Taxation had been so entirely the ascendant questions at the General Election of 1890, that it came as a surprise to most to learn next year that the House of Representatives was in favour of women’s suffrage.  Even then it was not generally supposed that the question would be settled.  Sir John Hall, however, its consistent friend, brought it up in the House, and Ballance, an equally earnest supporter, at once accepted it.  After that, the only doubts as to its becoming law sprang from the attitude of the Legislative Council, and from the scruples of certain persons who thought that so great a change should be definitely submitted to the constituencies.  Feeling was both strengthened and exacerbated by the enthusiasm of the Prohibition lodges, some of whose members at the same time demanded that the Government should pass the measure, and emphatically assured every one that its passing would forthwith bring about the Government’s downfall and damnation.  There is no doubt that many of the Ministry’s opponents believed this, and that to their mistake was due the escape of the Bill in the Council.  It was passed on the eve of the General Elections by the narrowest possible majority.  The rush of the women on to the rolls; the interest taken by them in the elections; the peaceable and orderly character of the contests; and the Liberal majority returned at two successive General Elections are all matters of New Zealand history.

Most of the women voters show as yet no disposition to follow the clergy in assailing the national system of free, secular, and compulsory education.  They clearly favour temperance reform, but are by no means unanimous for total prohibition.  On the whole, the most marked feature of their use of the franchise is their tendency to agree with their menkind.  Families, as a rule, vote together, and the women of any class or section are swayed by its interests, prejudices, or ideals to just about the same extent as the males thereof.  Thus, the friends and relatives of merchants and professional men, large landowners, or employers of labour, usually vote on one side; factory girls, domestic servants, wives of labourers, miners, artisans, or small farmers, on the other.  Schoolmistresses are as decidedly for secular education as are schoolmasters.  It is too soon to pronounce yet with anything like confidence on the results of this great experiment.  We have yet to see whether female interest in politics will intensify or fade.  At present, perhaps, the right of every adult woman to vote is more remarkable for what it has not brought about than for what it has.  It has not broken up existing parties, unsexed women, or made them quarrel with their husbands, or neglect their households.  It has not interfered with marriage, or society, or the fashion of dress.  The ladies are not clamouring to be admitted to Parliament.  They do less platform-speaking than Englishwomen do, though many of them study public affairs—­about