WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE 87 



thunderstorms, etc.) are still, however, a constant source of trouble in all " wireless," 

 the atmosphere causing discharges of an especially powerful character in the case of 

 work, whereas cables are practically immune to such disturbances forming, indeed, 

 what may be termed a " closed circuit." It is notorious that most of the messages from 

 Tripoli during the recent Turco-Italian war came by cable rather than by " wireless;" 

 moreover the Italian government has since established further cable communication. 

 Germany, France and Italy, though with far fewer important distant possessions than 

 Great Britain, are developing their cables particularly as methods of communication. 

 The German government subscribes annually to two Atlantic cables no less than 85,- 

 ooo, and a further 75,000 towards the German-Dutch cables to the East. 



Dealing with facts as they are to-day the mean view of the relative merits of teleg- 

 raphy by cable and " wireless " leads to the conclusion that each has its independent 

 sphere. Whereas the cable has still the advantage in the matter of sureness, accuracy 

 and secrecy, a wireless system can be established at less cost. Thus, the tariff of the 

 latter should be on these two accounts lower than that which prevails with the former. 

 We have an example of this in the case of the Marconi trans- Atlantic service, where the 

 rates are now half those charged by the cables serving between the same points. 1 It 

 only remains to be said that if cables were to be supplemented in each case by radio- 

 telegraphy (instead of by another cable) an eminently practical comparison of the service 

 in every respect would be thereby afforded. The two rival methods should be worked 

 together. Radiotelegraphy is bound to be extremely useful to a cable system as 

 feeders to a trunk line, for auxiliary and breakdown purposes, etc. Similarly, the 

 cable is evidently extremely useful to wireless organisations trans-Atlantic and other- 

 wise in meeting prevailing difficulties. (CHARLES BRIGHT.) 



THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT 2 



In England the movement for securing the parliamentary franchise for women entered 



afresh upon a " militant " stage in the autumn of 1910. Its supporters had been 



encouraged by the grant of two days of Government time in July to the 



Government fe^te on Mr. Shackleton's Bill, known as the " Conciliation " Bill, and 

 attitude la , . , . ,. , , . ' 



England. by the majority of no on the second reading; and they were proportionate- 

 ly discouraged when, in November 1910, Mr. Asquith announced in a letter 

 to Lord Lytton that he could give no further facilities before the dissolution of parlia- 

 ment. The immediate result of his refusal was a raid on the House of Commons, or- 

 ganised (Nov. i8th) by the Women's Social and Political Union. Many arrests were 

 made, but when the prisoners were brought up the next day at Bow Street, the magis- 

 trate, acting on instructions from the Home Office, took the unusual course of discharg- 

 ing them all. This leniency, far from propitiating the militants, led to further troubles, 

 and 153 women were arrested on November 22nd for a raid on Downing Street. They 

 received sentences either of a fine, or imprisonment for i or 2 months. On the other 

 hand the more cautious suffragists, after Mr. Asquith had said in reply to a question 

 in the House of Commons on November 22nd, that if his government were still in 

 power, he would in the next parliament give " facilities for effectively proceeding with a 

 Bill," framed to admit of free amendment, claimed that this made woman suffrage an 

 issue at the general election of December, and awaited the verdict of the country. 

 Comparatively little attention however was given to the subject by the electorate, and 

 in a few places where woman suffrage was directly put forward by candidates it was a 

 pronounced failure. A suffragist candidate in East St. Pancras obtained only 22 votes; 

 the Liberal candidate for South Salford, whom they strongly supported, lost the seat; 

 and Sir Victor Horsley, a pronounced suffragist, was defeated for the University of 



1 At one time there was in reality very little difference between the two charges, but since 

 the Post Office have more completely recognised the Marconi trans-Atlantic system, and 

 as with cables service instructions no longer have to be paid for, the apparent difference 

 has become an actual difference. 



2 See E. B. xxviii, 786 et seq. 



