The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 1917. ELECTORAL REFORM IN BRITAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 April 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 1917. ELECTORAL REFORM IN BRITAIN.

The influence of tine democratic and progressive legislation of the Dominions, combined with universal service in defence of the Empire, have brought about a great change in the Homeland with regard to parliamentary suffrage. The qualifications at present necessary to entitle a man in the United Kingdom to vote for a member of Parliament vary. In counties a voter must possess a freehold of the clear annual value of two pounds or upwards, or a freehold for life of the clear annual value of five pounds at least. A freeholder or copyholder (the latter being regarded as a freeholder) must have possessed his holding for six month*. Leaseholders for a term of not less than sixty years must have property of the clear annual value of five pounds at least, but if the lease is for more than twenty years and less than sixty.- the annual value must be thirty pounds, la. boroughs, the voter

must be the owner or tenant of land or buildings! of a clear yearly value of ten pouudil, or must occupy, as owner or tenant, a dwelling-house, or be a lodger therein, paying at least ten pounds per annum, lodgers having to send in a claim to vote each year. Women, as is generally known, hav« not yet had the privilege of a vote. It will he readily seen how great is the difference hetween the franchise in Britain and in New Zealand, am! it. has b»pn left for the war to draw the Empire into closer unity in the matter of electoral reform as in other important directions. The Dominions enjoy adult universal suffrage, and it is evident Britain proposes to practically adopt the • general principle of the scheme, but with modifications.' The Suffragettes have won their ease, not by means of their reprehensible militant and obnoxious methods, but by the magnificent response of the women of the country to do their best in its time of dire need. The women's votes have been won (or rather will doubtless coon be secured) liy means of noble sacrifices, and the victory should be all the more , gratifying on that account. The proposal at present is that there shall be a qualifying age for women's franchise, to ce fixed by Parliament, hut the suggestion is made that the age should be thirty or thirty-five. That appears to be a very invidious distinction to make between the sexes, there being no just ground for differentiating in the voting :ige of men and women. A far wiser and more politic course would be to fit the qualifying age of I>oth sexes .at twenty-five. Whether the possession of a vote for the election of members of 'Parliament is regarded as a matter of sentiment or as a means of reflecting the will of the country on the questions of the day, if.democracy is to he a reality, then it should he possible for every adult to exercise his or her vote on equal terms. Few people in the Dominions who are not acquainted with the strenuous fights in the Old Country for securing universal suffrage, will realjse the extent of the concessions now made. Lifelong prejudices and convictions have had to be jettisoned by leading politicians, who would certainly never have yielded hut for the lesson of the war. The reform will do much to eliminate the. ill-feeling that the old restrictions caused, and they sliould help to bring about a better and more enlightened feeling among the masses. It would never have done frn\Britain to have lagged behind Russia in democratic progress, and as it may be anticipated that the new and extended franchise will necessitate a radical regrouping of the electorates, the [louse of Commons, after the next election should witness many changes in its personnel as well as in its legislation. Any forward move of this nature appeals to tho Dominions with considerable force, and mudi gratification will, we are sure, he felt at the Motherland following the good lead of her virile offspring.