VOTES FOR WOMEN IN SIGHT.

North Otago Times, 4 May 1911, Page 4

VOTES FOR WOMEN IN SIGHT.

The Parliamentary struggle (or Votes for Women re-opens on May 5. This time the battle may be decisive. Never have the omens' of victory been so favorable for tin women. The only obstacle is the opposition of the Liberal Government. It is a queer form of Liberalism which 'denies to women the status of citizenship, while compelling tbemto pay taxes; but the fact remains that the liberal Cabinet is women's worst enemy in the coming fight. Otherwise there are many favorable indications. "The country is thoroughly well disposed towards a settlement of this question," says Votes for Women, the weekly paper of the suffragettes. "The new Bill, which proposes to confer the household franchise on women, is understaoi and approved. The members of the House of Commons, by an overwhelming majority, are prepared to' support the measure." The fate of the Bill, therefore, appears to depend on the attitude of the Cabinet, Will they attempt, as they did successively last year, to prevent the House of Commons from carrying its support of woman suffrage into practical effect? Mr Asquith will find such a task harder this year, In one of his softer moments at the ■ end of the, last Parliament he gave '. his pledge that the Women's Bill, ] known as the Conciliation Bill, should be given facilities for full discussion during the present Parlia- ' ment. It will be/difficult for bim to \ show cause why those facilities

should not be granted this Bcssioii. The Government have commandeered all the private,members' days in Parihcnt up to Easter in order to pass the Parliament Dill and other Go-, vernment measures. If they dare to usurp all the private days after Easter as well they will, most certainly be faced with a revolt among their followers, for private members are growing very restive under the increasing! dominance of the Cabinet. 'Hie House will undoubtedly resent further attempts to curtail the liberty of the private member. Probably if the women stand firm, and continue to make themselves a nuisance to the Cabinet between now mid May 5, the latter will have to give way and grant the necessary facilities for the Bill, They must be getting rather tired of living under the shadow of police protection, Even the hero of Sidney street, the brave Winston, fears that the suffragettes mean to kidnap his baby girl t But the. women's supporters in the House ol Commons, the members iwbo have promised to vote for the Bill,, must also be kept up to the mark. If the women were to weaken now in their insistence on the Bill, a good many faint-hearted or shifty M.P.'s would "let them down" as they have done before. "I do not see why you should not get the vote this year," said Mr G. A. Touche, M.P., on Monday at a meeting of women suffragists. "But if there is the slightest sign of weakness on your pnrt you certainly will not get it. You will only get it by being resolute and vigilant, and not resting, because the Bill is coming on again in May-" .These are the sound counsels of an M.P, who knows his fellow members. It may not be a verv, noble view to take of the House of Commons, but it is a very practical view, If Parliament will grant the suffrage to women only when it is, squeezed, then squeezed it must be.Lonflon correspondent, February 24;