24 JULY 1869, Page 3

The third reading of the Bill giving married women the

control of their own property was passed on Wednesday by 131 to 32, a vote of more than four to one. Nevertheless, it is believed that the Peers, in their new determination to control legislation, will throw out the Bill. The law lords, it is said, do not like it as an innova- tion, and the mass of the Peers as an unorthodox measure. The husband is to be the "head" of the wife, and they interpret head- ship as involving the right to confiscate her property. We say the right, for in practice there is probably not a Peeress in the country unprotected by a strict settlement. This law only does for the poor what the rich do for themselves, but the Peers will not pass, for all that.