YESTERDAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1306, 8 December 1911, Page 3

YESTERDAY.

A PEEP AT THE BOOTHS. It seemed an excellent augury—to both political sides, no doubt-that the election should have been held on a day that was lavoured with such magnificent v.'Nither. Whatever it might have-been like in thc.diJlerent suburbs, the votiug in tho uty was not remarkable for its activity in the morning, but. later in. the day, ■ tho scene was changed, and, throughout tlio whole of the afternoon, up till .seven ■or thereabouts, a constant stream of people made thc-ir way bbothwards. Motorcars Hashed round corners, and Hashed along tho streets to their goals, losing as little time as possible on thoir way; cabs, buggies, aiul traps of all description were pressed into service, and, in .Sydney -Street, there seemed to bo nothing at times but a procession of vehicles and ; crowds of -people waiting for their turn to go in aud perforin their weighty duty. . It was with many protestations that somo women woro mnrched off, to voto by . their energetic ■ friends or relations. I hate voting. It's a detestable business, anyway," was what one heard—not ouco only—and, after all, there aro large numbers of women to whom the very fact of carrying out such an net is an ordeal. It was quite a matter of rejoicing to one woman that a man in front of her should have put one of his license papers in tho wrong box, to the great disgust of tho clerks. It was a very easy mistake to make, and, had the boxes been painted tho colour of the different ballot papers, the possibility of such occurrences wmild have been minimised. "They won't mako any mistake over my man," said one woman. ' "I scored out every letter' of the .men I didn't want over and over again, (iil there wasn't anything to be seen but lead-pencil marks)" and, with quito a vindictive pleasure visible in her face, she passed on rejoicing. Her task was over.

Possibly no one in the world felt quite so important as thp girl who was exercising her first yote-7-unless it was the youth who was likewise doing so, and it was quite interesting to watch the little air of nervous pride with which she approached the booth. For tho first time in her life she was exercising a direct influence in matters of national importance, and, possibly, never before had there been so many chances of studying the questions at issue as at this election.

The women on the various committees and the wives of the candidates had been working magnificently for those whom they wish to represent them in Parliament, and many exceedingly weary women must have made their way homo last evening, when the results were mado known, almost too tired to rejoice or sorrow at tho way tho tide luid gone.