THE SUFFRAGETTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10682, 31 January 1913, Page 1

THE SUFFRAGETTES.

■ .-J-.', ■ ■' LETTER-BOX OUTRAGES. United Pres3 Association—By Electric \ - ■ telegraph—Copyright.- •• LONDON, January 30. - •Two hundred packets wererdatfiagefr in the Vere Street Post Office. t A packet addressed to Mr Lloyd George •hurst into flames when exposed to.the 1 fiir. >, • Pillar-box outrages are reported from many districts. r ' ; " '- A suffragette was arrested- fb'r breaking a window at tho Colonitil Office. Tour letter-boxes at York :contained letters to Mr Asquith, in which wero ,glass tubes of liquid,-which ignited,on exposure tp the air. . AMERICAN SUFFRAGETTES. NEW YORK 3 January 30. Suffragettes plan to walk to Washington. with&messageto the White' House demanding votes. '-' ' MINISTERS INTERVIEWED.

SCENE IN WHITEHALL. > A cable message- to the Sydney ".Sunthus describes the recent dei! putation to Ministers:— The non-militant suffragettes had a field day to-day. All their forces were gathered from the four .corners of the ~ Kingdom. They flooded • Whitehall. Twenty.,selected organisations from the bjg cities rolled up in private omnibuses ;>with flags, flying and ribbons streaming and banners blazoned with the" women's mottoes waving in the breeze. When Mrs Drumniondf who holds the title ofgeneral," arrived there was a shrill cheer, and the traffic was 1 stopped while the rest of the vote-seekers crowded round their leader. . There were some strange sights to be eeen. Buxom damesVm.short skirts-of ■ wondrous lines walkVd'"'cheek by "jowl ' with Lancashire lassies in clogs and ehawls: Aristocratic ladies in furs, and - lowly' maidens wearing the apron of servitude, stood side by side. ■■■■■• The suffragettes interviewed Mr

J/loyd George and Sir Edward Grey. The speeches were generally temperate; though • & Mrs ' Norton, • a Yorkshire weaver, said that if.the vote was not i given .to women,the tactics that had hitherto been adopted would soon be recognised.as,mere pinpricks as compared with . what- would happen. Mn Lloyd George told the ladies that . the Ministry was divided. But Mr As- ... jjuith, the Prime Minister, had authorised him to announce that if the amendment proposed by- Sir Edward Grey to' , the Franchise Bill, affirming the general principle of votes for women, were carried, the Government would accept it And.endeavour to make the Bill law as • ministerial measure. The ■ deputation urged Mr Lloyd George-and Sir Edward Grey to resign if the amendment were not carried, but the two Ministers declined to discuss \he suggestion, Sir Edward Grey, remarking that; a united Cabinet was of no use without a majority in the House of Commons. When they came out from interviewing the Ministers, the. suffragettes found one side of the street being paraded by men carrying sandwich-boards bearing the words, " Women don't want votes," while on the other side of the- thoroughFare marched a line of women bearing more placards with the sentence, " Men, why deny women votes ?"