A SUFFRAGE SHOCK.

NZ Truth, Issue 340, 30 December 1911, Page 8

A SUFFRAGE SHOCK.

'' , Bull Bewildered. Conservative Bull' got the- shock of his life this' week when he heard of Agquith's dreadful intention, of introducing a- "one-man-one- vote" Bill into the British Parliament next session, a.ndi ever, sine© Bull has- been going about, wdth a horrible sinting feeling at the pit* of his fat stomach and a puzzled, dazed sensation a.tj the base, of what he believes to- be his, brain. Fat' Conservatives have been foregathering m their luxurious PiccatMly clubs leebly. .. bemoaning the demned dreadfulnjess of it^ all, and wondering when, an outraged British- Conservative God is going to destroy the. "Liberal ' Ministry isud* denly and without- remedy. ' But so far there HAS BEEN NO SIGN from the heavens; and so the staggered Conservatives have turn e d to their • stodgy morning organs^— the I 'Morning Post," the "Times," the "Telegraph," -and the "Standard" for. support and comfort m this, the hour of. their, great affliction. But these great 1 " rag-s are equally astounded and perplexed at Asquith's bolt from the blue, so it is not much use the Conservatives lifting their hands to,' them for help. The English Conservative party -presents rather a piftiful spectacle just now, threatened by ,a. sea . , of advancing democratic Liberal fleraands from all o^uarters, and cowering. Tor protection behind a, set of journalistic Mrs Partangtons, ...who are trying; ~to sweep brack ; the advanciiig tide with their puny ' penny brooms. To an Australasiam itjia like suddenly ' •:'. SETTING- BACK THE CLOCK' thirty years or more to read these ..miserable Conservative rags putting forth against manhojod suffrage, the stale old' arguments that were- discredited 'm Australasia m a past, gone* and dead, generation. Here is a sample (from the "Evening Standard") which will serve as illustra- . -tive of the lot >-' • Except m so far as it suit's the Ministerial exigencies the project is indefenaWe. No doubt Manhood Suffrage,, perhaps Womanhood Sufj frage, is the' logical- completion of [ the democratic system. We may f assume that it will come some time. But why here and- now •? Why introducp.it'- with", the Cd'nsti-' 'tiition m suspense, -with the re- ' form of the H.cmsp still waiting, with an Irish .Parliament m -process of construction, with the: economic fabric of society m a . state of flux? Surely it is inexcusable to complicate this already involved situation within the next twelve months by proposing the largest transformation, of : political power, ever -attempted. The thing- is., absolutely gratuitous.' ' Thei'e has been no agitation for' Universal Suffrage,, no. "cry" or de-, ■• mand for' it; For the redistribution of seats, so as to give one vote one value, for the simplification of the register, lor!iemale-«n- --! franchisement, there- are, nodoub.t, perceptible, i£' : " limited; movements. But who, m these last yeai's, has approached Manhood Suffrag* ? Who . really carts about it? . Certainly not the "masses" ;( no "Labor leader" refers to it on the platform, and there is no sign that; the great "body of ti-ade unionists and working men generally care ■twopence about it. That is not what they are after : they want a •minimum' wage, the -"right towork," the recognition of. their societies, unlimited power of "col-lective-bargaining," and so forth. What a desperately foolish line of argument to adopt, yet how characteristically Conservative ! The time was never "ripe" for Conservatives to introduce any measure for the people, and -..- ....... NEVER WII.U BE "RIPE"till the Conservatives" themselves are rotten. As for the rest of this argurhent, won't the •" workers get air their just demands carried into law — but not before — when they have the-ir own democratic Government elected directly by the voice of the people? Why, the mass of the British people have never yet had the slightest s-av m the making of the laws 'by which they are controlled. To understand what a drastic change Asquifcb faa* promised to.

bring; aboiit, it must, be borno iumind thai out of the British' J.sles" population of 4^,000,000 "(FOJfITYFXVE MILLIONS) only. 7,r»04,G3r, (SEVEN AiSTD A HALF MILLIONSJ) are enfranchised. Asquith's Manhood Suffrage Bill will do more tha;i enfranchise all the dumb ehclurers- of Gonservativerrinaue laws m this belat^l country ;;■ it will make a clean sweep. of all .the present complexities .of -English franchise; law, and render impossible all the ridiculous legal clauses under which thousands of the comparatively few ",who. \are able to vote "now are liable, to lose their v.otes : under the decisions of a revising, barrister' 1 the Bill i wlfl certainly not* . iiass , the B ritish 'Parliament next session, ,ahd may not ■ tj^i"; got. through the,:session afteir, there is no' doubt that; 1 England m electoral reform- is taking a lesson from ': .. •■■.' ••-"/■ . ' .- : HER OVERSEA- DOMINIONS, &nd is following swiftly ' Whe^e Australia and New Zealand have led the way. If Asqaiith' do^|ifiiially steer his promised. Bill through th'ia. two Hquaea of the .British parlikttießit inio law,. -he', will be the greatest reformer England, has ever, seen. .The,ihrill outcry from the suffragettes" because the proposed Eill does aot in&itde women, only, shows what fools the jeauers of the ' English suffr«get.tes are. For if England ob* tains manhood qtifirag'e, ■ women's sup frage will speedily follow. The first step hi democracy must inevitably be follp.Wed-i'fey the second, and indoedV Ts th©:. quickest way of bringing the second' about m af; conservative^ country like England.