personal property free from the debts and contracts of her
husband, and obtain an order of protection for her own earnings
and those of her minor children. She may become a stockholder of
any bank, insurance company or any incorporated association, as
if she were a _feme sole_, and may vote by proxy or otherwise. A
married woman is liable on contracts respecting her own real
estate. No married woman is liable to arrest either on mesne or
final process. Any superior court of law or equity or any judge
of said court, or a judge of a surrogate court, or deputy, may,
on hearing the petition of a mother, or minor whose father is
dead, appoint her as guardian--notwithstanding the appointment of
another person by the father--of the estate to which the minor is
entitled, and of such sums of money as are necessary from time to
time for the maintenance of the minor. In 1881 a law was passed
enabling a woman to discharge a mortgage on her lands without her
husband being a party to it, while a husband cannot dispose of
his property without her consent.

More than thirty years ago school suffrage was granted to women
on the same grounds as to male electors, and they are eligible to
all school offices. Women have, however, been slow to avail
themselves of this privilege, owing to their ignorance of the
laws and their lack of interest in regard to all public measures.
When they awake to their political rights they will feel a deeper
responsibility in the discharge of their public duties. But the
steady increase in the number of those who avail themselves of
this privilege is the one encouraging indication of the growth of
the suffrage movement in Canada.

In 1882 the municipal act was so amended as to give married
women, widows and spinsters, if possessed of the necessary
qualifications, the right to vote on by-laws and some other minor
municipal matters. Again, in 1884, the act was still further
amended, extending the right to vote at municipal elections to
widows and unmarried women on all matters. In Toronto, January 4,
1886, the women polled a large vote, resulting in the election of
the candidate pledged to reform. But it must be remembered that
this progressive legislation belongs only to the Province of
Ontario.

Mrs. Curzon writes:

In