WOMEN AS LEGISLATORS.
The Legislative Council is providing luitc a pretty example of the difference ictween an elected and a nominated isscmbly. The House of Representatives inanimously passed a Bill making vomen eligible to sit in Parliament, but ;hc Legislative Council, taking its stand m a question of privilege, sought to Conine that eligibility to the House of Representatives. Rather than see tin Bill wrecked, the House bowed to th( Council's feelings about privilege, and £ separate Bill providing that womei rtfight be members of -the Council wa: introduced into the Upper House Then, however, the real reason for th< opposition was revealed. Privilege ha< been only an excuse. Honourable mem bcrs did not want an invasion by womei af " the gilded chamber," and yesterdaj said so by the emphatic margin of li votes to 8. We suspect that if thi House of Representatives could have ig noreid public opinion in voting on tin admission of women to Parliament there would have been something lee than unanimity on the point. Bu members of the House are popularh elected, and they know that piibl'n opinion in their constituencies is if favour of this equality between th( sexc3. The Legislative Council, how .•ver, is responsible to no one but itseli and though, like the (House of Lords, ii may enjoy tho full confidence of it: :onstituents, that is of no moment to the public. The principle involved in this rather amusing affair is more importan than its practical application. It ma; be annoying to think that while : woman can be a -member of the llousi of Commons or our House of Representa tives, she cannot yet be a member o the New Zealand Legislative Council, bu the Council as constituted now j doomed, and all that is involved is thi possible appointment of women to thi Council in the short period that wil elapse before tho first elective Counci is chosen. But this additional proof o the need for making the Council elcctivi will not be lost on the people of Nev Zealand.,
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 253, 24 October 1919, Page 4
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340WOMEN AS LEGISLATORS. Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 253, 24 October 1919, Page 4
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