TORY TACTICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 28

TORY TACTICS.

"FOR FEMINIST CONSCRIPTION. WHASDON CHASE HUNT FORWARD. (A Feminist Correspondent.) LONDON, April 19. The Conservative party here is at its old game. In the post-reform days it made no bones about humbugging the working man so that it kept his vote. Now that proletariat women have to be reckoned with, it is humbugging women i—for their votes. For that frankly is what the great Women's Procession appeared to mc, on this April Saturday of sunshine and shower, when a procession of women alleged to be a mile and a-half long inarched to the Albert Hall headed by a score of horsewomen, four of whom, mounted on greys,' led the procession, the others acting as outriders. Mrs. Flora Drummond, described as the Controller-in-Chief, along with other officers of the Guild of Empire, marched ■at the head of the English provincial contingents, each of which was indicated by a red banner bearing the name of county or town. There were also innumerable banners with inscriptions such as "Miners' wives want district settlements," "We demand a secret •ballot in industrial matters," "Hard work and no nonsense," "Peace brings plenty." A band of pipers preceded the Scottish contingent, over 3000 strong, which included a number of Musselburgh fisherwomen in picturesque garb, and women in Paisley shawls, tartan plaids, and Tarn o' Shanters. Wives of miners and other workers in Lanarkshire and Fifecarried banners proclaiming, [-."Strikes and Lockouts are nae Ovid to

Us," and exhorting workers to "Be British." Wales followed, led by;women from Swansea and Cardiff) some of whom iwere in national dress, and women from [the various London-districts brought lip tho rear of the procession. As a feminist iTecpgnise, that women istill require "educating pbUticxtlly—as do jthe men—but it disappoints a genuine .feminist to find there are still so many gullible among the newer members of the electorate—who are old enough to know tetter. It hardly fits with the picture of this- demonstration ■as being to the extent, of "90 per cent" wives and daughters of miners, railwaymen and other industrial workers or seamen, and members of the Guild of Empire (who organised the demonstration, that a donation of £50Q' came from a person ,who desired to remain' anonymous and wrote: "Where men fear to tread, women •■ jvalk in!"It is all of a piece with the scares ■ against Bolsheviks and the horrors of a Communism which, no working man or jtrade unionist has the slightest desire jto see. Where the "Daily Mail" and its kind left off shrieking against KusBia, this sort jof silly propaganda begins. It is another manifestation of ,the funk which assailed the country after the first Labour Government and downed the saner leaders like Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Thomas, and actually paved the way for , the wilder spirits frae Glesca'.

The organisers of this show have quite a commendable aim. They resolved with some unanimity at the Albert Hall jto prevent strikes and,lockouts... Long may they struggle for that mUlennhim. It is perhaps ungracious to'•' do' anyjthing but rejoice at women organising ; themselves to better their own and their I families' lives. But are they? ' ; .; ! It seems quaint that the most adverHHsed part of the procession was tbe ypart taken by women members of the jNljvTiftddon Chase. New Zealand does | not need to he reminded that that hunt a world-wide reputation beJ_T'^l_fc___2i_ Mm :;-...:--'

cause it could not run itself. Still nothing daunted the members of the Whaddon Chase hunt will show us how to run this glorious Old Country of ours, hiding its brushing honours under the well-chosen banner of the League of Empire. Who would intimidate such brave spirits? Not in our Empire! This so-called League of Empire, flaunting out its worn economics in the face of the working man, would have passed and faded of its own ineptitude, but that it trailed its coat in the face of those extremists at the opposite political pole, the Communists who rose to it. But nothing happened that a bland London bobby could not handle. They each sang their songs of hate or brotherhood, and nothing worse was spilt than temper.

If this is the Conservatives' idea of organising the support of women voters, heaven help them and the country.