THE ELECTORAL BILL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4162, 13 July 1892, Page 2

THE ELECTORAL BILL.

Dim&ion in Committee.

In committee on the Electoral Bill in the House of Representatives last night, Mr Carncrosa moved an amendment to clause 8, so as to give Wptn tbe right to Bit in tboHoueoof Iffpresentatiyes, .-,'....,.,..,.. Sir John Hall deprecated the passing of this amendment, as it would jeopardise the prospects of the Bill, Mr Fish supported the amendment and deprecated tho view taken by Sir John Hall. There were plenty of women in tbe Colony who would adorn the House and prove superior to roffi of the present members, and if heUS compelled by superior force to swallow woman suffrage, it would cause nim little trouble to see women sitting in tbe House. Mr Taylor maintained the right of women to sit both in the House and n" another place," Mr Fisher warned the' House that very serious and unintended results would flow from the introduction of female franchise,. _ Mr Fergus believed that very few, if any, of tbe advocates of woman franchise supported the proposal on its distinctive perils.-. It was suppprted by some beoan.se they thought ft was a Conservative measure, by pthJU be« cause they wished tp have dd>Biinttr-' tional education, or Bible reading ip schools, pr temperance legislation, or some other individual enpf. He ivogij oppose the female frapebije clauses, Mr Blake objected to the female franchise on the ground that it would lead to great domestic infelicity, and he quoted statistics to show that 'New Zealand had.already six times more divorcesin proportion to the population than the United Kingdom had. .The debate was continued by Messrs. P.uthie,, Shflfa, Sandford, Lawry, McCfuire, Jfewtqiju, MoLean and Tanner, At 11,40 a division was taken on tbe motion that the word "man '

remain part of the cluuse, as ngaitißt Mr Camoross' amendment to substitute the word" elector" with the result that the word" man " was retained by 31 votes to 24. Mr Fish moved a further uniendment to clause 8, viz, to strike out the words" or her, " hnvicg tho -effect of depriving females of the w electoral franchise. A division, taken without discusresulted as follows; Ayis 12, On clause G, dealing with qualification ofelectors. Mr Kelly (Invercargill) moved to strike out Bub>seotion 1, cotilnrring the freehold qualifier ion on owin rs of property to the value of £25, The Hon the Premier defended tho clause as not interfering in anyway with the principle of one men one vote, but siuiplv giving some electors the option ol tegistering irmbr the freehold qualificatio , Mr Tanner said it was a mutter of vital importance to the Labour party lliat this subjection should be struck out, It placed tint elector at a disadvantage. Mr Uogtj looked upon this subsection as the only deformity in what ought to be a good Radical measure, The Hon. W. P. Reeves exps'od the opinion that the ineaserr, to bo logically complete, ought not to contain any provision for the freehold but should establish Tiianhood suffrage pure and simple, b, Mr Shera bow no danger lo democracy in this sub-section, and tlere was no necessity for the House s-ic-riGcing its common sense upon tho altar of a syllogism. Mr Carncross said that in retaining the freehold qualification the Premier had paid ludicrous deference to the sentiment of the country without impairing the measure. Hir John Hall remarked upon the diversity of opinion shown to prevail in the Ministerial tanks on this point, and expressed the opinion that, when • a member of any Ministry disagreed with his colleagues with regard to thfl policy measure, ho might very well be asked to retire from the Ministry. He defended the freehold qualification as being an essential part of the system of district representation, Mr R. Thompson, at 1,30 a,m„ i moved that the committee report pro- ; Cress, but the motion was lost on the voices, L It Meredith approved of the dual Salification, and thought the Huuso ought to be satisfied with securing one , man one vote and one man one regis- - tratio'n. ' The debate was continued by Messrs Lake, T, Mackenzie, Moore, and Allen, amid great cries of" Question." At 1.44 a division was taken on the clause, which resulted in its retention , by44votestol4, I