Could the author of Lalla Rookh have paid a visit to India a month or two ago he would surely have rubbed his eyes! The seclusion-of the Indian woman so fired agitation that he most poetic imagery, and incidentally produced a picture of a cou hho had never seen, which, accord to the authorities, was correct in every detail. And' now—those love; ly, shy, mysterious creatures voting! "Veils discarded, purdah broken, going openly to the polling booths—the same polling booths for women and men! "It may be membered that the Government of India Act, though it gave the vote only to men, contained'a permissive clause allowing the various Legislative Councils to enfranchize their women if they chose to do 30, So far Madras Presidency, Bombay Presidency, and the United Provinces—-representing altogether a population of over a hundred mil-people—are the only three Councils which have availed themselves of the right, but doubtless the others will soon come into line, Te is only about three years since the Act was passed, and it is notable that the women have been "i the vote on the Same terms as men: there are no restrictions in regard to age or occupation. At present the Couneila cannot give women the right to sit in Parliament.
The Nursing Proves And how did the women avail themselves of their privi would! not have been surpris the "veiled woman of the East" had taken some little time to grow accustomed to rubbing shoulders with strange men tu a public polling, booth, On the contrary, however, they regarded the exercise of their right as a "patriotic duty," and in sonic places 73 per cent, of the wor men voted. The Women's Indian Association had naturally not neg-eeled to encourage and. stimulate the women' interest in the duties of citizenship, and on voting day at the various polling stations acting as unofiielal helpers.
the first ti Indian women have voted for Parliament, though they have had the municipal yote years. India is indeed in all sorts of ways.
nursing profession is now receiving a good deal of attention, A bill which will ensure good status and adequate pay for nurses is being introduced in Madras on the lines of an excellent Act which is ready in force in Burma, and high-caste ladies are being trained as nurses at the Dufferin Hospital, Cateutta,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.