The Press. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1893. FEMALE FRANCHISE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8584, 11 September 1893, Page 4

The Press. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1893. FEMALE FRANCHISE.

Whatever may be the feelings of the bulk of our population, those whom we may characterise as the short-haired he-women and the long-haired she-men are, we suppose, greatly delighted that the franchise has been conferred upon women. No doubb the Electoral Bill is not absolutely and completely safe till the House of Representatives has agreed to the amendments made in it by the Legislative Council, and it has received the assent of the Governor. Bub though it is an open secret that) the Government would gladly kill the Bill even now, or failing that, would find any excuse for delaying its operation until after the forthcoming general election, we feel literally. certain that their ingenuity will be unable tp discover any means of doing so, which even Mr. Seddon's brazen audacity would care to make use of at this juncture. Therefore we think that unless a political miracle happens this Bill will be the law of the land within a very few days and women will be able to vote at the ensuing election. The Bill is really the moat extraordinary electoral law ever passed by any British possession at any time. Never before has the franchise been conferred upon women upon the mere qualification of woman* hood. As the sexes are in numbers not far from equal it is therefore the most stupendous Enfranchisement Act ever passed in any section of the British Empire. Wβ question indeed if many people yet realise that by this Act, assuming the bulk of our women can be got to put their names on the register, the number of electors on the roll will be jast about doubled. But the circumstances attending the passing of thia Bill are still more extraordinary. It has been introduced to Parliament, and passed under the auspices of a Government the leading members of which ecarcely deny that it is abhorrenb to them, and that they would have liked to have permitted their party to throw it out. It has been passed by a Parliament moreover, the majority of the members of which have no less a dislike to the female franchise than their official leaders, if only they would speak and vote in public in accordance with - their real private sentiments. But all this would not be so surprising if it was the oase that there was an urgent demand for ifc from, the electors. But there is no such demand, and the leading supporters of the Bill hardly go the length of affirming that there*is. We are absolutely certain that the vast majority of the men and women of this country did not wish the vote to be conferred upon women. Wβ are equally certain that a very substantial, though a somewhat smaller, majority are more or less strongly opposed to the change, and view the probable consequences of it with more or less alarm. We do not deny that it was demanded "by a small hut intelligent section of the community, of whom Sir Johjt Hall, who

is really entitled to all the credit, or discredit!, aa it may be considered, of the measure, is the leading representative. It is also demanded by a noisy but email section of extreme faddists —well meaning, but fussy, narrowminded enthusiasts—such aa the Prohibitionists. Unfortunately under our eyatem of Government these noisy cliques hare an influence far greater than their numbers and intelligence warrant, for they can frequently turn an election.

However, all that we have been saying is now, perhaps, eomewhat wide of the mark. We have now got the Female Franchise a3 surely aa we had the measles. It has come to sitay, and wo muse make the best of it. We do not think there ia the remotest chance that the franchise once conferred upon women is likely to be taken away from them unless future generations come upon revolutionary times. The allimportant question, therefore, is what are the women going to do with it. New, we have uevtr been able to take up any very extreme attitude on this question. We have always thought that there was quite as much nonsense talked upon one side as upon the other. Wβ think it ia quite possible that women of all classes may vote fox a member of Parliament onoe in three years without) losing their feminine characteristics or utterly neglecting their domestic duties. The number of men who take sufficient interest in politics to neglect their business in consequence is very small, and we see no reason to suppose that women will be at all likely to take more interest

iv politics than men- Wβ do not expect to see any very stupendous chauga in the composition of the House of Representatives. Probably men who by their notoriously evil lives make themselves objectionable to women will find a greater difficulty in gettiug seats. But that is not a matter to be regretted. When someone was bemoaning to Lord Melbourne the probable injurious effacte from his poinc of view upon the composition of the House of Commons of the great Reform Bill, Lord Melbourne gaily assured liiai that it would be all right. The actors would be the same though they would play more to tbs gallery. So with us. The House will be much the same but it will have to pay deference to female sentiment as well as to male prejudices.

But, of course, our hopes that there will be no very great evil effects from this extension of tha franchise are based upon the assumption that the great bulk of the sensible, hardworking, womanly women of the colony will be induced to sacrifice their natural disinclination to come out of the domestic sphere for the pur* pose oi recording their votes periodically. If the voting is to be left to the shrieking sisterhood — the he women, aa we have called them—the result may be that we may be flooded with still more silly, faddy, and harmful legislation than "we have now. But we hope it will not be so. Every man in every class should endeavour to see that his womankind are put Oα the roll. If be i> an honest,, decent, manly man who treats his mother or hie wife or his sisters as a manly man should treat the women of his circle he will be reby fiuding that they will follow his lead and vote as he does. Women will not go far wrong in recording their vote if they follow such a lead, even though they may noc know much about politics. In that way the female franchise may lead to good by enormously increasing the political influence of the man who shows up well in his family relations. The hope that this may prove to be the case helps to reconcile us to the change, though we should" have been very well content to have left things as they were in this respect, at any rate for some generations to come.