s, 11 noes.

In the Province of Quebec, in 1892, the Municipal and School Franchise
was conferred on widows and spinsters on the same terms as on men. The
law relating to the right of women to sit on the School Board was
ambiguous, so a petition was presented that they be declared eligible.
The response to this was an amendment excluding women. In Montreal,
under the old charter, only widows and spinsters who owned property
had the Municipal Franchise; in 1899 this was amended, adding tenancy
with residence as a qualification. In 1898 a Bill granting them the
Provincial Suffrage was lost on division.

In the Northwest Territories, in 1894, the Municipal Franchise was
granted to widows and spinsters. In School matters every woman
rate-payer can vote and is eligible to School offices.[497]

FOOTNOTES:

[483] The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise
except that for members of Parliament. Local suffrage is restricted to
spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District
Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by
married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified
in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general
terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some
exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.

[484] These were classified in groups: (1) The general list (2) Wives
of clergymen and church dignitaries. This list was headed by Mrs.
Benson and Mrs. Thomson, the wives of the Archbishops of Canterbury
and York. (3) Officials, including ladies who are Poor Law Guardians
and members of School Boards. (4) Education, including the names of
such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as Mrs.
Wm. Grey, Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick--the Mistress of
Girton, the Principal of Newnham College, upwards of sixty university
lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of High Schools, upwards of
eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were
omitted for want of space the names of over 200 other women engaged in
the teaching profession. (5) Registered medical practitioners, headed
by Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M. D.; Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, M. D., and
Mrs. Scharlieb, M. D., together with a number of ladies engaged in the
department of nursing. (6) Social and philanthropic workers. (7)
Literature, including Miss Anna Swanwick, Mrs. Anne Thacke