Equal Suffrage in Australia

Lady Holder, the wife of Sir Frederick W. Holder, K. C. M. G., Speaker of the House of Representatives of Federated Australia, contributed the following article to the N. Y. Independent, of June 9, 1904. Lady Holder has taken a leading part in philanthropic work in South Australia. She says:

"The women of South Australia were placed in a position of political equality with men several years ago. Accordingly, everybody has become accustomed to the arrangement, and it seems perfectly natural. It has not produced any marked effect on female character, or made any particular difference to domestic life. Women are more interested in public affairs than they used to be, and politicians deal more earnestly with home and social questions, but no neglect of private duties on that account can be laid to the women's charge. We are well supplied with high-class newspapers, the same sources of information are open to women as to men, and the questions that arise are not by any means beyond the scope of their intelligence. At election meetings there is commonly a good sprinkling of women voters in the audiences. It is said that their presence tends to prevent disorderliness, and I have never heard of a lady at any meeting being rudely treated.