In South and West Australia and New South Wales women may vote for members of the State Parliament. In Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania they may vote for the Federal but not for the State Parliament, an anomaly which doubtless will be very soon rectified. It is possible that before this volume is read all the women of the six Australian States will possess the full franchise by constitutional right.—Eds.]
In the South African Colonies there has been, as yet, no history to record. That the question simmers in many thoughtful minds there can scarcely be a doubt, but the time for organised action does not seem to have yet arrived.
The other Colonies of Great Britain, with the exception of Canada, are not self-governing.
DOMINION OF CANADA.
The story of the movement to obtain the Parliamentary Franchise in the Dominion dates back to 1883. In April of that year the Premier, Sir John Macdonald, introduced a Bill in the Legislature for amending the electoral law, including a clause which gave the suffrage to unmarried women who possessed the necessary qualifications.
Previously, on March 9th, the Toronto Women's Literary and Social Progress Club had gathered in public for the first time in the City Council Chamber to consider the Suffrage question. Mrs. McEwan presided and a paper "treating pithily and with much aptness on the subject of the Franchise" was read by Miss E. Foulds, who moved a Resolution "that in the opinion of this Meeting the Parliamentary Franchise should be extended to women who possess the qualifications which entitle men to vote." This and a second resolution proposing the formation of a society to forward such legislation as might be required were both carried, many ladies and gentlemen speaking in their support and a large number of those present giving in their names as members. On April 5th an adjourned meeting was held and the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association was constituted.
Sir John Macdonald's Bill was presented too late to become a law and was re-introduced in 1884. It was in this year that members of the British Suffrage Association visited Canada. Miss Lydia Becker and Mrs. Lilias Ashworth Hallett were among them, and they and several other English ladies united in sending an address to Sir John Macdonald thanking him for the introduction of provisions in his Bill to enable women to vote and expressing their high appreciation of the just and generous spirit which had actuated him. Mrs. Hallett had some conversation with Sir John Hall, who told her the only difficulty they expected in Canada as regarded passing the Bill was from the French population. This expectation proved to be well-founded. The Women's Suffrage Clauses were rejected by 51 ayes, 78 noes, after a debate extending over thirty-one consecutive hours.
It was ten years before any further effort was made to secure the Parliamentary Franchise. In 1894 a petition for this, in behalf of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, supplemented by memorials from the Provinces, was presented by Sir James Grant to the House of Commons, and by the Hon. Mr. Scott to the Senate, but no resolution was offered. A Bill introduced by Mr. Dickey, dealing with the electoral franchise, contained a clause asking suffrage for widows and spinsters, but the Bill was read only once. Mr. Davis, unsolicited, brought in a resolution for Women's Franchise on the same terms as men. Forty members voted for it, one hundred and five against it.
A petition for the Parliamentary Franchise for women, very largely signed by Federal voters throughout the Dominion, was presented to the House of Commons and the Senate in 1896. This was the last effort in the Parliament, and as a change has since been made in the Electoral Act, making the voters' list for the Dominion coincide with the Provincial lists, the battle will therefore have to be fought out in each separate Province.