“man.” The question was put in the form that “man” should stand part of the clause, and it was lost. The voting was:—
| Ayes | ... | ... | ... | 29 |
| Noes | ... | ... | ... | 34 |
| Marjority | ... | ... | ... | 5 |
The word “man” was therefore struck out and “person” substituted. Those who voted with Mr. Ballance for the woman franchise on that occasion were: Sir Harry Atkinson, Sir John Hall, Colonel Trimble, Major Haines, the Hon. A. Pitt, Major Willis, Dr. Wallis, and Messrs. Acton-Adams, J. W. Bain, J. C. Brown, De Lautour, H. J. Finn, Seymour Thorne George, R. Hursthouse, G. Ireland, W. Johnston, J. Lundon, J. Macandrew, W. Montgomery, F. J. Moss, W. A. Murray, K. Oliver, R. H. J. Reeves, R. C. Reid, A. Saunders, W. Swanson, R. Turnbull, E. G. Wright, W. J. Speight, and the full contingent of Maori members, Te Wheoro, Tomoana, Tainui, and Tawhai.
The proceedings were watched by many ladies in the Ladies’ Gallery of the House. Mr. Ballance, Mr. Saunders, Dr. Wallis, Mr. Murray, and Colonel Trimble spoke in all seriousness and in good taste; but most of the debate, according to the reporters in the Press Gallery, “was of an inane, not to say idiotic, character.”
That motion affirmed the principle that the franchise should be given to women who possessed property. Three days later, when the Bill was in committee again, Mr. Ballance moved to strike out “man” and substitute “person” in another clause, providing that there should be a residential qualification to vote as well as a freehold qualification. But the House felt that it had gone far enough, and it declined, by 27 votes to 19, to sanction that proposal.
After the Bill had gone through committee, and was reported for its third reading, Mr. Vincent Pyke asked that the Bill should be recommitted with the object of considering the woman’s franchise again. The attitude he took up was that it was not necessary for women to hold property in order to possess intelligence, and that the franchise, therefore, should be given to them without reservation; but, as he was one of those who
