Tax Resistance.
Sale at Petersfield.
Miss Cummins, who lives in the pretty little district of Froxfield, near
Petersfield, had goods sold in respect of non-payment of King’s Taxes
on afternoon. Miss [C. Nina] Boyle
and Miss [Jessie?] Murray attended the sale from Headquarters, and among
local supporters were Miss Cummins and her sister, Mrs. Baddeley
(W.S.P.U.),
Mr. Powell, Mr. Roper, and others. The assistant auctioneer, to whom it fell
to conduct the sale, was most unfriendly, and refused to allow any speaking
during the sale; but Miss Boyle was able to shout through a window at his
back, just over his shoulder, an announcement that the goods were seized
because Miss Cummins refused to submit to taxation without representation,
after which quite a number of people who were attending the sale came out to
listen to the speeches. Perched on the parapet of the churchyard wall, Miss
Murray opened the brief meeting, followed by Miss Boyle, both receiving
unexpected attention. Mr. Powell then spoke a few effective words to the men
present, calling upon them as voters to give effect to the women’s protest
by approaching their member and warning him that Women’s Suffrage was a
question to which he would be expected to give serious attention.
It would appear that, in spite of its remote position and quiet, uneventful
life, Suffrage has made great way in the Petersfield district. There are some
250 Suffragists, and several influential secessions from the Liberal
Association have taken place over the question.
Arrest and Release of Captain Gonne.
Captain Gonne,
R.A., was
arrested at his residence at Bognor, on
, and taken to Lewes gaol for
non-payment of Imperial taxes. Captain Gonne, whose wife is a member of the
Women’s Tax Resistance League, refuses to pay his wife’s income-tax, because
he supports her in the belief that there should be no taxation without
representation, and because he wishes to do his share towards altering the
iniquitous laws regulating the taxation of married women. He refuses to pay
his own taxes as a protest against the Government’s broken pledges to women
and their torture of women prisoners. The Women’s Tax Resistance League at
once organised a campaign of protest, in which the Women’s Freedom League and
other Suffrage societies would have joined, to hold meetings outside Lewes
Gaol. On night, however, he was set
free; and the Women’s Tax Resistance League is now raising serious points in
regard to the legality of the arrest and the treatment otherwise meted out to
him. It is well known that Captain Gonne’s health has suffered severely of
late, and his serious indisposition is attributable to the excessive violence
of Liberal stewards at meetings which Captain Gonne has attended on behalf of
the women’s cause.
The following correspondence has been sent us for publication by the
Women’s Tax Resistance League:—
To the Home Secretary, Home Office, Whitehall, S.W.
Sir, — Will you kindly inform my committee why, having decided to
release Captain Gonne,
R.A., from
Lewes Jail, you discharged him before it was possible for his family to
send for him, as they were prepared to do, rather than expose him in his
delicate state of health to a cross-country railway journey unaccompanied?
Did you not state in the House of Commons that prisoners were never released
without such necessary precautions having been taken? — Faithfully
yours,
(Signed) Margaret Parkes.
To the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Treasury-chambers, Whitehall, S.W.
Sir, — Are you aware of the fact that on
evening last Captain Gonne,
R.A., was
arrested at Bognor for non-payment of Imperial taxes and conveyed to Lewes
Jail, and that he was released with no reason given at
? Will
you kindly supply the committee immediately with
answers to the following questions, as we consider that it is most important
to know the reason for such apparently unconstitutional procedure?
- By whose authority was Captain Gonne arrested and upon what charge?
- Is it not usual in such cases to levy distraint upon the premises in
respect of which the taxes are due?
- By whose authority were orders sent to the Governor of Lewes Jail for
Captain Gonne’s release?
- If the imprisonment was a just one, for what reason was he released in
less than 48 hours?
Awaiting the favour of your reply. Faithfully yours,
(Signed) Margaret Parkes.
Magistrate Compliments a Woman Tax Resister.
Miss A[gnes Edith] Metcalfe, B.Sc.,
ex-H.M.I.,
was summoned at Greenwich Police-court on
, for non-payment of
dog license. In a short speech she said that she refused on conscientious
grounds to pay taxes while women had no vote. The magistrate congratulated
Miss Metcalfe on the clearness and eloquence with which she made out her
case. He regretted that the law must take its course, and imposed a fine of
7s. with
2s. costs, recoverable by
distraint. The alternative was one day’s imprisonment. We would like to
contrast this with Miss I[sabelle] Stewart’s case which was identical, but
her sentence was £2 fine or fourteen days’ imprisonment.
Women’s Tax Resistance League.
Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes has just returned from Ireland, where
successful public meetings were held in Dublin and Cork, and tax resistance
resolutions passed. She attended, as delegate for the Women’s Tax Resistance
League, the Suffrage Conference held in Dublin, and spoke upon the present
position of Women’s Suffrage. She also took part in the public debate with
the National League for Opposing Women’s Suffrage, on which occasion the
Suffragists won by a large majority.
