Mr. Shackleton in introducing the Woman Suffrage Bill in the
House of Commons on Tuesday said that it conciliated the different views of those who were in 'favour of the enfran- chisement of women. He himself would have supported a much more advanced Bill than the present one, which repre- sented the minimum of what was desired. He hoped the Government would allow the lull in the Constitutional struggle to be utilised for giving it full facilities. Mr. F. E. Smith said it was futile to expect the House of Commons to dispose in a few hours of a highly controversial question dividing the House on non-party lines. A few months would be inadequate. Those who agreed with him were prepared to offer to the proposals the most implacable resistance which the rules of Parliament would permit. The Bill was then brought in and read a first time without a division. We have dealt elsewhere with the general situation.
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