The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1918.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4906, 27 June 1918, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1918.

The public will be deeply interested in the reply which the Hon. T. Wilford (Minister for Justice) has given to a deputation from various women’s organisations which urged upon him the desirableness of requisitioning the services of women in connection with police and judicial duties. Mr. Wilford, it will be observed, expressed himself favorable to the establishment of women police patrols in this Dominion. But he held up his hands in horror at the suggestion that women should be allowed to become magistrates, justices of the peace or should even be permitted to sit on juries. His views on that point—and he refused to give way a single jot—were, it would seem, that women are quite unfitted to act in a judicial capacity because “their prejudices are of the heart and, therefore, impregnable.” whereas the prejudices of men could be overcome seeing that they were ‘ ‘prejudices of the mind.” In view of his very lengthy court experience Mr Wilford’s opinions on such a subject are, it tvill be admitted, entitled to a great deal of respect. We are afraid, however, that the matter will not be left at that point, and that, ere long, such great pressure will bo brought to bear on the Government of this country that women-folk will gain much more extensive privileges on the lines sought than Mr. Wilford is willing to agree to. The plain facts of the matter are that the women’s organisations throughout this Dominion are rapidly becoming powerful institutions and they have come to stay. No longer are the more thoughtful sections of our women-folk content to remain mere spectators in regard to the administration of affairs which so deeply affect their sex. Mr. Wilford and his colleagues will, sooner or later, be compelled to rub their eyes and awakeh to a proper sense of the strength of the movement to which we are referring.' It must not he forgotten that the women of this Dominion have enjoyed the right to vote at the elections for members of the House for a quarter of a century. Women in this country also may vote at local boly elections if they hold certain qualifications which are extremely broad in character. :V • • ,

Is it a Fair Proposal?

Whilst thoy are not yet qualified to be elected as parliamentarians, they may stand for seats on local bodies, j Everybody will recollect that, in at j least one instance, a lady, on one occasion, succeeded in gaining the office of ‘‘chief magistrate” in a northern' town, although it might be hardly correct to say that in that position she was a huge success. It is, of course, also well known that, in a number of districts, women have done splendid work on hospital boards, school committees, etc. Does Mr. Wilford really believe that the women-folk of 1 this Dominion will be content with such a limited sphere of administrative activity as that which they are now permitted to enjoy? Does he imagine that it would not be advantageous to grant them a wider share in the civic life of this Dominion? If so, he is sadly mistaken. No legitimate excuse can be raised against the proposal that there should be women police in this Dominion —especially in the cities and the larger interprovincial towns. In the Motherland there are to-day between 3000 and 4000 women so employed. The United States and Canada also have women police, and the experiment in those countries also has . been a signal success. Even in some of the Australian States a trial is being given to women police patrols, and their work has already come in for much commendation. In Australia women patrols are enjoined : To keep young women from the streets, especially at night. To assist in the prevention of truancy. To watch the newspapers, and to put detectives on the track of those who are apparently endeavoring to decov young girls by advertisement or by other means. To patrol the railway stations and wharves when long-distance trains and steamers come in, in order to guard and advise women, girls, and children who are stragglers, and have no friends for them. To patrol slum neighborhoods, to look after drunken women, and to obtain assistance for their neglected children. To keep an eye on certain houses and on the wine shops and hotels frequented by women of the town, m order to prevent young girls from being decoved and drugged with ' liquor, and so entrapped. To protect women and girls m public parks and when leaving work m the evening.

Why, then y does this Dominion lag behind in the matter of establishing women police patrols? It may be quite true that women would not prove a great success if they were called upon to carry out the whole of the work which devolves upon magistrates and justices of the peace, and it may also be said that they would not prove suitable as jurors on most of the cases which come before the courts. But who can honestly deny the assertion that certain classes of cases where women and children are involved should be handled by a women’s court or at any rate that women should participate in the proceedings 3 Unquestionably, also, the day is not fai distant when the Government of this Dominion will have to yield to the pressure that is being brought with a view to women being placed on a board of censorship in regard to moving pictures. Mr. Wilford has chosen to .take a most extreme stand in regard to some of the requests of the influential deputation which has just waited upon him, and he will have nobody but himself to blame if he comes to be regarded as a reactionary in the matter of women’s rights to a greater part in .the civic activities of the community.