BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1929, Page 8

BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION

THE WOMEN CANDIDATES. “We fare continually having impressed upon us the fact that the general election is to be, numerically speaking, a ‘women’s election,’ ” writes “L.M.Wt” in the “Scotsman.” “And from what is being done tc arouse the interest of the women voters (by means both direct and indirect), wo may assume that the siipis hugely (correct in more senses than one. “It would be idle to dwell upon the contradictory prohpecies that herein the coining of the general election, hut it may perhaps be safely admitted that it will prove one thing, and that is how far the feminine electorate an willing to entrust the responsibilities of representation, to their own sex. “.\t the moment there are, roughly, aibout 70 women candidates in tin field. With the exception of Mrs ild ton Philipsoti, our present women M.l’.’s will stand again for Parliament. TITLED CANDIDATES. “Their record and history are familiar to us; no need to recall tin statesmanlike qualities oi the Ruches.--of Atlioll, the shrewd and ready wii of fnuly As tor, 'the oratorical powers and organising ability of Lady Iveagh nor Hie nia'il.enuttieal skill of Miss Susan Lawrence, wlio.se speech last Novemlier in opposition to the Local Government Bill won such warm and ungrudging tribute in the House Iron, political friend and foe alike. “Most of the women candidates are well-known in one sphere or another for their social and public work. Among the Unionist candidates is the Hon. Mary Pickford, daughter of the •jite Lord Muster of the Roils.) She was formerly a liulv factory inspector of the Horne Office. “Then there is Mirs Helen B. Shaw (Lanark, Both well Division), who put up a big light against (tho (Socialist candidate at the 1924 election. In the first year of the war she inaugurated the Soldiers’ and Sailors' Families Association in and around ( Botbwoll, and was also a member of the local War Pensions Committee, and women’s representative on tho hood Control Committee. INHERITED ACUMEN. “Among the Liberal women candidates wo see, too, many well-known names, that of Miss Megan ' Lloyd Georgia, ,fo.v ‘instance, w|ho yioung •though she is, has already given pi oof that political acumen may ho inherited. Mrs Corbett Ashby has long been a leading figure in the women's movement. She was secretary ol the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies under Dame Millicent Fawcett, and president of tho Women s National Liberal Federation, 1927-28. She now holds the important post of president of .the International Alliance for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship- . , •«Miss Helen Schilizzi, niece ky marriage of M. Venizelos, Premier of Greece, had done 'extensive Jpropaganda work for tho League of Nations. Lady Stewart, who has been adopted by a London sanstituency. and was Commandant of the Scottish V.A.D. Girl Guides in India, evidently does not subscribe to the theory that family ties and a iParliamentarr career are hound to conflict. Sho is the mother of seven children. “Daughter of a Scottish minister and Worn fiin Glasgow, another Lit. oral woman candidate, Miss Mary Grant, served in the V.A.l>., later as a policewoman and sub-inspector in munition factories, and on street duty in Carlisle and London. IN LABOUR RANKS. “The Labour women candidates include Dr Marion Phillips, chief woman officer of the Labour Party; Lady Cynthia Mosley; I)r /Stella' Churchill, a member of the London County Council ; Miss Dorothy ..fovvson, who won a seat in the 1923 election; Mrs McNab Shaw, one of the first women in Scotland to become a member of a municipal council; Miss Eleanor Stewart, who has been adopted by Edinburgh North; Mrs Mary Hamilton, the novelist; and M’iss Jessie Stephen, once a domestic servant.

“Miss Jenny Lee, daughter of a miner, and an old student of Edinburgh University, lias just won the Lanark seat by a huge majority from the Conservative ea'hdidate, Lord Scone.

“We have now eight women members in the House of Commons. After the general election? A fascinating, if futile, ground for discussion!”