WOMEN’S FRANCHISE

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 30

WOMEN’S FRANCHISE

HUNGER STRIKERS RELEASED. I; LONDON, October 20. Two women, Dorothea Smith and Mormon, of Glasgow, as the result of a iunger strike have been released. October 21. Miss Kenny was carried in an ambulmce to the weekly meeting of the jfomen’s Social Union, and she lay on the >latform covered with blankets. ; Her “ Cat and Mouse ” license was sold 'or £25. | The detectives did not attempt to rejirrest her. 4 /i October 22. ■ Miss Sylvia Pankhurst has been released tfter indulging in a hunger strike. MRS RICHARDSON SENTENCED. LONDON, October 21. Mrs Richardson pleaded guilty at the jondon Sessions, but protested that the lOrture of forcible feeding had prevented ler from following the proceedings. She was entenced to four months’ imprisonncnt. CONSPIRACY CHARGES WITHDRAWN. LONDON, October 23. The conspiracy charges against Mrs “ General ” Drummond have been withdrawn, on the ground of the lapse of time and on account of her ill-health. The suffragettes burnt a sports pavilion tit Bristol University. The damage is estimated at £2OOO. ' In retaliation for the fire in the pavilion ihe students at Bristol University raided the suffragette offices, smashed the windows, piled the furniture and literature in the street, made a bon-fire of them, and did a war dance round the flames. At Swindon Mr Lloyd George told a suffragette deputation that he was more a suffragist than ever, but the prejudicial effects of the militancy campaign had been enormous. It had converted indifference Into bitter hostility on the part of the public. Women’s suffrage was never in a worse position in Parliament than it was to-day. Nevertheless, he did not despair. He was glad to observe that the spirit of militancy was withering, and he advised the women to organise strenuously on nonmilitant lines between now and the next general election. October 26. The Bristol University students renewed their attack and completed the destruction of the suffragette quarters. The police ~were powerless. Reprisals by the suffragettes are feared, and the university is guarded. Two fires, which were not serious, occurred at the Birmingham Railway Station. They are attributed to the suffragettes. APPEAL FOR A TRUCE. LONDON, October 24. Presiding at the Church Congress, the Bishop of Winchester made a powerful appeal to the militants to agree to a truce of God for the benefit alike of men and women, and for a relief to the present inflamed and unwholesome conditions of British social life. MRS PANKHURST. WASHINGTON, October 20, After a conference with the Secretary of the Department of Labour President Wilson decided to admit Mrs Pankhurst for her lecture engagements -n Ler own recognisances. The Immigration Commission has issued a statement that there ie nothing in the records showing that the British ■ Govern-

ment sought to have Mrs Pankhurst returned to England, and apparently no effort had been made to compel her to serve her whole sentence of three years. Mrs Pankhurst immediately drove to Mrs August Belmont’s house, where she will be a guest. NEW YORK, October 22. In addressing a crowded demonstration in Madison Square, Mrs Pankhurst declared that nothing could be got from the British Parliament except through violence. If women were given an opportunity of framing laws there would be no white slavery. Mr Herbert Samuel, addressing the Pilgrims’ Society, said he was glad that Mrs Pankhurst had been admitted to America. The ’Liberal Government had not the slightest objection to her admission. October 26. A reporter who was seeking an interview with Mrs Pankhurst knocked at her bedroom door. ilrs Pankhurst, thinking the man was an attendant, asked him to enter, but when he did so the reporter received a look sufficient to kill him stone dead. Mrs Pankhurst, shrieking, ordered him out, and, leaping out of bed, she drove the intruder downstairs. LONDON, October 23. Advices from New York state that Mrs Pankhurst’s meeting at Madison Square Gardens was a fiasco. The police, in conjunction with the Society for the Suppression of Vice, are seeking to prohibit the sale of the militants’ newspaper the Suffragette, owing to it containing articles on the sex question. LONDON, October 25. Two suffragettes, the contracting parties being members of the Spiritual League, were married at Bishopsgate. All references to obedience were omitted from the ceremony for the first time.