31 OCTOBER 1896, Page 3

The Australian Colonies seem inclined to try the grave experiment

of women's suffrage. New Zealand has already adopted it, and we believe approves its working, and now a Bill embodying the same principle has been carried by a large majority in Victoria. This success for the innovation is the more remarkable because the majority in Victoria is made up of working men, and includes a great number of Roman Catholics, who are usually most hostile to an overturn in the position of the sexes. It must be remembered, how- ever, that neither in New Zealand nor in Victoria have the women the immense majority over men which they possess in this country.