WOMEN AND JUSTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 169, 18 July 1924, Page 4

WOMEN AND JUSTICE.

i For the sake of New Zealand's reputation as a progressive country it is really time that Mr. Wilford succeeded in his effort to amend the law to permit the appointment of women as Justices of the Peace. The House has been liberalminded in tills matter, but the Councft has been reactionary. The Bill passed . tho House again yesterday, despite the ! opposition of Mr. Lysnar, who proposed I that no woman should bo appointed ; under tho age of forty—there is no J "maturity" test for politicians—and we J hope that this time the Council will bow to the wishes of the popular Chamber. | There is no serious argument against the ' '■ proposal, which gives women a right j they have long had elsewhere, and is an ' instalment of a policy of admitting them to fuller participation in 'the work of the State. Broad-minded people realise now that women can make their own distinctive and valuable contribution to 1 legislation and administration, and a country that admitted women to the franchise thirty years ago looks foolish ' when it denies them tho right to witness i a declaration and administer justice. |