Public Opinion.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1540, 9 January 1874, Page 76

Public Opinion.

Mr VOGEL AND FEMALE SUFFRAGE. Nelson Examinee. The name of Mr Vogel will always be associated with the financial history of New Zealand, but whether for good or evil time will tell. His scheme of public works undertaken with borrowed money, bas given a fillip to the trade of the colony. Present prosperity, or what seems such, can always be insured by the plentiful command of money, but " fast" countries, like " fast" men, sooner or later get to the end of their tether; ami as it seems intended that the date of making provision for paying the interest of our debt shall be contemporaneous with the time when the colony shall no longer be able to borrow, we must decline to he able to concede to Mr Vogel our approval of his grand scheme until its success is better assured than it is at present. Of Mr Vogel, as a financier, it was not, however, our present purpose to speak, but as a social reformer, and we sincerely congratulate him on the boldness with which he came forward as the advocate of a not as yet very popular cause, when recently distributing the prizes at the Gills' School, in Dunedin. Mr Vogel, who was in the chair, said :—-" lam one of the disciples of John Stuart Mill's theory of the right of the female sex to the franchise. I am one of those who hope that amongst the reforms which we introduce >'"o this colony, we shall be among the tirsr nf the colonies or countries to reVoguiZ'' t ; e of the women to the franchise. . . From what we see before us, there can be little doubt that a girls' public school may be made a great success ; and when I think of the magnificent endowments given to public schools for boys, and how small a share of these endowments is given to girls' schools, I cannot help thinking it desirable that women should to some extent look after themselves. When they attain to their franchise, I am sure it will be their object to see that a proper share of at tention is given to the endowments which schools for girls should enjoy. None of us —I am now speaking of persons of my own sex —are admirers of what are known as strong-minded females; nor do we, I think, care much for blue stockingism; but on the other hand there are few men indeed who do not like to meet in the other sex with those who have minds of their own, ideas of their own ; who have cultivated thoughts, and who are able to exchange thought for thought, and idea for idea;"

We are at a loss for arguments why the franchise should not at once be extended to women who are householders. To quote tbe forcible words of a pamphlet* published in Nelson, some four years ago, " Why has a woman no power to vote, no right to vote, when she happens to possess all the requisites which legally qualify a man for that right ? She may be a householder, have large possessions, and pay her share of taxes towards the public revenue, but sex disqualifies her. Were it a question of general knowledge and intelligence as compared with men, women might submit unmurmuringly; but this is not the case. The point is, Is she as capable as our bullock-drivers, laborers, and mechanics ?" It would be an insult to the majority of the women who manage their own affairs, and who are the heads of households, to place in comparison with the ignorant aod debauched men who form so large a number in every electoral body, or question their superior fitness to exercise a wise selection of those to whom shall be entrusted the charge of making the laws on which must depend the general happiness and welfare. We do not advocate the extension of the franchise to women in households where there is a male representative, though under a system of universal suffrage arguments for it might be adduced. We tbiuk the electoral body would everywhere be improved, by the introduction into it of a number of sensible women, and that the sex generally would then give more attention to public affairs, and devote their attention less exclusively to the frivolities of dress. Women would also beain to b«tter comprehend their social disabilities—the cruelty of the law which bars them, when married, from holding separate property, and other legislative acts of less enlightened times, which an advanced civilization requires should be swept away. In England, a large body of electors are said to be opposed to any concession to women, and meet the question with "Hang the missuses, they've too much power a'ready!" If Mr Vogel seriously contemplates, as his words quoted above would lead us to expect, becoming the champion of the just claims of women, he will earn for him self a name of more certain honor than that which awaits him as a financier, and no statesman who has ruled in New Zealand ever had equal power to set at defiance ignorant clamor and selfish jealousy when opposed to a great social reformation.

Evening Post. We venture to think that Mr Vogel did rather a foolish thing when he told the girls of the Dunedin High School that he hoped in due time they would become electors of the Colony. We believe that in many respects women occupy a false position in society—that they are debarred from many pursuits in which they are eminently qualified to excel; but we cannot believe that their position would be at all improved by having the field of politics thrown open to them en masse. Where a woman holds property in her own right, and entirely under her own control, it is but fair that she should exercise the same amount of political influence, by vote or otherwise, as the possession of similar praperty would confer on a man. This she already has in regard to the minor forms of the franchise, such as that for Eoad Boards, Municipal Councils, &c. Why it shonld he refused in the election of Parliamentary representatives, we do not know. If there be any principle at all underlying our present system of representation it is undoubtedly that of the representation of

* "An Appeal to the Men of New Zealand "by Femmina: J, Hounsell, Nelson,

property. This being so, property should have its 'voice in public matters, irrespective of the sex of the owners, and it may most fairly he argued that the female owners of property are quite as conservative in their view?, and quite as capable of giving an intelligent vote, as most of the male owners So long as the present system of representation is preserved, there can bono sound reason urged against allowing females who are qualified to claim a vote by right of property being allowed to exercise that vote, nor if it pleased the electors of any district to do so, do we think that the interests of the Colony would.be at.all endangered if they elected a woman to represent them in the Legislature. The experience of the Eng lish School Boards lias proved that many women possess wonderful aptitude for public business, and in all probability the tone of our Legislature would be decidedly improved by the presence of a few sensible women. We could name one or two of the present members who could be most advantageously replaced by any woman of even average education and capacity. Mr Vogel's proposal, however, if it mean anything, means much mare than what we have said we should be glad to see conceded. The Government, of which he is the chief, stands pledged to entirely revolutionize the whole system of our representation. The principle of basing the right to vote on the possession of property, is to be entirely done away with, and in its stead th„ electoral qualification is to be based on age and residence. This being so, Mr Vogel's proposal must necessarily mean that women should he placed on an exact equality with the sterner sex in respect to electoral qualification. That is, that every woman of the age of twenty-one years, of sound mind, and having been six months a resideut in a district, should be entitled to register herself as a voter. We must say we think this would be going too far. The evils which would necessarily result, would far more than balance the benefits. Politics are sufficiently productive of discord in private life when the electoral privileges are confined to men to make us dread the time when women shall be mixed up in the turmoil. Many a previously happy family has been hopelessly split up by difference of political opinions, and it is a singular but characteristic fact that consanguinity generally seems to intensify the bitterness of political differences. Very few men indeed can agree to differ, and differing continue to agree, when political excitement runs high, and a battle has to be fought at the ballot box. Life would be unendurable if our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and domestic servants, began to take an active part in such contests, and were endowed with a potential voice in determining the result. Purity of election would, we fear, become a thing unknown in any such mixed constituency, undue influence would probably determine every election, and domestic life would be robbed of everything which ni'W renders it attractive. Far from being a boon, the of the franchise would, we fear, prove a- curse to Women generally. It would cast on them a responsibility which th> y are not fitted by education or temperament to bear —it would involve them in scenes from mixing in which they should instinctively recoil, and it would place them in possession of a power which in the vast majority of cases they would be debarred from exercising in an unbiassed and independent manner. Few wives' would probably care to vote against their husbands, few daughters against their fathers. If they did, family unpleasantness would be sure to ensue; if they did not, they would be giving their votes. Dot from any intelligent opinion of their own, but from a natural reliance on the judgment of husband or father. The voting power of heads of families comprising a number of adult females, would be enormously increased, while the number of intelligent and independent opinions brought to bear on the question at issue would not be at all increased. It would be a simpler and more satisfactory way of arriving at a somewhat similar result but devoid of the same unpleasant attendant circumstances, if a family qualification were substituted for a property one as the basis of our system of representation. We often at election times hear the cry of a person having, or not having, " a stake in the country." This is the veriest cant and claptrap imaginable. Probably one of the best possible stakes a man can have in the country is a large family. Property can he sold, and the owner take the proceeds and depart. A large family is not so easily disposed of, and no man will be likely to take a greater interest in the welfare of the Colony than he who is tied to it by a large family, who has to look to it as the future home of his children, and who depends upon the progress of the commonwealth to enable him to earn a living, and provide for his offspring. If we are to abandon the theory of electoral representation of property, and accept in its fullest sense the principle of universal representation of every unit of the community, it would be better to give heads of families voting power in proportion to the number of those dependant upon fchem (in the same way that municipal electors now have a plurality of votes in proportion to the extent of their property) than to confer the franchise direct on the female members of families, and so introduce discord, and force women into a position which we are sure very few of them would like to occupy. We commend our suggestion of family representation to Mr Vogel's consideration when next addressing an audience of school girls.