Women’s Work at Elections.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11, 15 September 1906, Page 52

Women’s Work at Elections.

There is no denying that women ean do a great work at elections, for they ean bring into play all those qualities that render them so valuable as social or mission workers. Women are as a rule endowed with perseverance, enthusiasm, and a determination not to relax their efforts till the end to which they aspire shall be accomplished. They seldom think of fatigue, and will canvass all day long without stopping to remember fopd, careless of such trifles and animated with truly Spartan endurance. As regards woman’s direct work at elections I can say a good deal, says Miss Meresia Nevill in the Daily Mail, as. having been present at nearly twenty elections, 1 have not only canvassed and worked myself, but have seen much of the devoted work given by women, notably canvassers from the Primrose League and Liberal Unionist Association. When one begins canvassing at any election one must start with the idea that half the voters do not care one bit for polities, and are prepared to vote for the candidate whose canvassers appeal most to them. Tne lady canvasser must, above all, be pleasant, not lose her temper, and talk as a lady speaking to her equal, for voters are easily put against canvassers who in the very least degree patronise them. Many are entirely swayed by personal feeling—they vote for the person who asks them for their vote. Again, some vote for the person sending a carriage, and at some of the recent elections in England a voter has been known to say, “ I shall only vote for the candidate who sends a motor-car to fetch me.” A lady canvasser in the course of her rounds came upon a woman—this is to prove what I have said before that certainly half the electors do not care one bit about polities—and asked for whom her husband meant to vote. She replied. “ All I know is, he means to vote for the Conservatory” (Conservative). “And why?” asked the lady, “ does your husband mean to vote for the Conservative?"’ “Why, because my aunt, who died the other day, left me a £5 note and a parrot. She was a ‘ Conservatory,’ so we always vote for the Conservatories.” Does this not prove how malleable the electors are, and how much influenced by reasons quite outside the political issue? One essential to a good woman worker at any election is that she does be well dressed. It is a great mistake to go canvassing in old or shabby clothes; one’s whole appearance should be as attractive as possible. At one of the Holborn elections a man called out to me, “ 1 am seventy-six. have always voted for the Tories, but have never been driven to the poll by a lady, and should so qnjoy a drive.” I said, “ Jump up, and 1 will take you.” To prove to what length women workers will go for the cause they are supporting. 1 may cite the case of a lady of my acquaintance—a woman of great refinement—who at the Marylcbone election held some dead rabbits’ skins in the street while the man who sold them went to the polling-booth. Would many men workers from the amateur ranks have done such a thing? One tiling a lady canvasser must beware of, that is. not worrying electors or their wives. Lord Charles Beresford, when standing for . gave a good example of how to tackle the elector. He called a large number of people together in a mews, ami said to them: “ Have a good look at me: if you think I’m the best man. why. vote for me when the day comes.” That advise was terse and to the point. Often when I have noticed the “ harried ' looks of the women

who open their doors to the oft-repeated calls of the canvasser, I have wondered at their air of resigned patience.