A SUFFRAGETTE BANKRUPT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1793, 4 July 1913, Page 7

A SUFFRAGETTE BANKRUPT.

DEBTS PAID IN FULL; By Te.WijraEti- 'Pr««s Association—CopyTifflit London, July 2. Mr. Pethrick Lawrence's bankruptcy has been annulled. His debts have been paid in full. Mr. Petlirick Lawrence was adjudicated a bankrupt last month', on the petition of the Government. In May an Official Receiver was appointed to deal with the 'estate. The sum of .£6OO, law costs in the cases of conspiracy in which Mr. and Sirs. Lawrence were accused, was involved. Mr. I.awrenco declared that he was quite able to pay, but was fighting an unjust law that enabled tho Executive to crush anyone siding with revolt. The above message does not state exactly by' .whom Mr. Pethrick Lawrence's accounts were squared—whether by himself; as was improbable, in view of his expressed determination not to pay his law costs, or by his friends in the Suffragette movement. Tho Women's Social and Political Union was—arid is, says the "Daily Mail"—a big organisation with a large paid staff, more than ,£6OOO being required last year to meet the charges under the head of "salaries," and that tho work goes on after the- recent police raid shows that funds aro still available. Somewhere the Suffragettes have in reserve huge sums of money. "Votes for Women," the organ of the militants, announced in March, 1912, that to date the contributions to "the ,£250,000 fund" amounted to .£117,019. The balance-sheet for 1912 shows that the subscriptions were .£23,155, and the total income ,£28,502. Apparently, the .£T17,019 was considered as capital, and whether the interest on it was included in the income given is,not known. The outgoings and liabilities amounted to no more than .£25,731. A year earlier-at the Albert Hall meeting in March, 1911— it was announced that of ■ tho ",£100,090 fund" more than ,£96,000 had been raised. In 1911 no more than ,£27,000 was spent. Evidently there are heavy reserves still untouched—a bulging chest is being jealously guarded somewhere. That'tlie'SufFfagetteS have been:alive to the possibilities of a raid upon their funds by the police, and have taken precautions to circumvent it is indicated in tho following passage from "Votes for Women" of Maroh, 1912. After giving the latest contributions to the 000 fund, the article proceeds-.— ' "We have received some inquiries as to whether the Government is going to attach these funds; ... We can assure our would-be subscribers that should the impossible be attempted by the Government, they will have the Women's Social and Political Union to reckon with—a body of alert business women, armed with the experience, the wit, and the resources acquired by five years' successful conflict and centuries of repression."