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women. That, he believed, was a reform which had been long called for, and which placed the relation of husband and wife as regarded the property of the latter, and especially as to her earnings, on a fair and satisfactory basis. He confessed to being one of those who would go a little further as regarded the ladies. Where the circumstances cast upon the woman the duty of being the head of the house-of paying taxes and bearing other burthens which pertained to that position-she should possess the privileges which the law gave to the head of a house, and where a woman was a householder and a taxpayer, he held that she should also be a voter.

At the soirée on the previous day, Mr. SAMUEL MORLEY, M.P., also alluded to the small, unpretending measure called the Women's Property Bill, which will put husband and wife on a level as to the possession of property. The old saying used to be "What is my wife's is mine, and what is mine is my own"-but that had received an absolute quietus under the recent Act, and women who had property would, without settlement or any deed, be as righteously and legally entitled to the use of that property as their husbands would be in connection with their own property.

Mr. F. N. TRIBE said, at the same meeting, their active associations in Bristol were the Liberal Five Hundred, the Liberal Operative Association, the Junior Liberal Association, and the Women's Liberal Association. Unfortunately, women had not yet got votes for Parliamentary elections, and so could not help in that way, but they could help in the work; and they had proof of that in the late municipal elections, for in both wards where they helped in the canvass there were Liberal victories.

In a letter which was read at the Suffrage Meeting in Leicester, on November 15th, Mr. P. A. TAYLOR, M.P., said: "I need hardly say how heartily I am in sympathy with the object of the meeting at Leicester to-morrow. The progress of this question has been, perhaps, the most marked of any important one of our time. I remember speaking on the question of Woman's Rights, some forty-five years ago apropos

of Miss Martineau's writings, and I really do not believe there were at that time 100 persons who would have voted for the Suffrage for Women. Now you are a power in the country, and will soon be powerful enough to command the waverers, I fear the most numerous party in the State on all great questions. "Political enfranchisement for women is a necessity naturally growing out of the existing conditions of society. It is their right and our highest policy. Even supposing (a great admission) that the enfranchisement of women would only increase their indirect influence upon the questions of the day, it is nevertheless of immense importance that the men who are still practically to see to the business of legislation should have been educated by mothers who in the matter of political responsibility are no longer classed amongst criminals, idiots or minors."

Mr. CHARLES B. MCLAREN, M.P., has written an excellent letter to the Birmingham Daily Post, December 11th, on the Employment of Women in the Nut and Bolt Trade :

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SIR,-May I venture to trouble you with a few remarks on the recent agitation of Mr. Juggins, Secretary of the National United Nut and Bolt Makers, which culminated last week in a public meeting at Darlaston? I am one of the fifty Members of Parliament whom Mr. Juggins has favoured with the statement of his views on female labour, in the form of documents and reports reprinted from the Post. The entire candour of his avowals convinces me that his Association have a grievance. In common with ironmasters, coalowners, cotton spinners, and other persons languishing under the conditions of unrestricted competition, they desire, in their inmost souls, a monopoly of trade as an easy road to fortune. They have pressed upon their employers the advisability of a general rise in wages. "The employers," says Mr. Juggins, "would not listen to the application, but gave the delegates to understand that an increase of price tended to drive small work to another district, where it was made by women instead of men." delegates perceive that "the question of female labour is one that affects them closely." The scales fall from their eyes. Casting aside all worldly affections and partial considerations, and fired by missionary zeal, Mr. Juggins becomes alive to the sad fact that, to allow women to work at nut and bolt making is an "accursed system-not only very detrimental to male labour, but fatal to the moral and physical welfare of the women themselves. Warming to the good work, Mr. Juggins informs us that " women are so unsexed (by nut and bolt making) that one man in

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formed him that, when he was thoroughly exhausted, his daughter could still go on working for some time longer." This shocking state of things demands the interference of the Legislature, for true womanliness includes the physical weakness which prevents women from having any influence upon the rate of wages. That nature should allow women to compete with men, and to compete successfully, is more than a man and a nut and bolt maker can stand.

But Mr. Juggins has another reason for the extirpation by Parliament of the intrusive female. "These women," says he, "working side by side with men, are exposed to the grossest possible language and conduct." His zeal for high wages surely carries him too far. He exaggerates the immorality of his own class. So bad as this his brethren cannot be. Does he propose, with Draconian logic, to drive them also from the forge? No. As he unfolds his purpose it appears that he would visit upon the mothers the sins of the fathers, and, by driving the women out of the trade, punish the alleged indecent conduct of the men.

After all, the Nut and Bolt Makers' Association are only following in the path which many other societies have trodden without much thought. When women strive to gain a living, this is a common outcry among their male rivals, who consider their own trade the very worst that could be selected for women; and who are fond of passing (on their sole responsibility, be it remembered) resolutions such as that of Darlaston-" to continue their efforts until Parliament shall have listened to the cries of the starving women of the Black Country, who are very desirous for the change." Are they? Then why do these women not give up the work of their own accord? I have never known of a "starving woman" desiring to be deprived even of the 3s. 6d. a week which excites the cupidity of this Association; but if such is the feeling of the Smethwick women, probably the Association will have no difficulty in procuring from such women sufficient signatures to a declaration of their views as will convince me of the fact. It is, perhaps, true that these women are engaged in dirty and arduous tasks, through weary hours, for miserable pay; but it is the lot of women to know that if they are to exist at all, they cannot afford to be dainty in their choice of a trade. If they work at hard and unsuitable occupations, it is because no pleasanter or better-paid work offers itself to them; and I cannot see how it will improve their condition to turn them out of one without providing them with another. Perhaps the delegates will consider this, and answer the question. Will they provide for the women thus displaced, or shall the parish keep them? Or will those women crowd into other women's trades, increase the grinding competition there, and still further lower the rate of wages? As it is, thousands of women to whom the state of marriage is denied by the selfishness of men, have a choice only between the workhouse and the

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MISCELLANEOUS.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BANGOR. The first meeting of the Mutual Improvement Association was

held in the church on November 20th. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Miss Isabella M. S. Tod on the education, employment, and enfranchisement of women. Despite the severity of the evening the attendance was very large.

GIRLS' FRIENDLY SOCIETY. - On November 27th a conversazione in aid of this society was held at the residence of Lord Brabazon, 83, Lancaster Gate, the visitors being principally employers resident in London. Mrs. TOWNSHEND, president of the Council, explained the objects of the society, which are to bind together for mutual help, religious and secular, ladies who as associates act as the directing power, and girls and young women engaged in business or in service; to assist the latter by providing them with recreation rooms, giving assistance in sickness, furnishing them with respectable homes when unemployed, and giving introductions to associates in other localities, and to encourage among them purity of life, dutifulness to parents, faithfulness to employers, and thrift. She appealed to employers to assist in extending the sphere of the society's usefulness by encouraging those they employed to avail themselves of its benefits. The society now numbers 61 branches, including those at Paris and Boulogne, and is spreading from the United Kingdom to the United States, and every British colony, as well as to several foreign countries, while it has associates in nearly every continental capital. Its membership in England has increased to 6,788, an advance of over 1,200 on last year. Lady HELEN STEWART and several other associates spoke in support of the society's objects.

EMIGRATION.-A drawing-room meeting for the purpose of considering Madame von Koerber's plans for assisting the emigration of women, was held by permission of Mrs. P. A. Taylor, at 22, Ashley Place, S.W., on November 29th. Madame von Koerber is a German lady, who has already helped a large number of her countrywomen to emigrate to America. She has now gone to the United States to make further arrangements for their reception.

EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT.-An immense meeting

womans,

15th,

of shopkeepers and assistants was held on November 26th, in the Albert Hall, under the presidency of Lord BRABAZON, to consider the best means of promoting the earlier closing of all shops, especially once a week on the same day at an uniform hour. At the conclusion of his speech Lord BRABAZON said he understood the Government were under some kind of pledge to Lord STANHOPE to bring in a Bill on the subject under discussion, but he was afraid it would be something on the lines of the noble lord's own, dealing only with women and young persons, and excluding adults from its operation. Although the League would not oppose the Bill, they would by no means accept it as an equivalent for their demands.

This announcement was received with loud cheers. It does not apparently form part of the creed of the Association that grown women have a claim to be considered "adults" where their own labour is concerned.

Lord CLAUD HAMILTON moved, "This meeting considers the many hours during which the majority of female assistants in shops and similar places are obliged to stand to be ruinous to their health, as well as absolutely unnecessary, and also considers that the committee of inquiry mentioned in the last resolution, should suggest some means whereby the female assistants can obtain as much rest as possible during working hours, consistently with the due discharge of their duties; and this meeting pledges itself to support the efforts of the Shop Hours Labour League to protect the health of the female assistants, and to obtain a general reduction in the hours of labour wherever they are unduly prolonged." This resolution was also carried by acclamation.

It is an ungracious task to be continually objecting to the conclusions arrived at by sentiments of such pure philanthropy as actuate such resolutions as the above; but why continue the dangerous fallacy of treating women as a class apart to be "protected," legislated for, restricted, and looked after by special laws made on their behalf? The inordinate length of shop-hours are ruinous to the health of both male and female assistants, and if one needs protection and rest, both do

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