WOMAN’S RIGHTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 136, 31 January 1874, Page 20

WOMAN’S RIGHTS.

We are progressing in the matter of woman’s rights, in these Australasian colonies. Victoria has not only a Married Woman’s Property Act, which enables Mrs Brown or Mrs Smith to have and to hold property independently of Mr Brown or Mr Smith respectively, to sue and be sued, and to enjoy in her own proper person even the privilege of imprisonment for debt; but our neighbor also permits ladies to assist in elections of representatives of various local governing bodies. In New Zealand a somewhat similar recognition of the political rights of woman has been secured ; and it Ts recorded that in the late election for the representation of Te . Aro disti’ict in the City Council, the piivilege was exercised by more than one female politician. There is no good reason why intelligent and educated women should not have their share in the choice of representatives in Parliament and in the Provincial Council, as well as in that of the City; and as their cause has been well and ably advocated of late years, almost in unexpected quarters, it is possible that a proper exercise of the privilege they possess, without agitation, or imitation of the tactics of their American sisters, may bring about for them in due time a concession of all the rights and privileges they can desire to possess. In America the ladies have been somewhat demonstrative on the subject ; and they appear to have met with an opposition almost as pronounced, and shown, we cannot help observing, with an irony of report and description which would be frightfully galling to an English woman. They have held a " Woman’s Congress” in New York, which lasted for three days ; and the manner in which it has been treated by a portion of the New York press must have been sadly discouraging, annoying, irritating to the more reasonable of the fair leaders in the war against the tyranny of the sons of Adam. This is, perhaps* to be regretted—but as we write some fifteen or sixteen thousand miles from the scene, we are, of course, liable to error —for the Congress was, in truth, a meeting of ladies who have broken away from the extreme doctrines of Victoria C. Woodhull and Susan B. Anthony, from Free Dove and “ George F. Train for President,” and who have organised a new “ Association for the Advancementof Women.” This organisation had its birth in West Twenty-third street, New York ; at a private meeting of enthusiasts. There a list of office-bearers was filled up. It was resolved to follow the example of the Evangelical Alliance, which had just held a meeting in the city, and to read a great variety of papers before proceeding real business. This was done, and in Union League Theatre the first meeting was held in October last. The preliminary meeting was, says one of the journals of New York, “ the most select, the most cultured, and the best-ordered convention of women ever held in this country.” The proceedings were opened with prayer by the Rev. Pncebe Hamilton, and, the roll cauea over, the business began—and with it the quizzing reports of the unbelieving

and unsympathising Press of New York. The President of the association, Mrs Mery A. Livermore, of Chicago was introduced to the chair by the “ reverend lady” who had just said prayer. Mrs Livermore is described as “a large and masculine woman, possessed of a good clear resonant voice, and considerable knowledge of ‘ Cushing’s Manual of Parliamentary Law.” The constitution of the association —which was remarkably brief—was read by the principal secretary, “ a charming, handsome young lady of brunette complexion.” It set forth that the object of the association was “ to receive and present” to the annual congresses of the association “ practical metliodsfor securingto women higher intellectual, moral, and physical conditions, and thereby to improve all domestic and social relations.’ Ihese are worthy aims ; hut unless the ladies have been maligned by those “ naughty, naughty men,” the reporters, it is doubtful whether they will succeed in their self-imposed mission. The first conference, indeed, was not altogether so satisfactory as the sympathisers with the movement could have desired. The business began by the chairwoman requesting the ladies not to move about or disturb the meeting, as it made her nervous, and she “ supposed all women were alike.” She then called upon Mrs Howe, who was in the body of the hall read a paper ; but Mrs Howe declined to go upon the platform : she had not been consulted in framing the constitution or selecting the officers, and she had a paper which she thought would be useful, and which she would read, or not read, as she pleased. After a good deal of persuasion, in the course of which “ a lady in gray curls” advised conciliation, another with “ a masculine shirt and hair a la Rosa Bonheur,” sympathised, the Chairwoman (looking at the cause of the disturbance) said no one should have a vote who had not paid her fees, “ for it was most necessary to look out for the dimes,” and Mrs Cady Stanton expressed an opiuion that the object was to ascertain by a three days congress whether women had brains enough to call themselves in Congress — after all this Mrs Ward Howe gave way, and read a paper on “ organisation and association,” which she held to be “ as sacred as marriage.” “ It had been proved long ago,” she held, that “ woman had brains but she thought they were “too extravagant, ’ while “the woman who had too much on her back was liable to have nothing in her pocket and less in her heart.” Then came adjournment for lunch ; next a paper on “ Enlightened Motherhood,’ by a lady who, speaking of the mortality of children as an evil only less great than that which affects society in another form, asked, “ Is it true that woman alone of all the animals is not able to produce healthy offspring?” She would not speak of tobacco, or stimulants, or intemperance of another kind, but thought the meals should be cooked at a restaurant, and the washing given out to the public laundries, to give “ the wife and matron a better opportunity to raise healthy children, and minister to the wants her husband.” Then followed various addresses, and a paper by the preceptress of the “ Alfred University, Alleghany country,” where 450 young men and women were being educated; where “ tobacco was not chewed, and it was six miles from the nearest glass of beer.” On the third day the Rev Mrs Losee was chaplain. A sentimental lady read one more paper on “ motherhood,” taking for a ; text the saying “ She who rocks the cradle rules.” A cynical reporter remarks, “ some of her ideas as to the origin of the species were very advanced, and can hardly be produced in a newspaper.” The Rev Antionette Brown Blackwell gave an opinion that duties should be interchanged, and that “ one day of baby-tending and bread-making would go far to humanize a husband, and enable the whole family to sleep at night “ Man was entitled to three score and ten, and women certainly to twenty years more.” Medical subjects occupied the last hours of the Congress. Mrs Dr Mix, who wore a man’s blue frock-coat, a man’s necktie, and a man’s shirt collar, with “ a jolly jaunty jockey hat.” said she had held a diploma for gis: yegrg. Mrs Chnvehiil, Qf Bhodp

Island, denounced rurn-rnills ; and held that marriage with an intemperate person was not simply a blunder —it was a crime ! Lastly, Mrs Foss recited the ballad of “ Charlie M'Cree,” and so the Congress of the Association for the Advancement of Women came to a close. AVe fear that it has not greatly advanced the question of Woman’s Rights.