WOMEN JURORS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 17 October 1942, Page 5

WOMEN JURORS

VOLUNTARY SERVICE BILL PASSED BY HOUSE [From Our Own Parliamentary Reporter! Wellington, This Day. Approval of the purpose of the Women Jurors (No. 2) Bill was expressed by all who spoke on the subject in the House of Representatives last night, and it was put through all stages and passed without amendment. The Bill provides that women between 25 and 00, who possess the necessary qualifications as jurors, may serve on juries if they wish to. By making jury service for women voluntary, said the Minister of Justice, Mr Mason, they were avoiding the necessity of dealing with applications for exemption. In England women were giving compulsory jury service and the scheme was working well. Mrs Dreaver, who introduced the Bill earlier in the year when it was declarea out of order, said that women's organisations of New Zealand had been trying to obtain such a measure for some time, and hundreds of women would enter their names for jury service. Some of the objections made in the past to the idea of women serving on juries did not apply now. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland said that every member of the House would concur with the Bill, and Mrs C. C. S. Stewart and Mrs Grigg also supported the measure. During the committee stage, Mr C. W. Boswell (Govt., Bay of Plenty), said he was astonished that the women Members had not pressed for compulsory jury service for women, because in his opinion that was the only way in which they would get the best type of women to do the job.