 2

WOMEN AND THE VOTE.

A MEETING IN WELLINGTON. Various women's societies in AVellington took advantage of the presence in this city of Miss Hodge and Miss Margaret Neweombe, who represent the Australian and New Zealand Women Voters' Association in London, to request the Mayor to call a meeting in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall yesterday .afternoon so that an opportunity might be given them ol' hearing sometliing of the spirit animating the women in Great Britain who are lighting so strenuously for the franchise. The ilayor presided at tho meeting, and there were present upon the platform, in addition to Miss Hodge and Jliss Neweombe, the Mayoress (Mrs. M'Laren), Lady Stout, Mrs. I'. C. Freeth, Mrs. A. R. Atkinson, Dr. Platts-Mills, Mrs. Keay Brown, Mrs. Darling, Mrs. Donaldson, and Mrs. Ostler.

In introducing the speakers to their audience, the Mayor expressed the pleasure he felt in welcoming in his official capacity these two ladies who were to address them. In England there were great problems to solve, and from these two Indies they would hear much that was important in the matter of womeu'soquestious generally. .

Miss Hodge gave an outline of the history of the struggle for the women's franchise in England, from 1832 down to the present moment. It was a movement, she said, to help on the progress of the world, and what women demanded was to be able to co-operate with men when things wore wrong. As it was, only tho men's, point of view was taken into account, and no matter how well-intention-ed they were they, could not act for women. It was not a sex war—it was a war between the "hence forwards" and the and some of the finest men in'the country were on their sidemany of them. The way in w;hich women who had possessed voting power were gradually pushed on one side was interestingly told,,as •well as. the effort they made to regain it, and also to gain" the same powers of voting for their sex as .men were possessed of. Petitions, cartloads of them, were sent to Parliament. Deputations were tried, demonstrations and meetings held all over London, and all of no avail. They were told they were not even persons—they were not subjects of the Crown, they had no rights, and they were not even included in tho general term of "public." In fact, all that was left to' them was that tliey were objectionable bipeds. They were liable to penalties, but not to privileges. Women of the upper classes were fighting for their sisters who .were, less fortunate and had no time to work for themselves— ' women who were seamstresses, who worked in mines, in shops, and in every tradewomen who only received ljd. an hour, or 4s. Gd. a week. They were fighting against tho whito slave traffic, against the debilitation of the race, against intemperance, and till they had the vote they could do but very little to stem the title of these evils.

Jliss Neweombe also spoke of the international aspect of the suffrage, and of what women were doing in other countries to obtain it. She also dwelt upon tho debt New Zealand owed tn, Lady Stout for tho way in which she always brought it before the English public. At tho closo of tlvo meeting, Dr. Platts-Mills moved a resolution to the cffect that: "This meeting of representative women of Wellington desires to record its sympathy with tho women of Great Britain and Ireland, who are fighting for tho vote, and will heartily wclcome a successful conclusion to their struggle." The mofc : on was seconded by Mrs. Freeth ami carried. A second resolution, moved bv Jlrs. J. Darling, was to th 6 effect that, "knowing from twenty years'. experience the value of tho co-operation of woriMi and men in political life, this > meeting, representing "the 1 chief .Women's societies in Wellington, expresses its desire that the principle of equal • suffrage be extended to air parts of-...th0 . Empire, and further requests conveners of this meeting to tak£ tho initial steps for tho formatcon of an Imperial Woman's Suffrago Union." \ •

In moving it, Jtrs. Darling said that if we in New Zealand thought that the women at Home were making mistakes, we could only remember that the 'marvel wopld be if amongst millions working for a great reform there were no "so-called mistakes." Jlrs. A. li. Atkinson seconded it, both resolutions being carried with unanimity.

Jlrs, Donaldson, representing tho Housewives Union, spoke most interestingly of her militant' experiences in Britain, and the meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the speakers, proposed by Lady Stout and carried by all present."