THE WOMAN QUESTION 10-DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 78

THE WOMAN QUESTION 10-DAY.

By Constance Clyde. (For the Witness.) With a change of Government the Woman question always comes to the fore, this especially when Liberal is the | prefix of the dominant party. Yet an ' experienced woman informs me that, so ' far as employment to women is- concerned, ; Conservatives are rather more Liberal ■ than their opponents. Nevertheless there ! is something in a name, whatever an old playwright may say, and female suffragists are voicing their belief in speedy enfranchisement in the usual hope of thus . bringing it about. As Dr Emil Reich points out in a morning paper, however, the bestowal of this privilege on women has not the same significance in the colonies as it would have in England, • where interests, not only larger, but enj tirely different, have to be continued. i It is prophetic, perhaps, that even so slight a reform as the proposed removal of the Ladies' Grallery grille has already j been negatived. As someone has remarked, it- no longer serves its old pur- • pose of veiling feminine charm, since in i the modern glare of electricity every cor- | ncr is visible. Yet still the bars remain. Another larger change not likely to ful- . filment is that of the deceased wife's sis1 ter. Colonists are so accustomed to regard I this as a mere matter of logic that they j cannot realise the social' difficulties that • surround the question in England. "If I that law were passed, I could never enter I my brother-in-law's house again," cried a i young and educated woman, not realising that- this sentiment should apply equally i to the husband of that "best friend," ! often nearer and more intimate than a I sister. English people believe the "colo- | nial" women to be- living in a state of ! embarrassment regarding th^ir -brothers- ! in-law because they can marry them, not 'understanding that, logically, therefore, they should feel embarrassed . with the -fr,iend -their brother brings home, and, i' indeed, every male person- except their ', fathers and brothers-! English people j again somewhat overrate the psychological I effect of the surplus woman, so - that - women^are hampered because of the calm assumption that this change is advocated solely for the benefit of the sex, and to • increase , iheir somewhat small chances of j marriage ! Some years ago a would-be ■ reformer went round with a- petition, the. [ specialty of which was that each name was to b& that of a woman co situated -that 'she -could l>enefit by the* enactment of the new law — spinster aunts, and the sisters-in-law of disconsolate widowers .' Naturally, women of refinement cl-ecline to { "advocate' a measure so inspiring to the : humourist and the vulgarian. What a curious idea some franchise reformers poesess regarding the colonies. At a. meeting the other day a woman among the audience attempted to continue sp<yik ing against the command of the chairman, and was thereupon removed. Whi'e it % is certain that the English chairman siows too much readiness to discourage such feminine attempts, there is no reasor> why another woman, an advocate of th? cause, should term this " torture," or refer to the lady's subsequent appearance in \)>o j. olice Court as "imprisonment and vie tyranny." There is also no reason vhy she should address the Women's Emigration Committees, warning them against sending any of the sex to colonies that do not give the suffrage, as the consequences "will be deplorable." She counsels that women be sent rather' to Australia and New Zealand, whet** (as a result of the franchise?) women are now able to live under "decent nanvwt conditions."

•It must be confessed, however, that Englishmen are too slow to recognise I woman in any new departure, though they are ready to give praise once she has scaled the heights. Prejudices agauufc | her in certain departments of life are : etrong-er "than in the colonies. A woman I writer of excellent political verse cartoons I informed me that the only time she failed to place her work was when she dispatched verses under her own name instead of the masculine pseudonym she ! now adopts. Lynx-eyed man, again, is ! always on the took-oufc for feminine blun- | ders. Thus at a well-regulated women's I meeting the other day, after a number ! of sane, logical speeches had been given, ! a thoughtles young debater remarked that i "if women wrecked a- few streets as" op- | pressed men were wont to do, they would [ nave got the franchise at once." The 1 man reporter leffc out the sane, sensible : speeches, and made mo mention of the f^x L-women who spoke wisdom. He merely i reported that at A meeting in one of th-e woman speaker^' advocated anarchy | as an admirable method oi bringing in ' the franchise !

— The lightcet saddle in the world belonged to Archer. tlw> jockey. It was made in London and weighs 16oz. The pigskin had to • c scraped with gla.be down to the thickness of one-eighth of an inch to give such a light weight as this. The saddle is a fine, ttrong one, and cost £50. Tho shepherd roaming o'or the plain, The stookman nn hu> lonely run, Th-2 Teamster with his bullock waic, The sportsman out with rod oi gun, Tho digger on gold-bearing roof— V. lule firm to duty's call they stand— For cou«hs and colds they find relief With Woods' Great Pepvermisx Citke at hand.