§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
LORD DENMAN, in rising to move that the Bill be now read a second time, said, it was intended by it to give the Parliamentary franchise to women entitled to vote for School Boards and in municipal elections, and who had the same rights of residence and rating as men possessed.
§ THE EARL OF REDESDALE (CHAIRMAN of COMMITTEES)I rise to Order. I do not know whether the noble Lord has read his own Bill; but I cannot think he has, for the Bill, as printed, only says—
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, &c., this Act shall come into operation in all parts of the United Kingdom and of Ireland as soon as the usual days for registration shall have arrived.The Bill, your Lordships will see, does not enact anything about women at all. There is not a single mention of women in it.
LORD DENMANMy Lords, the Bill is intended to provide that women should have a vote. That is a very desirable thing; it is mentioned in the Preamble; and it would be extremely easy to make the necessary Amendments in Committee. I will move the second reading of the Bill.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Lord Denman.)
§ THE EARL OF REDESDALE (CHAIRMAN of COMMITTEES)My Lords, I really think it is utterly impossible that your Lordships can agree to the second reading of this Bill. The Preamble is not sufficient; it enacts nothing about women.
§ On question? resolved in the negative.