Electoral Reform.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 5, 29 July 1908, Page 51

Electoral Reform.

SMALL HOPE FOR THE “ SUFFRAGETTES.” The advocates of “Votes for Women” fire divided over Mr. Asquith’s pledge in regard to the suffrage. The Countess of Carlisle, president of the Women’s Liberal Federation, declared that yesterday was “a glorious day of rejoicing, because the Prime Minister' had opened a way for them to enter into that inheritance of which they had been too long deprived.” The suffragettes, on the other hand, declare that they will go on opposing the Liberal Government and obstructing their meetings unless Mr. Stanger’s “V otes for Women” Bill js passed this session. They put no faith in a promise that female suffrage will be embodied in a new Reform Bill before the end of the present Parliament, for the promise is conditional on the Government being satisfied that the women of the country want the vote. The suffragettes regard that condition as a loophole through which the Government will wriggle when at comes to a pinch. So, instead of thanking Mr. Asquith for his pledge, they went and rang his door-bell, arjd made speeches on the doorstep until half a dozen of them were arrested and sent to gaol in default of paying fines. The Reform Bill promised by the Prime Minister before the expiration of the present Parliament has aroused keen speculation in political circles. The general impression is that it will not be a particularly ambitious legislative effort. It will not deal with such questions as the House of Lords, the duration of Parliament, or the redistribution of seats. But it will be a modest attempt, in the words of Mr. Asquith himself, to remedy the evils resulting from the confused state ,of the electoral law in respect of the length of the qualifying period,’ plural voting, and the unreal categories in which voters are now placed. Under the existing system of registration the qualifying period of residence necessary to qualify a man to vote is twelve months, and the register is made up once a year. It is nobody’s duty to see that none but qualified persons get on the list. The Government will, it is considered certain, propose that each constitutency shall possess an officer responsible for putting every qualified person on the register, and keeping him there. The registration will, it is believed, be continuous, and made up at least twice a year. The qualifying period of residence will undoubtedly be reduced from twelve to three months, and the disqualifications attaching to removals will be abolished. It is maintained that the disappearance of disqualification for “removal,” and the niceties of “successive occupation,” will immensely simplify and greatly reduce the cost of the registration system. The Government will, of course, make another attack upon that good old anachronism plural voting.