WOMEN’S SECRET WILL BE KEPT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 6

WOMEN’S SECRET WILL BE KEPT.

AGE OF NEW VOTERS NOT TO BE ASKED. (Special to the “Star.”) LONDON, September 3. W omen who are to have the vote for the first time at the General Election next spring, will enter upon the qualifying period of three months to-dav. There are 5,245,000 of them. At the end of that time they will be entitled to have their names placed on the new voting register. They will be interested, and in some oases relieved, to learn that they will not be asked the question: “What is your exact age?” The form that householders will have to fill up in a few weeks’ time merely “ State whether aged twenty-one vears or over • ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ” An official in Whitehall yesterday offered advice to the young women about to be enfranchised. “Let them,” he said, “keep a watchful eye on . the lists when published in January. “It does not follow, because their names do not appear, that they are to be denied the vote. “In the mighty task of compiling lists aggregating nearly 27,000,000 men and women, there are bound to be accidental omissions of qualified persons, although everything is being done to avoid that. “The authorities are not relying only upon canvassers. As a check upon mishearing of names and misunderstanding of details, forms are being sent to all householders or occupiers They are being printed now.” Anyone who fails to give the required information, or who gives false particulars, will be liable to a penalty of £2O. The whole preparation of the register, the biggest undertaking the Home Office has tackled since the extension of the franchise in 1918. will cost an additional £280.000. bringing the total expenditure to £894.000.