Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/782

 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE Canada where women do not possess the State franchise in addi- tion to the National. NEWFOUNDLAND. When the Provinces of Canada united in a Confederation Newfoundland was the only one that declined to enter it and remained independent. Therefore, when the Dominion suffrage was conferred by the Parliament in 1918 it did not include the women of this island. This was keenly felt by many of them and they made efforts to have its Legislature grant them the Provincial franchise but without success. In 1921 the Woman Suffrage League determined to make an organized effort and collected a petition of 10,000 names, representing every district, and pre- sented it to the Legislature. From the first the Premier, Sir Richard Anderson Squires, was hostile and this was the case with most of the Cabinet, but Minister of Marine Coaker showed a friendly spirit ; Minister of Justice Warren introduced the bill and Mr. Jennings, chairman of the Board of Public Works, agreed to bring it up for action. After the sending of many, deputations to the Executive Members of the Government the women were astonished at being told one day that these members had held a meeting and it had been arranged that the Premier himself should introduce the bill as a Government measure. Seven went with Mr. Jennings by pre-arrangement to the Premier's office and meeting Mr. Coaker he said : "Your bill goes through all right, the Premier has his orders." Some provisions had been attached to the bill non-eligibility to office, no voting power until the next general election and an age limit of 30 years. The Premier promised to have the Government reduce this to 25 and they were compelled to agree. Then he impressed upon them that the bill would go through as a Govern- ment measure, declaring: "I will pass it this session, whether the House closes in one month or three what I say goes !" Some time afterwards the women read in an account of the House proceedings that the Premier had said in answer to a question that the bill was not a Government measure. An official letter was at once sent from the Woman Suffrage League, reminding him of his promise, to which he made no answer.