WOMEN OF PACIFIC DISCUSS SUFFRAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 433, 15 August 1928, Page 9

WOMEN OF PACIFIC DISCUSS SUFFRAGE

“THANK GOD FOR N.Z.” (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) Reed. 1.15 p.m. HONOLULU, Tues. The Australian and New Zealand delegates participated prominently in the discussion on suffrage at the Women’s Pan-Pacific Conference. Mrs. Rischbeith, leading the discussion, pointed out the desirability of utilising existing political institutions instead of attempting to create new ones. The discussions at the conference have brought out the fact that Australia and New Zealand have greater industrial benefits for women than the other Pacific countries, especially in the length of working hours. Mrs. Denton Leech (Dunedin), replying to Japanese queries about the suffrage, described the English suffrage campaign. Sir Joseph Carruthers, a former Premier of New South Wales, speaking at a luncheon of the Pan-Pacific Union, said the Polynesian race was likely to become extinct unless the death rate were reduced and the birth rate increased. He said: “Thank God there are parts like New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji where there is definite hope that the native races will be preserved.”