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women organised themselves, and put their names on their own voting lists. In the official referendum about 400,000 men took part, and of these only thirteen recorded their vote against the dissolution. About 300,000 women over twenty-five years of age voted unofficially, all of them for the dissolution. This patriotic act of the women, and the love of national independence which it manifested, aroused general admiration and strengthened the universal confidence in their public spirit. The act gave the Government and the Storthing increased strength in their difficult and dangerous task. It proved that the policy of complete independence was backed not only by the men but by the whole people. It was the more remarkable as all knew that that policy might possibly cause a war with Sweden.

For

At the parliamentary elections in the following year, 1906, the parliamentary franchise for women was not only included in the programme of the Labour parties and the Liberals; a great many Conservatives also were now in favour of it, although in a modified form. The Radicals did not approve of any limitation. years the removal of the limitations in the male parliamentary franchise had been the first and foremost task in their long struggle for democratic progress. They also feared that a limited franchise for women would contribute to their defeat at the polls. In spite of this they resolved to act as in 1901. They considered that the injustice of the entire exclusion of women was greater than the injustice of a limitation which excluded only two-fifths of them, and they hoped that it would be but a short step from such a limited franchise to the complete enfranchisement of women.

In its official report the Constitutional Committee of the Storthing thus summarised its view of the question :

That women should believe [it said] that the interests of society will be best safeguarded when they obtain the same opportunity of influencing the solution of public questions as men now possess, is, we consider, natural and reasonable. In States where the sovereignty of the people is acknowledged, the franchise ought to be bestowed upon all those who are qualified to use this right in a way which promotes the welfare and favours the progress of society. To exclude any solely on account of sex is not only an injustice towards the individual, but is also detrimental to society, which stands in need of all the forces it can command. The question, then, is whether women do possess proper qualifications for using the franchise successfully, and this question must, in the opinion of this Committee, be answered in the affirmative. The faculties of woman, as well as her education, character, and intelligence, point out her place as collateral with man's in the solution of social problems, which can hardly be satisfactorily solved unless all the forces of society work together.

On the 14th of June 1907 the question was discussed and decided in the Storthing. First the proposition of universal suffrage for women was defeated, forty-eight out of 123 members

voting in favour of it. Then women's suffrage, limited, as above mentioned, to three-fifths of all women over twenty-five years of age, was approved by ninety-six votes, only twenty-seven members voting against it. Of the majority sixty-seven were Labour men, Radicals, and Liberals, and twenty-nine Conservatives. Almost the whole of the Liberal and Labour parties voted for it.

The Norwegian women exercised their new right for the first time at the general election which took place in autumn 1909. Their participation in the elections was very active. In the two largest towns, Kristiania and Bergen, the number of men's votes was about 39,000 and that of the women's votes about 33,000i.e. 70 per cent. of the enfranchised men and 72 per cent. of the enfranchised women used their votes.

What is our experience of this first participation of women in our parliamentary elections? Have the women been moved by personal feelings or regard to the sex of the candidates, or have general political opinions governed their votes? The answer is that the women were divided on the same political party lines as the men. Their political and social views have guided their votes, not considerations of sex. When the foremost female advocate of women's suffrage, a leader in the fight for women's rights, Miss Gina Krog, stood as a Liberal candidate for one of the constituencies of Kristiania, nominated by the Liberal organisation, the great bulk of the women voters in that wealthy constituency gave their votes to her Conservative opponent, a man, and she was accordingly defeated. In all, three women stood as candidates, but they were all defeated by the votes of their political opponents of both sexes, and men were elected. The women obtained only a single place as a member's deputy-that is, one who has to take the place of the member if he dies or if he is absent through illness or for any other cause.

Another feature of the new franchise is that, generally, married women and their husbands are found voting for the same candidate. Of course, there are exceptions. But in most cases it may be said that the influence of the family on the result of the elections has been doubled.

As a general rule, I think it may be said that the first result of the women's parliamentary franchise in Norway has been, to a great extent, to awaken the public spirit of women. Undoubtedly the women voters have also helped to direct the attention of politicians more closely to the moral and social side of politics.

At the same time, the opinion is gaining ground that it is unjust and irrational to exclude 200,000 women who stand in the greatest need of the franchise as an instrument for the improvement of their condition. The limitation in municipal franchise has already been removed, the Storthing having last summer

passed a bill giving full suffrage to women at municipal elections. The extension of the limited parliamentary franchise to universal suffrage for women was proposed by the late Liberal Cabinet; it is now a part of the programme of the Labour parties and the Liberals, and is supported by many of the staunchest female leaders in the struggle for women's rights.

nations to include women One may think, perhaps, small country like Norway

Norway has been one of the first among their self-governing citizens. that it is of small consequence what a has done in such a domain as this. But it must be remembered that it is often just the small nations from which mankind derives the impulses which stimulate its uninterrupted progress. Norway's emancipation of women is based upon justice and confidence. It points the way in which all the nations of the civilised world will follow as enlightenment and the sense of justice grow apace.

J. CASTBERG (Ex-Minister of Justice).

THE COAL CRISIS

IT is no exaggeration to say that the attention of the whole nation. is riveted upon the great and all-important struggle that is proceeding between the colliery owners and their employees upon the question of a minimum wage.

The solution of this complex and difficult problem is fraught with the most stupendous consequences, not only to all those engaged in industrial and commercial pursuits, but to every householder in Great Britain.

The ballot which has just been taken in the mining centres has declared by an overwhelming majority in favour of tendering notices on the 1st of February to terminate contracts, in support of the proposals for a guaranteed minimum wage, so that unless an agreement is arrived at by the end of the present month, there promises to be a complete stoppage of the mining industry upon the 1st of March.

During the course of last summer the whole industrial world was thrown into confusion by an epidemic of strikes; the industrial population of the country still continues to be in a very disturbed state, and the future is full of anxious uncertainty. So great an upheaval in the ranks of labour has not been experienced by the present generation; demands continue to be put forward by the different labour unions, and these demands are a source of most serious concern to all those who have capital invested in our industrial undertakings employing large bodies of workers.

A complete stoppage of the nation's coal supplies will be quickly followed by a compulsory cessation of labour in every branch of industry dependent upon coal for its motive-power, as the reserve stores of fuel cannot possibly hold out for more than two or three weeks; and even although some of the largest consumers may take the precaution of augmenting stocks, yet so interdependent are our national industries that the stoppage of any particular industry cannot fail to react immediately upon others. Moreover, it is important to remember that the storage of large quantities of coal means an abnormal demand upon the market, and, as we have already seen, a sharp rise in prices. Such a policy can only be conveniently resorted to by undertakings with

command of reserve capital. Again, if the action of the miners receives the general approval of workers in other branches of industry, we may expect the principle of the sympathetic strike to extend to those workers who may be asked to handle coal from store, and thus any precautionary measures adopted by great railway companies and other employers of labour will be nullified.

The development of the coal-mining industry in Great Britain has reached gigantic proportions, and the extent of its operations may be imagined when we remember that the total quantity of coal brought to the surface during 1910 was 264,433,000 tons, while the Miners' Federation of Great Britain has a membership of over 600,000, and even this immense total does not embrace the whole of those engaged in the industry, which, with nonunionists, etc., must exceed a million.

It will be interesting to quote the following table taken from the Report of the Royal Commission on Coal Supplies (1903), which is an approximate summary of the consumption of coal in the home industries only :

Brick works, potteries, glass works, and chemical

These figures show the extent to which the country is dependent upon the regularity of its coal supplies and the national importance of the present crisis.

There is a great difference between the demand for a minimum wage now formulated by the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and previous claims which have been the cause of serious contention between colliery owners and their employees. The history of the coal trade is unfortunately too full of records of bitter and long-continued strife, but hitherto disputes have been confined to a particular area. In our coalfields the conditions of employment vary to a considerable degree, and a dispute in one part of the country has not necessarily been a matter of vital concern to those employed outside the affected area.

South Wales had a prolonged strike in 1898, but the struggle did not extend, and during the whole term of the strike the