NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 558, 13 July 1909, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

The Hardwicke Society, save the "Ladies' Pictorial," recently held a debate at which jt earned by a largo maiontj a motion that women should not be allowed to serve on juries. Whatever the grounds may be for refusing such a duty as a general thing, surely it is time that' some Kind of office were formed in connection' with courts where certain cases are tried, by which a woman or two women could at least give their opinion before the jury finds. There mre many oases m-.whicb. points Wise not understood of men. And m lesser ' matters women are equally necessary. The Judge who has to decide , if a dress fits or not usually dismisses the case with a contemptuous "Put a bit of ribbon on it, and no one will notice,," or somo such utterance This often means paying a bill for utterly spoiling yards of expensive i material The only man likely to understand the cvw is the husband of the plaintiff, who probably pays for the stuli, and the dressmaker tions of colour usually require a woman's eje At least, one is forqed to think so, judging by the care with which the magistrate always lnfoiras the court that "he i does not understand such things."

■-I notice that most of the women candidates for the London County Council election next year who have sent m their names* already are in poor districts—Poplar, Korth Kensington, and the like This proves that they are moved by a consciousness of solid work to be done. No desire for importance would overcome the ■'disadvantages of such work in a frivolous mind.' It means hard Kbour, drab surroundings, and an earnest grappling with problems far removed from five-o'clock talk and drawing-room ideals. No charge of dilettantism or "slumming in eables" is possible in such a case. Miss Adler is one of the,candfdatea ( and Miss Margaret Bondfield another, white a doctor, Dr Ethel BeLtham, will stand in North Kensington. l r There are two bills of interest to women on the cards Onp will enable them to practise as solicitors in Scotland, and to appear in the courts thero. The other includes them 'in the scheme for registering accountants, and permits them to practise in ( that capacity in England,, and Wales. J" 1 'have been told that chartered accountancy 'is'lesS over , - crowded than most othei professions; but it is probable that women find a- good/deal of prejudice' to fight against in this occupation, since women are not supposed to have "a head for figures " If we had all tho qualities we arc impposed to have, and none of those we are. supposed not to hate, what singularly unprepossessing and curious porbops we should be! At last we can really behove that the memorial to tho late Queen Victoria is not a myth It is significant of the fcimes / that, although , 'her lato Majesty reigned longest in our country, was so revered in her lifetime, and whose reign wae eo glonoue, we have still got no further than.the erection of the plinth on which her statue lie to stand, although nearly a decade baa passed 6ince her death It is something rather discreditable to us that this should be so Such a memorial should have been completed jears ago However, it is a relief to find some progress is being-made, and it is devoutly to be wished that we may not long wait now for the coming of the statue that will form so (handsome a feature of the Mall, and add to tho dignity of the approach to Buckingham Palace.