The sun., 1903-05-03

Sir John Cockburn said IN July, lbS0, ~ tno
annual meeting OF tho Central COMMITTEES
o. tie womsn's Suffrage Society In London:
"The refining influence Of women he's made
Itself felt In this sphere as In every other
They have elevate the whole realm OF
polit cs, without themselves losing jot
Of their innate purity. No poorer they,
but richer We. y their addition to the elec-
toral roll n West Australia an electoral
bill was passed In 1900 the important part OF
which for women lay In the Interpretation
clause, which onstrucd -elector' to mean
any person Of either sex whose name should
be on the electoral roll Of p ov'nce or dis
triot. Royal assent was given to the bill
In 1900. Although women, however, can
now vote for members Of the West Australia
Parliament. they cannot sit In that body
In the mother colony Of New South Wales
a bill comforting the Parliamentary fran
chise on women has passed tie Legislative
Council II had already passed the Legis-
lative Assembly and Is now law. We OBJ
serve. lastly. that in June. 'o02. the Parlia-
inent the Australian Commonwealth
passed bill giving women the right to vote
for members OF both houses and making
them eligible to both bodies. Abou 100000
, women were thus enfranchised at stroke.
Thus we see that in Victoria, Queensland
and Tasmania women may now vote for the
Federal Parliament but not for the State
Legislature. an anomaly which doubtless
will very soon be corrected. We may here
mention that in the Cape Colony women
have limited vote.
In the Canadian Dominion the woman
s,lffragists have as yet been unsuccessful.
althn,tnh iQQ9 Sir John
Macdonald introduced a bill in the Ottawa
House Of Commons for amending the elec-
toral law by giving the suffrage TO such
unmarried women as should possess the
necessary qualifications. As a change has
since been made in the Electoral act. maxi
ing the voters list for the Dominion coincide
with the provincial list, the battle for woman
suffrage will henceforth have to be fought
out in each separate province. Up to the
present time women In Canada have no
vote for any lawmaker. either Federal
or provincial In the Province Of Ontario
in 1884 widows and sptnsters received the
municipal franchise on the same terms
as men. All women, whether married
or single. IL owners OF property. may vote
on money bylaws when such are SUBJ
mitted to the electors. Any woman on the
assessment roll may vote for school
trustees and is eligible for that office. In
the Province OF New Brunswick the Legis-
lature in 1885 gave, unsolicited, to widows
and spinsters the right to vote on the same
terms as men at the municipal elections.
In 1893 an act was passed permitting the
appointment OF woman as school trustee
This was amended In 1896 making it COM
pulsory that two members OF each school
board should be women. In the Province
OF Nova Scotia the municipal franchise
was granted to widows and spinsters in
1887. bill giving them the provincial
franchise was defeated in 1893 and again
in 1894 by one vote. An act Of 1895 permits
all women, II rate payers. to vote on school
matters. In 1899 a bill for the full pro-
yincial franchise was lost by n votes. In
the Province OF Prince Edward Island in
1888 the municipal suffrage was conceded
to widows and spinsters owning property.
An act Of 1889 made women eligible to ap-
pontment on the school board. In British
Columbia in 1888 the municipal franchise
Was conferred on widows and spinsters
owning property and nine years later on all
women rate payers. In Manitoba in 1891
the municipal franchise was extended to
women, and any qualified woman rate
payer can vote on school questions and 10
eligible for school offices. In 1892 however,
a measure to give women tho full pro-
yincial suffrage was defeated by more than
two votes to one In the Northwest Ter
ritories in 1894 the municipal franchise
was granted to widows and spinsters. and
in school matters every woman rate payer
can vote In the Province Of Quebec In
1902 the municipal franchise was conferred
on widows and spinsters upon the same
terms as men, but six years later bill
granting them the provincial suffrage
WAS lost on division.
1t Is we'll known that the ancient king
dom OF the Isle Of Man has had an inde-
pendent government since the time OF the
Vikings, and makes its own laws. which
REQUIRE only the sanction OF the Crown.
In Dec. 1880. tho Manx Legislature gave
the whole suffrage to women property
owners, and the act received the assent
of Queen Victoria in January Of the fol-
lowing year. The privilege was extended
to all women rate-payers in 1892.
Ill.
We come now to the United Kingdom.
In 1850 Municipal Corporations act re-
stored to women rate-payers OF England
the vote in municipal elections which had
been taken away by the municipal Cor
porations act OF 1885. In the following year
an Elementary Education act for England
creating school boards placed women with
reference to such boards on a complete
equality with men. both as electors and as
eligible for membership. In lssl-s2. the
Municipal act for Scotland gave to women
in that kingdom the same municipal fran
chise which they had possessed in England
since 1882 Scotch women already had
the school franchise, The County Electors
act (lsss> gave women in England equal
franchises with men for the election OF
Councillors for the County Councils created
by the Local Government act Of that year.
The Local Government act Of 1894, which
reorganized the parochial poor-law ad-
ministration In the English counties, oon-
frrned the rights Of women to all local
franchises. and made them eligible, not
only as Poor-law Guardians, but also as
Parish and District Councillors In 1895.
the Poor-law Guardian act for Ireland
made women In that kingdom for the first
time eligible as Poor-law guardians. Two
wears later the Irish Local Government
sct reorpanized the system of local Rov-