DEPUTATION TO SIR FRANCIS BELL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 63, 9 December 1918, Page 6

DEPUTATION TO SIR FRANCIS BELL

! HOUSE ABANDONS ITS ; >. AMENDMENT I PRIVILEGE PROMISED FOR NEXT YEAR I The amendment added to the Legislai tive Council Amendment Bill by the ; House of Representatives providing that > women should have the right to sit m !, Parliament, and which was rbjected to I' by.tho Legislative Council, was strongly i supported by a deputation of delegates i fi'oiU; women's organisations which waiti wl'iipon tlie leader of tho Council (Sir j I'rancis Bell) on Saturday afternoon. The ; deputation' was introduced by Jlr. W. ' ■ Downie Stewart, M.l\ for Dunedin G'en- , tral, who 6aid that the women were ex- ; tremely anxious to save the situation if ■ any measures could be taken to that end. ! The first speaker was Jliss N. B. C'oad, j president ot' the Women Teachers' Asso-c-iation, who said that tho women wished : : to point out thoir position as a result of ; the adverse vote cast by tho Legisla- , tive Council on the proposition to give 1 women a seat in tho Legislature. As far as she could judge, the argument'which ; had been set against tho amendment in ' sentatives had ruled that it was in crder. j but the Speaker of tho House of Reprei sentatives had rule that' it was in order. Tho women of New Zealand would certainly have the impression that (lie vote | of the Council wns cast because the mem. ; bers of that body were against the prini ciple of women sitting in Parliament. : It would be almost impossible to eradi- ; cato such an impression. Oil a previous ; occasion the Council promised to admit ; women to its deliberations so soon as the ; House of Representatives agreed to do i the same. These facts would bo remem- | bered by women if something were not ' done to .cleaT up the situation. As regarded the merits of women entering !. Parliament, she was not going to speak, . except to say that tho old argument : that women should stay -and look after i the home had been exploded 'by ppst ; events. Other Governments had come .'•'.to realise that the services of women • were quite indispensable, and that they could not be done without in a national i crisis. Women's services were Just as 1 'essential to the welfare of the nation as .were men's sen-ices. They were told that [ ..women did not want to sit in the House of Representatives. Certainly a great ! ..number did not want to do so, but the p.eame thing could be said of a large num- . ber of men, many of whom "would riot j, take, a seat as a gift." Women had shown,that'they possessed brains, ideals, ■j.and organising abilities, and they had a moral right to sit in Parliament.

' Miss M. Nicholls, who spoke on behalf of the university women, thought it a' jnost peculiar thing that the State should bo denied the benefits of women's counsel. More and more women were trying to give expression to their opinions, and 'they felt very strongly the'fact lhat they •were denied .the right of taking their place in the Legislature. They wanted to be able to work for their country, and ■they were taking a keener interest in .the affairs of the day. The State should not be denied the help which they were willing to give.

Miss E. Howes, who represented the kindergarten institutions, stressed the importance of women having the right to participate in the making of laws relating to child'welfare. '

Sir Francis Bell's Reply. In reply, Sir Francis Bell said he, thought that the attitude of the deputa- ; : tion as expressed by Miss.. Coad made it extremely difficult for him to discuss ; the position. It was not necessary to ; persuade him or anyone else that women ; should have the right to be elected. The I deputation had expressed its views with ■ very gTeat clearness and force, but.it ■ was nipt necessary that they should have ' done so. Although, perhaps, fully ac- : quainted with the general politics of the ■ country, the deputation was evidently not acquainted with the method of dealing i with constitutional' questions in a con- ■ stitutional .way. There was only one way !..iii-'which a great constitutional question, j such as that proposed, could be dealt , With, and that was by the bringing down cf a Bill which would be fully debated and considered by both Houses of Parlia- : ment. Instead of tho House sending up i a Bill -to the Council, which the Coun- ' cil would have passed, they, had taken ■ an ''advantage which the deputation evi- • dently did not know was an unfair ad- ;• vantage. On a Bill amending a technical ' defect in the constitution of the; Coun- : cil, the House of Representatives had : taken the advantage of tacking on to it 1 an amendment which the Council had , not had a proper opportunity of consid- : ering. The matter before the Council ; was not that of women's rights to sit in Parliament at all. The question of , women sitting in Parliament neither the . Council nor the House had had a pro- : per opportunity of discussion. It was a , matter of a great constitutional change. 1 It was obvious that if a Bill had been : .sent up. from the whole House it would I have passed the Council as a matter of • course. The only matter the Council ■ would have considered, in respect to wo- • men was whether the nominative prin- [ ciple would have been applied not by ■ the electors, but by .the Government of ; the day. The Council had never denied : jtbat if it was right for women to. sit : in the House that they should have the ■ same- right to sit in the Council. Was i there not the greatest possible difference I between the rights of women to submit : themselves'to election and the right of i an unpopular Administration to apooint ! .women, to whom women objected, to sit ; in-Parliament?. It was an absolute and ■ 'accurate fact that, if tno Lower House had passed a Bill granting the right of i representation to women, that Bill would : liave passed the Council without any '■ question or objection. The House had ; endeavoured to effect a constitutional -change by a course which had given ' jieither the Council nor the House a proj per "and constitutional way of dealing : with the question. He hoped that when ; they did come into Parliament women '• would see that on the eve of a general , election a great constitutional change : was not made except by constitutional : methods.

Everything Augured Well. ■Miss Coad desired to mako an explanation. She had stated that the action of the Council would create an impression which would lie very difficult fo eradicate among women. She did not sa> that they were not going to accept any explanation that Sir Francis Bell might make. She had been very pleased to hear what he had had to say, and Bhe hoped.that when a Bill came from the Lower House it would go throutrh the Council unanimously. 'She thousdit that everything augured well for the Bill when it did come down.