WOMEN AND THE FRANCHISE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 91, 11 January 1929, Page 11

WOMEN AND THE FRANCHISE

Sir —Is not your article in this mornin”’s “Dominion” on the question of adult suffrage and the use that the women in New Zealand have made of the nan chise in the past, a little bit too optimistic from the point of view of the oldfashioned and conservative? You point the moral • that there has been no sex consciousness in New Zealand and that the women have always voted with their menfolk. That maj be so, but it only shows that the women of New Zealand have not made proper use of the franchise in their own interests and in the interests of their children. Things will no doubt be very Cerent in England. There is no doubt that the laws in New Zealand as applied to women and children are a disgrace to a civilised community that has woman sutfrage. It is legal, for instance, that a "irl to be married at the age of twelve vears, and when she reaches the age of sixteen yearn she is no longer protected bv law, but is allowed to become fair game” for the first despicable blackguard that happens along. One has only to read the accounts of the affiliation cases, the separation cases, and the divorce cases, to see that the women of New Zealand do not get a fair deal, although they have the franchise. But, things will be very different in England when the English girl gets the vote. The great curse of illegitimacy will then 'soon be a thing oi the past, and there will be no such thing as an “illegal” operation by an experienced surgeon. These out-of-date and stupid laws will very soon be abolished, as they should have been years ago.— I am. etc., A MERE MAN.

Wellington, January 8.