IRISH WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE

The report of the Executive Committee of the Dublin Women's Suffrage and Local Government Association for last year, which has just been issued contains much that is calculated to afford encouragement to members of and sympathisers with the movement for the due recognition of women's rights.

The committee of the Association can indeed claim with justice that the year 1899 has been a red-letter one in the political history of Irishwomen. At the first elections after the passing of the Local Government Act no fewer than 85 women were elected as Poor Law Guardians, 31 of the number being Rural District Councillors as well and four woman were elected as Urban District Councillors. A comparison of these results with those achieved at the 1898 elections brings out some noteworthy features. For instance, of the 14 Unions in which women guardians were elected in 1898 there are only two in which women have ceased to be returned. In most of the remainder the services of women have been so highly approved by ratepayers that the number of women elected has been largely increased.

In the two Dublin Unions their number has risen from two to 13, in Belfast from two to 5, in Rathdown from 2 to 5 t in Carlow, where no women was previously elected, six have been returned In Derry there have been five in Coleraine five, in Lurgan, four, Sligo four, in Dundalk, three and so on with several other places. Another great event in connection with the movement for the recognition of women's rights, to which the report draws attention, was the International Congress of Women Workers, which sat in London for eight days in June and July last, and was a notable success.

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