"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3018, 17 January 1912, Page 91

"ALIEN'S" LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

MILITANT WOMEN

December 1. The battle still rages over the servant girl tax, and the opposing forces have engaged in close contest. The supporters of the bill have accused its opponents of a "'mean agitation," have lamented with an exceeding bitter cry that fake statements have been made concerning it, and with an aggravating persistency the "agitation" has returned to the charge. The word-weapons have been deadly—hare, thieves, murderers of domestic peace, destroyers of the home sanctity, the Englishman's castle tottering on its foundations, Britons who have hitherto been master and mistrecs of their Divn house shorn of their authority, taxed, fined, and inspected for the employment of their servants. Harrowing pictures have been drawn on the one side of mistresses turning servants into streets when too ill to work, or sending them to infirmaries and hospitals. The other aide declare that the hospitals have the brst doctors, the best nursing, and that the sick pay of 7s 6d a week proposed by the State could not procure anything like the accommodation, skill, attention, and nourishment, and that the tax taken from millions of mistresses and from maids through years of health is not really to make provision for servants during illness, but to provide the Chancellor of the Exchequer with badly-needed funds. Whatever the truth concerning the servants' tax, there is no doubt about the.magnitude of the protest of both mistresses and maids —not only by the hundreds of thousands who signed the protest forms all over the country and sent them either to their representative M.P.'s or' to the Protest League, but in London by the women in person, .who attended the monster meeting in the Albert Hall. London's largest hall was not only packed, but it was overflowed. It holds, comfortably, 10,000 persons, but it is calculated • that 12,000, chiefly women, had squeezed themselves in on this occasion. The doors were then locked on 12,000 more who were disappointed' of entrance. Inside the vast hall was a, sight that recalled a famous meeting of suffragettes. The org-.-n pooled out "Rule, Britannia, ' and every woman, thrilled by the electric challenge, rose in response. Titled ladies and scullery maids sang together that never shall mistresses or maids be Mr Lloyd George's slaves. Ellen, Countess of Depart, was the chairwoman of the meeting. The Albeit Hall was not built for women to prescde as chairwomen. Supporting the chairwoman were Countess of Mayo, the Counters of Yarborough, the Countess of Arran, Countess Brassey, the Counties of Portsmouth, the Baroness Button, Lady ])e La Warr, Lady Kyelyn Baring. Lady Egerton, Lady Hastings, Lady Adela Montagu, Lady CrossJey, Lady -Muriel Gore-Brown, Lady Stanley, Lady Hindlip, the 'Hon. Mrs Harry Lawson, Airs Mary Anstruther, Mrs Humphry Ward. Mis Stephen Gwynne, Mrs Bedford Fenvridk, and Lord Claud Hamilton, Colonel Maude. Mr Hilaire Belloc, and Mr (iihson Bowlea. These represented thousands of others. Lady TJosart asked : ''By what light Mi Lloyd George decree that every mistre&J £iiidl be a taxgatheier?" At every mention of the Chancellor's name hisses were heard from floor to gallery. So loud did these recurring hisses become that a request was made from the platform that they should be discontinued and the Chancellor's name taken for granted. The chief points \>( the protest wore that the benefits of servants proposed were chiefly confined to paper, and that the only way to kill the bill is for mistresses and maids to refuse to pav.

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are faced wherever they go by militant women. At a public dinner recently Mr Asquith was questioned by a Suffragette guest as to hi; intentions, and at the City Temple this week, when Mr Asquith appeared at a celebration, tie wax shouted <!'>vvn hv Ruffrasrett** .'■• d their friends. He did not got past the opening sentences of his speech. The war cries were SO loud nv.d persistent that in tV>-< end. angrv Mr A.sqnith gave up the attempt to himself heard. Women sprang up all nvr the building at every attemp' he made to speak with a cry of ''Votes." Mr Asomth left by a back stairras" Tf *hr> fighting women have do e nothing further. th*v manage to it. expedient for the Prime Minister of a Government opposed to their vote to retire from the semes of their protest.' ' "Tf T cannot have silence I r'inll go." said Mr Asquith. He had anything but silence, and his speech was undelivered. The prospects of the women's vote are precarious. The Liberals affirm that the Unionist leaders nre making an attempt to induce their partv to take up a h«s*ile attitude towards the suffrage. \ letter h-s been sent to all Unionist members. who have supported the Conciliation Bill, which states the position as follows: On behalf of those Unionist members of the House cf Commons who are opposed to tb - > '.'rant of the rxrrl'Vimentary vote to ■women, we desire to address you on the situation CTeflted by the -Prime. Minister's J promise to introduce a bill next year for extending tho basis of the franchise. . There exist now, and have existed for ! many years, two distinct currents of thought in our party on the subject of womc-n'3 suffrn<.'o. One section is opposed on prin- ; ciplc to the enfranchisement of women, the I ether section favours the extension of the j Miffrn'jre to women on a limited qua'ifioation. j based on the possession of property and the j pavment of rates and taxes. The latter section is supnovfi'n<r the bill ■known as tho Conciliation Bill, now before Parliament. The miinber of women who j would b? enfranchised under this bill would bo relatively smell, nnd a majority of the ■women so enfranchised would, if is thought, j ?ote for Unionist candidates at c!fi.itiV»n.s. !

(Specially Written for the Witness Ladies' Page.)

We desire to point out to Unionist supporters of this bill how greatly the sitoftI tion has been changed by the Prime MinI ister's announcement, and how powerfully , that announcement confirms the contention, I which wc have always put forwaxd, that the Conciliation Bill is" the thin edge of the wedge, end must inevitably lead to adult I women suffrage—i.e., to the enfranchisement • of a majority of female over male voters. • By the passage of the Conciliation liill : for which a second, reading majority exists in the House of Commons, is passed into law next year, by the help of Unionist votes; the Adult Suffragists will later have the opportunity of moving an amendment to the Government Eeforni Bill, extending the franchise to women on the same terms as men. By the passage of the Conciliation Bill, the principle of women's suffrage will have been irrevocably conceded, and further resistance to the principle from any quarter will be useless. Wc ask you to consider the effect of this change on the minds of tho supporters of the Government. Will not those Liberal and Irish members who have hitherto opposed women's suffrage, from the Prime Minister downwards, say: "We have opposed women's suffrage- in the past, but now the principle has bean conceded, and conceded in a form unfair to us, and unduly advantageous to our opponents, we fhall certainly feel justified in voting for the removal of this anomalv, and for the placing of women's suffrage on a democratic basis.- / It follows that adult woman suffrage will probably receive the undivded support of tno Government forces, will be carried by Die full coalition majority, and will ultimately be ixusrd ir'o law under the terms of the Parliament Act. In such. <i. situation, we ask 3'our assent to the proposition that limited woman suffrage has become impossible, at all events in thi3 Parliament, and that tho choice lies between the enfranchisement of all women or of none. If those Unionists who have hitherto favoured the Conciliaton Bill continue to support it, their action will directly contribute to the establishment of adult woman suffrage. In these circumstances we earnestly ask you to reconsider the question of supporting this bill, and to oppose the driving in of a. wedge, tho thick edge of which is now exposed for oil to view. We may add that we shall be. heartily willing to co-operate with you in advocating the reference of this question to the poll of the electors, and,wo suggest that a policy of oppositon to tho legislative proposals for woman's suffrage promised for next year, coupled with advocacy of the referendum, is a policy on which all members of the party can wholeheartedly unite. Sir Edward Grey, in a letter to the Ea.rl of Lytton says:— The present situation is that an indifferent prospect of obtaining the enfranchisement of 1,000,000 women uncfor the Conciliation Bill may be exchanged for a good prospect, of the enfranchisement of some 6,030 000 women by an amendment to a Government bill, moved, if necessary, by a Cabinet Minister. As fa.r as I can judge, a larger measure of union is already forthcoming for an amendment of this character than had vet been apparent in tho case of the Conciliation Bill. TJ

p of u- who are united with regard to such an amendment have intended, ns far a.s may be in our power, to advocate the cause of women's suffrage on these lines actively .and publicly before the introduction o: the bill next year. Some of us have already made engagements for that purpose. But acts of violence such ns accompanied th* demonstration on November 21, culminating o;: Wednesday night in the disorderly eoeivrs at a meeting for a charitable purpose addressed by the Prime Minister, have done imrr.ewso mischief to the cause As a matter of fact, we cannot advocate it successfully when condu -t of tliis sort alienates numbers of people who would otherwise be disposed to give it a fair and favourable hearing: nor can it be expected that people like nrvfelf, who are colleagues end friends of the Prime Minister, can give active support to any movement while some of its supporters make him the object .of a demonstration such, ns recurred last night. In saying this. I know that I express the fcVinsrs of others who are my colleagues as well as for myself. I feel bound to say that fer. any of us to give 'ictive support to the cause of woman's suffrage while this violent conduct is enntinu'-d would be rcnupmant to our own good feclimr: and even if it were not so, it would, in the circumstances, be sheer waste of time, Th" Suffragettes who were arrested during the riot of two week* ago have <n their defence at Bow street given the magistrate practically one and the same reason for their outbreak —duty. The wife of a minister said that for 20 years in that position she had learnt how the women of the poor suffer, and had tried her best to help them, and what she did was a political protest on their behalf. Another reply was —" The police obstructed me in the execution of my duty." Another woman asked the magistrate if lie was taking motive into consideration. Another said, " I have put mv handwriting on the walls of the House of Commons."' Mrs Pethick Laurence has in the name of the militant army of Suffragettes declared continued war, and eeouts the assertion that they do not speak in th? voice of the womanhood of the nation, and that women to-day under the law :>f coverture occupv a more protected and privileged position than will be the case when they Ret the vote.

Women Pearl Divers. The pearl divers of Japan are women. Along the coast of the bay of Ago and the. Bav of Kolaske the 17> and 14-year old girls, after they have finished their primarv school work, go to sea and learn to dive. They are in the water and learn to swim almost from babyhood. They spend most of their time in the water feays the Oriental Review), except in the coldest season, from the end of December to the-beginning or February. Even during the most inclement of seasons they Gometimes dive for pearls. They wear a special dress, and the hair twisted up into a hard knot. The eyes

are protected by glasses to prevent the entrance of water. A boat in command of a man is assigned to every five to ten women divers to carry them to and from the fishing grounds. When the divers arrive on the grounds they leap into the water at once and begin to gather oysters at the bottom. The oysters are dropped into tubs suspended from their waists. When these are filled the divers are raised to the surface and jump into the boats. They dive to a depth of from five to thirty fathoms without any special apparatus, and retain their breath from one to three minutes. Their ages vary from 13 to 40 years and between 25 and 35 they are at their prime.

How the Pretty Dimple is Made. Dimples, pretty dimples, are now considered by girls a decided improvement to female beauty (says the Family Doctor), and if Nature has neglected to supply them artifical ones are procured, and in the following manner:—The operator places a glass tube over the particular spot where it is wanted, no matter whether on the arm, cheek, or neck. He sucks the air out of the tube, thus raising a slight prominence, around which he ties a "piece of silk. Afterwards he slices off the small pimple with a surgical knife. Tho wound is then dressed, the bleeding arrested and attended to from day to day until quite healed, when a silver cone is placed over the spot immediately in the centre, and bound on. The patient attends daily for several dressings. When the cone is removed at the completion of tho process, the wound has developed into quite a pretty and natural-looking dimple.

American Women Sn:o\ers. United States newspapers give prominence to the fact that a distinguished American woman, Mrs Craig Biddle, hag defied the national convention and calmly lit a cigarette in the restaurant of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel at Philadelphia. Mrs Biddle was accompanied by her millionaire husband when she inaugurated the revolt against the hitherto inviolate law against feminine smoking in fashionable resorts. The hotel employees gazed at her aghast, but none ventured to protest. She acquired the habit, she alleged, in London society.

Tea-drinking in Morocco. Taking tea in France or in England is an easy and graceful process, but according to the etiquette, of Morocco the same cannot be said. Tea is an honoured institution in the houses of the Caids, and it is the custom for the guests to take three cups in succession—the first with sugar, the second with the addition of vanilla, and the third with mint. The curious thing is the way the tea is made. The vessel in which it is brewed is warmed by the head of the house. Next he puts in the tea and sugar. Then after a time be draws off a cup and tastes it. The remainder goes back into the pot. This is repeated until the beverage suits the palate of the host. Then the cups are jj.issed round, but they are not emptied by the guests. • What remains is passed back to the host, who puts it into the vessel For preparations which are to follow with vanilla and mint.