Let not babies, the wash tub or even dinner, prevent women from going. —Franchise activist, Amey Daldy, encouraging women to vote in 1893

After a hard-fought series of votes in the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures, the Nineteenth Amendment stating — “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” — became part of the American Constitution on 18 August 1920. (Wikipedia)

By Roger Childs

126 years ago last Wednesday, women voted in their first New Zealand election. We were the first country to pass such a law, however, in the western US states of Wyoming and Utah women had been voting for over 20 years.

The first Women’s Franchise Bill had gone before the New Zealand parliament in 1878, but it would take another 15 years before the deal was finally done. 

It was one of the many achievements of the reforming 1890s Liberal government, but no triumph for the Premier, Richard John Seddon. He was against what he saw as too radical a step: politics were in his view, the preserve of men.

A long battle for franchise equality

Voting in England and the United States was for centuries based on owning property. Women were not allowed to vote or hold political office, however there were occasional quirks which provided interesting exceptions.

In Stuart England in the early 17th century, there was a woman sheriff who inherited the job after her husband passed away.

Then in New Jersey in the 1790s and 1800s, women who owned enough property actually voted, but only until 1807 when the all male Congress excluded all members of the female sex from casting ballots.

In 1848 there was a famous gathering of American feminists at Seneca Falls, New York State. In their Declaration of Sentiments they used the Declaration of Independence as their model and stated: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal .. And in their final statement made specific demands: … we insist that they (women) have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.

As noted, it would take American women another 71 years before the process for the 19th Amendment was underway (it passed the U.S. Senate on 4 June 1919). British women over 21 would have to wait until 1928. 

However, the Seneca Fall declaration provided a clarion call for many women across the planet on the need for equal rights.

Meanwhile down under…

It was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) that spearheaded the agitation in New Zealand. The WCTU Franchise Department lead by Kate Sheppard,

• held rallies and made speeches
• issued pamphlets and put up posters
• put together a petition with by 1893 had 31,872 signatures.

There was huge opposition from the male dominated parliament led by Premier Seddon, and newspapers, but by the early 1890s more MPs were coming round to the view that action for franchise equality was needed.

However, the New Zealand women’s suffrage advocates had to suffer much abuse, satire and ridicule. (See alongside, click for the full view.)

The 1893 bill passed in the House of Representatives, but then had to go to the Upper House. Seddon put pressure on a new councillor to change his vote.  This incensed two other councillors and they altered their preference from against the bill, to for. So it became law in September.

Enthusiastic voting!

Many sceptical males thought that most women wouldn’t bother to vote. 

How wrong they were! In the 28 November 1893 election 82% of the enfranchised women enthusiastically cast their ballots, while just 70% of the eligible male population went to the polls.

That day 126 years ago is a hugely important date in our history.

(Wallace Trickett photo)

…according to this Joel Maxwell story today.

That’s not particularly surprising when the nature of the terrain is considered, and most users would probably prefer a late opening if it means the route won’t be afflicted by the constant remedial works that McKays to Peka Peka has needed since it was opened in February 2017.

“Earlier this year, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) agreed to one-month extension of the $850 million project’s planned completion date — to May 2020 — but didn’t rule out more delays.

“Now the extent of the delays have been revealed. In a Porirua City Council (PCC) meeting on Thursday, council staff said they were told NZTA was now thinking about opening the motorway in November.”

By Ralph McAllister

McKellen: the full story

Let’s start with Ian McKellen – The Biography by Garry O’Connor.

I have lived with McKellen, in a manner of speaking, for over fifty years, after I first saw him on stage in Oxford in a Russian play called The Promise. His fellow actors were Ian McShane and Judi Dench.

I still remember the impact of the performances and the play which was set in Leningrad at the height of the siege, during the Second World War.

When I realised this was an unauthorised biography I was reluctant to read it, but McKellen was not against the book, only he did not want to spend time on the detailed interview and research that would have been involved. He was too busy!

The result of O’Connor’s work is a fascinating and sensitive outline of the private and the public man, one of our greatest actors.

Excellent stuff.

Russo is always first class

Chances Are by Richard Russo is another gem from one of America’s best authors.

This whimsical and touching novel has three student friends meeting up forty years later.

With some beautiful plotting the characters leap off the page as relationships between Lincoln, Teddy and Mickey are delineated with love and a dash of mystery.

If you have read Empire Falls or That Old Cape Magic you will need little encouragement to catch his latest.

If you haven’t read him before, you have a treat in store.

Having read all of John Le Carre’s books since he first published in the sixties, it was with no little sadness that I found his latest Running In The Field  boring, with little excitement in an old fashioned spy story which meandered to a limp conclusion.

Sorry.

A brave book on the despicable Harvey Weinstein

Finally, the most significant triumph of journalistic endeavour in the last few years Catch and Kill by twenty nine year old Ronan Farrow.

His meticulously researched account of the corruption, fear and bribery resulted in Harvey Weinstein being charged, and networks like NBC’s reputation tainted and besmirched.

Catch the story before it is published and kill it, hence the title of this extremely upsetting book.

Farrow interviews scores of women who had the courage to speak out about rape, seduction and blackmail in what is show business, American style.

He himself was threatened by hired thugs, lawsuits and lies about his own life and his mother Mia Farrow.

The book is not for the faint heartened as some of the accounts are truly sickening to read.

But truth will, hopefully out, as Weinstein faces trial in January.

(My next article is Ralph’s Book of the Year which I finished a few nights ago, but you will have to wait just in case another emerges in the next couple of weeks.)

Bus tours were put on over the last couple of weeks for the benefit of the newly elected council members of the various major assets the council has between Otaki and Paekakariki.  Yesterday’s 3.5 hour tour encompassed Paraparaumu and the major feature of interest for Waikanae people must be the (intended) 60-hectare Otaraua Park for which the development plan was adopted by the council last year and can be read here (17-page pdf).  The map on page 6 is reproduced as a jpg below (click for the full view).

This is just beyond the south bank of the Waikanae River and the Te Arawai footbridge leads pretty much straight into it.

The new council could revisit this plan, of course, and the most controversial feature of it has to be the proposed bridge over the railway into the park from the Main Road as the road access otherwise is a little circuitous.

Some things such as drainage of the main playing field and tree plantings have happened already. Apparently, the Waikanae Football Club was unimpressed initially as “it’s not Waikanae”, but is now keen to be part of it.  (That in turn raises the question — is the south bank of the river part of Waikanae or Paraparaumu?  The answer may depend on parochial feelings.)

Other parts of the tour included the Aquatic Centre, the Otaihanga landfill, the Emergency Operations Centre, the sewerage treatment plant where there is also the dog pound and the abandoned car yard (probably not what would be considered a tourist scenic delight 🙂 ), the Mazengarb Reserve, MacLean Park and the Paraparaumu library, a nice building inside even if it looks like a fortress from the outside and a facility worth visiting.

At some point a gap will open up, so take it or it will close faster than you can say your mother’s name. —Paddy Payne to his daughter Michelle

Classy Australian movie

By Roger Childs

Last year we were in Noosa when the Melbourne Cup was on. During the Tuesday afternoon I was out riding in Tewantin and absent-mindedly wondered why everything was so quiet and the shops were closed. I then looked up at an office window and there was everybody dressed to the nines with the women prominent in their fancy hats and fascinators. Plenty of food was being consumed and wine drunk: “the race that stops a nation” was working its annual magic.

Whether you follow racing or not (I don’t), this is a very good film. You know how it’s going to end before it starts, but that doesn’t matter, as this is about Michelle Payne’s bumpy ride to becoming the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup in 155 years. Four stars.

Great acting and atmosphere

This movie naturally lives and breathes horse racing. Michelle lives with her father and nine siblings on a ranch, and most of her brothers and sisters become jockeys. She lost her mother at a young age, and an older sister, whom she had idealized, died after a racing accident.

From an early age there are plenty of horsey games played and late in the movie it is hilarious to see Michelle in full training for top races using a rocking horse to practice her balance! 

Dad often tests Michelle on her knowledge of Cup winners – horse, jockey, colours and she’s always right on the button. Teresa Palmer as Michelle is first class in the lead role and Kiwi (winner 1983) Sam Neale, who always slots neatly into Aussie films, has the right balance as Paddy of concerned parent and proud father. Another impressive acting effort comes from Stevie, Michelle’s down-syndrome younger brother playing himself.

A jockey’s lot is not an easy one

The film highlights the demanding life of a jockey:

• alarm going at 3.00 am
• riding in the dark and cold
• trying to keep your weight down
• macho and sexist remarks
• endless negotiating with trainers and owners to get good mounts
• falls and broken bones
• occasional hospitalisation
• suspensions for interference.

Michelle experiences them all, but comes through to claim the greatest prize of all.

Feel good movie

Well known Australian film star Rachel Griffiths is in the director’s chair this time and does an impressive job with tight editing to keep the story moving along. The cinematography is also very appealing with the blend of ground shots and aerials views of beaches, countryside and racecourses. 

There is also plenty of humour, some involving the local convent sisters who combine to put $128 on Michelle’s mount Prince of Penzance at 100 to 1 for the Melbourne Cup.  The horse, like so many Cup winners, was bred in New Zealand. However, no-one mentions that in the film!

Ride like a Girl is currently screening at the Shoreline cinema in Waikanae.

We have seen questions asked about the lack of mention of this day, marked yesterday, by the Kapiti Council, so Geoffrey had a chat with Cr Rob McCann today on the subject, with his long time involvement in this anti-bullying, anti-violence campaign.

Some readers will remember that in 2015 the KCDC self-declared itself to be a White Ribbon council, apparently instigated for political purposes by then Councilor Penny Gaylor, and banners were reportedly displayed the length of Kapiti Road. It resulted in Rob McCann telling the KCDC to ‘cease and desist’ as it had done nothing to meet White Ribbon’s three-stage accreditation process.

Not only that, it was bringing the organisation into disrepute as there were in that triennium complaints around the council table about bullying within the council and the common denominators in those complaints were the then Mayor Ross Church, then Chief Executive Mr Dougherty and Gaylor herself.

In 2015 the White Ribbon riders were welcomed at a function at the Paraparaumu Community Centre (although only two of the then councilors bothered attending — David Scott and Jackie Elliot.)

To date, only four of the country’s 77 local councils have passed the accreditation process as it requires more than just a statement of support for the principle.