WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11250, 15 April 1908, Page 4

WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

The,; spirited 1 contests that are taking place , in England in connection with the suffragette ' movement are reminiscent of the controversy that raged in New. Zealand prior, to 1893, and it is interesting in the . light of the experience of this electoral reform in the Dominion to follow the argument that are being adduced'.on the other, side of the globe^^A Woman's Plea Against Woman Suffrage" is the title of a paper in the Nineteenth Century and After, from the pen of Mrs John Massie, who. marshals the usual arguments skilfully, denying! that the.interests of. women have been - neglected under man-made legislation, and asserting that woman suffrage has not succeeded in: raising women's wages in the colonies, where women have' the franchise. .The writer asks : — "What would be the condition of the country in a crisis of its fate if its policy were swayed to and fro by the gusts of feminine emotion?" She protests, also that home-life, would suffer, and she quotes M r Gladstone as writing in 1892: "There has never within my knowledge been a case in which the franchise has been extended to a large body of persons generally indifferent about re-, ceiving it. Btit- here, in addition to a widespread indiffererice, there is, on the part of, large numbers of women, who have considered the matter for- themselves; the most positive, objection and strong disfipprobation, " . We had women sayirig tlie same .thing in- New '.Zealand ,in the early nineties,- but libw they all take good care to exercise the privilege conferred upon them, <irid ; what a bedlam would be raised if any mere man should seriously propose to revoke their franchise. On the other sido of the case -we have a vigorous plea from. . Miss Gladys Jones in the W-stmihster Review, , the lady asserting that the great hope' of England is centred in the: women; and protesting strongly against "the sacred bugbear which we make of family Hfe." The writer says : "So" lortg as man. is credited w r ith a political, arid national value denied to. the other sex; so long must he usiiailly exact, even if unconsciously, the : rijfehts of a petty tyrant. For the reuse of, man's superlative value has grown into the national thought. He , is not conscious of the fact that law and custom are , not necessimly justice. He forgets quite naturally that his Wife is a living soul, born alone,. to die alone, and he keeps, her for ,Ins comfort and pleasure; 'he forgets that his daughters are (Hhically neitiier for his amusement or unpaid attendance, biit have received from him una6kingly' ; the vital spark which/ given may riot be claimed again, and with. it. have acquired the burden of personal responsibility."- Miss Gladys Jones is passionate, but she is not very practical. However, she makes one ,very remarkable suggestion', namely, "a revolution of the whole sex," which ; she considers "might, Work wonders and place the enemy 'in something of a quandary;" She. would have women compel men to grant tliem the franchise by the expedient of denying to men' en masse the privilege of paternity untiltlie boon was granted ] _ -'■ "" . -.".