WORLD

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 105, 4 May 1923, Page 9

WORLD

AMONG OURSELVES. «?■ WEEKLT BUDGET. ;i||| (By COXSTAITCE CLYDE.) ~§i EQUAL FRANCHISE RIGHTS. In England the women's societies are concentrating upon the equal suffrage ideal, holding many meetings, and following these up by interviewing members in the House. * Mr. Bonar Law has stated that he does not intend to bring in a bill for this reform, but a trifle like this does not disconcert the typical Englishwoman. She merely remarks that "pressure must be brought to bear upon him," and continues her tactics. New i organisations are being formed for this special (jaiiHP, the latest being the Ken-1 sington Society for Equal Citizenship, ' which has started a branch at Pulham, i a working man's suburb. Reminiscent of old suffrage days was the mass meeting held in Central Fall to plead lor equal suffrage, and there was some amusement when a. very young girl , speaker expressed her pleasure at seeing | so many elderly women taking an interest in this "new' , cause. So much insistence has been placed upon the war , as having created the energetic woman I that few of those girls, who were in the | nursery when franchise demonstrations were at their height, realise that older women were not only once young but also "new." The desire of those old?r women, however, that their sisters should no longer be ranked as mentally deficient because under thirty ha* created pleasant feelings between the two generations. THE OPEN' AIR SCHOOL. The open air schools in London avail- | able to physically defective children, wlftn the State Medical Officer considers the case suitable, have now passed a new ! regulation. Many parents, after the | children have lost much education through illness, send them to one of | these establishments at thirteen, to j withdraw them at fourteen in order to put them to work. It has now been decreed that children shall not l>e accepted between the ages of thirteen or fourteen unlesß the parents agree to keep them there until sixteen. An- j other type of school that may be described as open air is the Caldeeott : Community, a boarding school for working metis children, which was founded in 1011. News comes that this establish- ! went must close down unless funds nre forthcoming. Xo doubt the community itself is worthy of support, but the idea] of which it is'formed is one so likely to produce injustice and increase rather ! than decrease of class distinction (which is held to be its ideal) that one ennnop wonder that the Ilriti*h people do iuA ! show much inclination to support ti. | This school as already mentioned, is for s working people - * children, and if there j is anything that working people desire j when'they send their children to school , it is for them to get mental education. I They are really more particular in tuts than other Motions of the community.. But ill the Caldecott community three hours of mental work, (which probably comes to much less) is all that is allowed. The reel of the time the children «re '•learning to be farmers by milking cow*, etc." The authorises be. liove that "it is nobler to sweep noon. well than to do called higher work. ISo did Mr. Squeers. COERCION OF WIVES. The women's societies are almost enthusiastic in their contention thai women should suffer the same penalties as veil as receive the same privileges as nicil Thus on the occasion of tho llford murder trial they spoke strongly against any question of sex being rinsed on behalf of the woman accused, Except where sex of necessity makes v difference, as i" infanticide, there should be no exemptions. .Similarly m regard to the coercion ot wive* belief which hus been arousing much interest, they protest against the assumption that a woman's wrong action should be presumed as done against .her own will simply because her husband is present and doee not prevent her conduct. In dealing with this clause in the Criminal Justice Bill, Lord Huekmaster, said to be a feminist in some respects, caused some surprise by holding to the belief that coercion should still be assumed. He pointed out that for 1100 years that assumption had been made, and that '•woman's nature did not change."' l*>rd Buckinaster forgot, however, that in those days a woman's husband was not only that but her feudal lord as well.

We realise, this when we remember that the murder of a husband by his wife ranked ns petty treason, which was then j a greater offence than murder, her penalty being that of treason, namely to be burnt alive. Coercion might be taken for granted in those days, but there arc j probably very few men in these times | who feel themselves feudal lords. IXDIAX WOMEN'S SUCCESSES. It must have been interesting for i those who were present at the luncheon given by the Oriental f irele at the Ijyceum Club in to Miss Tata, one of the first women to become a fully qualified member of the English Bar. Even "more arresting than herself was her mother, Mrs. Tata, who was in great sympathy with her (laughter's career. Xumbers of well-known men and women, botli Indian and Cingalese, were present as well as English guests. Miss Tata is said to be soon returning to Bombay. <<ood work is being done by the four women lately elected to the Bombay Corporation, one European and three Indian, the number of men being 10:2. This is the first time that Indian women have stood successfully since the granting of the franchise in 1020. Last year Mrs. Dcvadae was nominated to the Madras municipality, and the districts of Malabar, Salem, and Bellary, which are in the south, have also each nominated one woman on the Taluk and District, boards, which resemble the English borough councils. THE HOUSING PROBLEM IX POLITICS. The importance both of housing and the woman's vote in England may be estimated by the fact that according to . those who should know they have combined to cause the defeat of the Government at thiee recent by-elections. I These were at Miteham, East 'Willesden, and Edgehill. The women declared freely that it was owing to the vacillating . policy of the Government in this respect that they used their votes against it. A I cable the other day told us how the un- ! employed women went in deputation to j the House regarding the impossibility of living on heir scanty unemployment doh> of twelve shillings weekly. In lieu of : giving the women houses to live in the authorities sometimes consider emigration schemes, but it is the opinioiT of

women who know that projects for sending women out to the Dominions merely because they are not successful in the Homeland should not be considered.