THE SUFFRAGETTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 314, 2 July 1912, Page 4

THE SUFFRAGETTES.

While we cannot but admire the pluck and determination of the twenty-three suffragettes who have just obtained their release from Holloway prison by resorting to the "hunger strike," we may be pardoned for drawing attention to some of the possibilities opened up by the precedent thus established. These ladies claim the right to be treated as first-class political prisoners, and- to be free to receive visitors, peruse books and newspapers sent to them by friends, arrange for a siipply of meals from outside sources, and, in fact, to enjoy every privilege except the one of unrestricted liberty. The authorities, .rightly or wrongly, have decided that the offences of these prisoners arc not of a political character, and have sought to inflict upon them the punishment meted out to those who are convicted of assault and battery or malicious damage to property. This uncompromising attitude has been met by an equally uncompromising refusal on the part of.the militant suffragettes to partake of nutriment during their sojourn behind prison bars, with the result that the authorities have seen fit to give tlieni their freedom. If the "hunger strike" is thus tacitly accepted by the Government as a valid reason for release it mar prove difficult to prevent the extension of the precedent to prisoners who have, found their way into durance vile by committing offences which were not prompted by any political motive. The amiable gentleman who has been incarcerated for brutally assaulting his wife and the inebriate who has shown his resentment against expulsion from a public-house by sending a volley of road metal through the windows of the hostelry may feel aggrieved if their firm refusal to consume their daily rations does not also cause the locks, bolts, and bars to fly open. Of course, we are not so ungallant as to suggest that the Holloway authorities should have been instructed to allow their suffragette charges to test the fasting doctrines expounded by Mr. Jack London. The position is that the British Goyernment has regarded these ladies as criminal offenders, and has released them without admitting their claims to be considered anything better. Should the strike" become a prominent feature -of life in his Majesty's .prisons the precedent, even though made "without prejudice," may lead to some peculiar dilemmas in future.