ill
which was denied a third reading for two years on the ground that it
was not democratic enough! A careful canvass has shown that in the
different parts of the United Kingdom from 80 to 90 per cent, of those
whom it would enfranchise are wage- or salary-earning women, and not one
Labor member of Parliament voted against it.

Women in England have been eligible for School Boards since 1870; have
had the county franchise since 1888; have been eligible for parish and
district councils and for various boards and commissions since 1894,
and hundreds have served in the above offices. In 1907, as recommended
in the address of King Edward, women were made eligible as mayors and
county and city councilors, or aldermen. Three or four have been
elected mayors, and women are now sitting on the councils of London,
Manchester, and other cities. The municipal franchise was conferred on
the women of Scotland in 1882, and of Ireland in 1898.

The Irishwomen's Franchise League demands that the proposed Home Rule
bill shall give to the women of Ireland the same political rights as it
gives to men. This demand is strongly supported by many of the
Nationalist members of Parliament and some of the cabinet, and it is
not impossible that after all these years of oppression the women of
Ireland may be fully enfranchised before those of England, Scotland,
and Wales.

In the Isle of Man women property-owners have had the full suffrage
since 1881, and women rate- or rent-payers, since 1892.

ENGLISH COLONIES

The Parliament of New Zealand gave school suffrage to women in 1877,
municipal in 1886, and Parliamentary in 1893. It was the first country
in the world to grant the complete universal franchise to women.

The six States of Australia had municipal suffrage for women from the
early days of their self-government. South Australia gave them the
right to vote for its State Parliament, or legislature, in 1894, and
West Australia took similar action in 1899. The States federated in a
Commonwealth in 1902 and almost the first act of its national
Parliament was to give the suffrage for its members to all women and
make them eligible to membership. New South Wales immediately conferred
State suffrage on women, and was soon followed by Tasmania and
Queensland. Victoria yielded in 1909. Women of Australia have now
exactly the same franchise rights as men.

In all the provinces of Canada for the last twenty years widows and
spinsters who are