SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 722, 18 November 1914, Page 5

SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

ADDRESS BY LADY STOUT,.

On Monday afternoon a,n address was dalivered'by Lady Stout in the Municipal Hail in the interests of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Women and Children. In the absence of the Mayor, Mr G. Elliott occupied the chair, and ths Mayoress, Mrs J. Boddip, also occupied a saat_ on the platform. There was a large attendance of ladies and the addreas was was listened to with close attention. In referring to the work of the Society the speaker said the Society had first been established in Auckland twenty years ago, and seventeen years ago in Wellington. Many homes Lad been patched upas a result of the Soiety's efforts, and much useful work had been accomplished. Much had still to be done, including' amendments to the legislation affecting wo-nen and girls. Among the things which the Society was endeavouring to achieve were the raising of the sge of protection to girls to eighteen, the paying of maintenance orders direct from the employer to the wife; the placing of women teachera on the same footing aa mal6 teachers in re3pect to salary and opportunity; the-establishing of women police; the raising of, the legal marriage age from 14 years for girls and 16 for boyg to 16 and 18 years resactively; the establishing of farm colonies for wastrel?, and other progressive - social measure?. A striking -featura of the British law was that a woman who married a foreigner lost her nationality. Thus, if she married an Englishman who became a naturalised Turk the wife became subject to the laws of Turkey. Such inequalities as these indicated the disadvantages under which women suffered in the most advanced countries, but women were gradually using thair influence to overcome these drawbacks and get placed on an equality with the other sex. Lady Stout drew attention to the voting power held by women, and urged them to use it to the advancement of the sex. The speaker devoted considerable attention to the drink question pointing out that the majority of the suffering in the world was due to the effects of drink. She quoted statistics to show that in districts which had adopted no-license crime had decreased remarkably and comparison between Taihape under license with a population of about fifteen hundred and Kaitangata with a similar population, showed that in 1913 at Taihape there ness and at Kaitangata only one conviction had been recorded. The speaker also referred to the striking difference made during the recent strike by the.closing of the hotel bars as indicating'the benefits of preventing the ssls of liquor.;, The allied armies in the present war were on a teetotal campaign, while the Germans were commandeering alcohol in the captured Belgian towns and committing atrocities which were revolting the world. At Antwerp when capituailion was imminent; the Belgians destroyed all the alcohol in the city, and the German invaders had committed no excesses in Antwerp. The speaker made a strong appeal to her audience to combine and use the women's vote to abolish the sale of drink.

In reply to a question Lady Stout said the chief causes of opposition to granting votes to women in B'itain were tha sweating of . women and children; the promoters of the white slave traffic; and those interested in the liquor trade. These inQuencrs combined with the Englishman's natural preudices were opposing the movement.

In reply to Mr J. F. Walsh, the speaker said the 80-called violent methods of the suraffgettes were not injuring the cause. The tales of violence we heard about were wild exaggerations and only the militant methods had enabled them to get anywhere near getting tha vote. A vote of- thanks to the speaker for her able" and instructive address was carried by acclamation.