ARATAPU MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT CLASS.

Wairoa Bell, Volume IV, Issue 151, 24 June 1892, Page 2

ARATAPU MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT CLASS.

The ordinary meeting of the above Class was held on Wednesday evening. Members were rather slow in putting in an appearance but ultimately gathered in fair numbers. The President and "Vice-president being the leaders in the debate the Class voted Mr T. French to the chair. The question for discussion was Equal ?” Mr Stallworthy who opened in the affirmative, thought it very presumptous of the male sex to claim any mental superiority. Both sexes were of the same flesh and blood, breathed the same air, ate the same food and boasted the same parentage. He knew from his experience as a teacher and a man that the girls of a family were mentally equal to the boys, and it was, he thought, the physical superiority of man that led him to imagine himself also woman’s superior mentally. The aidour and zeal of the young lover proved woman’s equably- for surely such fervour could not bo excited by the courting of a being mentally as well as physically inferior. If the female be mentally weaker then the father should train the young and the mother take up his work : and the great increase of late years in the number of lady teachers is a national calamity and steps should be taken to place the education of the Nation’s hope in the sole hands of tbe sex which is mentally' stronger. Man had legislated in the past and assigned to woman a subordinate position in which her powers of thought had been held in check. Times were progressing and woman was now stepping forth, claiming that freedom to which she, as man’s mental equal was entitled. Comparisons of the past were not applicable to the present equality of the sexes. The speaker then cited instance!} of lypiqiaif’s work in politics, education, business aqxl farming.

Mr Thomas Welh opened in the negative and said that a wide difference existed between the brothers and sisters of a family as also it did between the brothers of a family. He claimed that men were physically stronger by 7 nature and not by 7 training and man also was naturally mentally stronger. Ho did not urge that a woman was an inferior being to i} mail because of her mental weakness; the sexes should have an equal position in society. The opener yery wisely chose, to

ignore the past because the whole past was directly against his contention. The nation which was strong mentally invariably 7 came to the front position and so too would woman have done if she possessed equal capacity to man. The skull of a woman was smaller than that of a man and it bad been proved Unit woman’s brain averaged five -i-iiic- s less in weight than man's. If the sexes wre m -ml or- lv it would have been shown by results in all the past ages. No man ever received training as a statesman beyond what a woman received and yet we had no female statesmen. Not a single mathematician, arid though there were many female writers none of them reached to the highest positions and none could approach Shakespeare. All the inventions of the past had been thought out by men, and many of them too the most untaught of men. WOman had received as good a. training in the past as man and yet she was far behind in all departments of work. He agreed that women did sometimes show a mental superiority 7 but the exceptions only went to prove the rule. Mr J. Elliott denied that woman’s education had in the past been equal to man’s, and as to Shakespeare it was doubtful whether he wrote the plays coupled with his name. Amongst novelist he considered woman took a high position and where was the man who could in this respect, compare with Mrs J. M. Riddle. MenVbrains were larger but mental equality might still be claimed for woman whose brain was finer. Maria Theresa might be named as no mean statesman. Mr J. A. Rhodes said that woman was onlyjust beginning to assert herself and in a few years her position in the world would be much stronger. Then she would show her mental superiority by shutting hotels and putting an end to war and bloodshed. The number of lady M.A’s, B.A’s and M.D’s showed her equality. He knew that girls were quite equal to boys in school work. Mr Sowter said that statesmanship required physical endurance as well as mental strength and woman’s physical weakness would p'er • haps account for her lack in the past. A t man’s wife gave in to him as a rule and this would account for woman not assertin' 7, herself. Mr French considered the sexes equal and thought weight of brain no proof to the contrary.He instanced two farms one of 100 acres and the other of 25, the larger bringin' 7- in little or no return while the smaller bein" of much better quality gave good returns, and so, too, he thought it might be with the brain—quality not quantity 7 was the test, Mr Stubbs speaking in reference to the Clothing trade s;.id Ihat woman was not mentally equal to man. The inferior work was given to woman for neither in fit, taste nor stylejdid she show herself equal to man,(A gentle voice—“Mr Stubbs had better prepare himself for a thumping when he gets outside.”) Mr Webb in reply said that women had received as good schooling as men. In music even which was more practised by women than men, the latter had taken the hip-hest place and even in dressmaking and fashion the premier place was held by a man of the name of Worth.

Mr Stalhworthy who occupied full time in reply, asked how it could be claimed that woman was mentally and physically weaker than man and yet not be an inferior being. TJt> to very recent years it had been considered improper for woman to speak publicly and she had been kept in home bondage as it were so that, it was unfair to take the past as having reference to the question under debate. Women’s bodies being smaller their brains would naturally be smaller than men’s. In all the branches of work referred to as showing man’s superiority, men spent their lifetime at the work table while woman had to look to his wants and his home and children and it was manifestly unfair to expeGt her to equal man in those lines. It was just as fair to ask what men could equal women in the work of the house, cooking, decoration etc., etc. The question being put to the vote the Class affirmed that the Sexes are mentally equal, by a vote of 13 to 4. None of those young men who vated in the negative had the pleasure of escorting a lady home,