MORE PUBLIC WORK.
For the co-operative movement I had always felt the keenest sympathy. I
saw in it the liberation of the small wage-earner from the toils of the
middlemen. I thought moreover that the incentive to thrift so strongly
encouraged by co-operative societies would be a tremendous gain to the
community as well as to the individual. How many people owe a
comfortable old age to the delight of seeing their first small profits
in a co-operative concern, or their savings in a building society
accumulating steadily and surely, if but slowly? And I have always had
a disposition to encourage anything that would tend to lighten the
burden of the worker. So that when in 1901 Mrs. Agnes Milne placed
before me a suggestion for the formation of a women's co-operative
clothing factory, I was glad to do what I could to further an extension
in South Australia of the movement, which, from its inception in older
countries, had made so strong an appeal to my reason. A band of women
workers were prepared to associate for the mutual benefit of the
operatives in the shirtmaking and clothing trades. Under the title of
the South Australian Co-operative Clothing Company, Limited, they
proposed to take over and carry on a small private factory, owned by
one of themselves, which had found it difficult to compete against
large firms working with the latest machinery. I was sure of finding
many sympathizers among my friends, and was successful in disposing of
a fair number of shares. The movement had already gained support from
thinking working women, and by the time we were ready to form ourselves
into a company we were hopeful of success. I was appointed, and have
since remained the first President of the board of directors; and,
unless prevented by illness or absence from the State, I have never
failed to be present at all meetings. The introduction of Wages Boards
added to the keen competition between merchants, had made the task of
carrying on successfully most difficult, but we hoped that as the idea
gained publicity we should benefit proportionately. It was a great blow
to us, when at the close of the first year we were able to declare a
dividend of 1/ a share, the merchants closed down upon us and reduced
their payments by 6d. or 9d. per dozen. But in spite of drawbacks we
have maintained the struggle successfully, though sometimes at
disheartening cost to the workers and officials of the society. I feel,
however, that the reward of success due to this plucky band of women
workers will come in the near future, for at no other time probably has
the position looked more hopeful than during the present year.
During this same year the Effective Voting League made a new departure
in its propaganda work by inviting Sir Edward Braddon to address a
meeting in the Adelaide Town Hall. As Premier of Tasmania, Sir Edward
had inaugurated the reform in the gallant little island State, and he
was able to speak with authority on the practicability and the justice
of effective voting. His visit was followed a year later by one from
Sr. Keating, another enthusiastic Tasmanian supporter, whose lecture
inspired South Australian workers to even greater efforts, and carried
conviction to the minds of many waverers. At that meeting we first
introduced the successful method of explanation by means of limelight
slides. The idea of explaining the whole system by pictures had seemed
impossible, but every step of the counting can be shown so simply and
clearly by this means as to make an understanding of the system a
certainty. To the majority of people an appeal to reason and
understanding is made much more easily through the eye than through the
ear. The year 1902 saw an advance in the Parliamentary agitation of the
reform, when the Hon. Joseph (now Senator) Vardon introduced a Bill for
the first time into the Legislative Council. The measure had been
excellently prepared by Mr. J. H. Vaughan, LL.B., with the assistance
of the members of the executive of the Effective Voting League, among
whom were Messrs. Crawford Vaughan and E. A. Anstey. The Bill sought to
apply effective voting to existing electoral districts, which, though
not nearly so satisfactory as larger districts, nevertheless made the
application of effective voting possible. With the enlargement of the
district on the alteration of the Constitution subsequent to federation
becoming an accomplished fact, the league was unanimous in its desire
to seek the line of least resistance by avoiding a change in the
Constitution that an alteration in electoral boundaries would have
necessitated.
To Mr. Vardon, when he was a candidate for Legislative honours in 1900
the usual questions were sent from the league; but, as he had not
studied the question he declined to pledge himself to support the
reform. Realizing, however, the necessity of enquiring into all public
matters, he decided to study the Hare system, but the league declined
to support him without a written pledge. Still he was elected, and
immediately afterwards studied effective voting, became convinced of
its justice, and has remained a devoted advocate. Our experience with
legislators had usually been of the opposite nature. Pledged adherents
to effective voting during an election campaign, as members they no
longer saw the necessity for a change in a method of voting which had
placed them safely in Parliament; but in Mr. Vardon we found a man
whose conversion to effective voting was a matter of principle, and not
a question of gathering votes. That was why the league selected him as
its Parliamentary advocate when effective voting first took definite
shape in the form of a Bill. When, later, Mr. E. H. Coombe, M.P., took
charge of the Bill in the Assembly although the growth in public
opinion in favour of effective voting had been surprising, the
coalition between the Liberal and Labour parties strengthened their
combined position and weakened the allegiance of their elected members
to a reform which would probably affect their vested interests in the
Legislature. Mr. Coombe had not been an easy convert to proportional
representation. He had attended my first lecture at Gawler, but saw
difficulties in the way of accepting the Hare system as propounded by
me. His experiments were interesting. Assuming a constituency of 100
electors with 10 members, he filled in 60 Conservative and 40 Liberal
voting papers. The proportion of members to each party should be six
Conservatives and four Liberals, and when he found that by no amount of
manipulation could this result be altered he became a convert to
effective voting. His able advocacy of the reform is too well known to
need further reference; but I should like now to thank those members,
including Mr. K. W. Duncan, who have in turn led the crusade for
righteous representation in both Houses of Parliament, for of them may
it truly be said that the interests of the people as a whole were their
first consideration. Before I left for America I saw the growing power
and strength of the Labour Party. I rejoiced that a new star had arisen
in the political firmament. I looked to it as a party that would
support every cause that tended towards righteousness. I expected it,
as a reform party, to take up effective voting, because effective
voting was a reform. I hoped that a party whose motto was "Trust the
people" would have adopted a reform by means of which alone it would be
possible for the people to gain control over its Legislature and its
Government. Alas! for human hopes that depend on parties for their
realization! As time after time I have seen defections from the ranks
of proportionalists, and people have said to me:--"Give it up, Miss
Spence. Why trouble longer? Human nature is too bad," I have answered,
"No; these politicians are but the ephemeral creations of a day or a
month, or a year; this reform is for all time, and must prevail, and I
will never give it up."
During my many visits to Melbourne and Sydney I had been much impressed
with the influence and the power for good of the local branches of the
world-famed National Council of Women. I had long hoped for the
establishment of a branch in South Australia, and was delighted to fall
in with a suggestion made by the Countess of Aberdeen
(Vice-President-at-large of the International Council), through Lady
Cockburn, that a council should be formed in South Australia. The
inaugural meeting in September, 1902, was splendidly attended, and it
was on a resolution moved by me that the council came into existence.
Lady Way was the first President, and I was one of the Vice-Presidents.
I gave several addresses, and in 1904 contributed a paper on
"Epileptics." In dealing with this subject I owed much to the splendid
help I received from my dear friend Miss Alice Henry, of Victoria, now
in Chicago, whose writings on epileptics and weak-minded children have
contributed largely to the awakening of the public conscience to a
sense of duty towards these social weaklings. In 1905 I contributed a
paper to the quinquennial meeting of the International Council of
Women, held at Berlin, on the laws relating to women and children in
South Australia, and gave an account of the philanthropic institutions
of the State, with special reference to the State Children's Council
and Juvenile Courts. The work of the National Council in this State was
disappointing to many earnest women, who had hoped to find in it a
means for the social, political, and philanthropic education of the
women of South Australia. Had the council been formed before we had
obtained the vote there would probably have been more cohesion and a
greater sustained effort to make it a useful body. But as it was there
was so apparent a disinclination to touch "live" subjects that interest
in the meetings dwindled, and in 1906 I resigned my position on the
executive in order to have more time to spare for other public work.
A problem which was occasioning the State Children's Council much
anxious thought was how to deal effectively with the ever-increasing
number of the "children of the streets". Boys and girls alike, who
should either be at school or engaged at some useful occupation, were
roaming the streets and parks, uncontrolled and sometimes
uncontrollable. We recognised that their condition was one of moral
peril, and graduation to criminality from these nurseries of crime so
frequently occurred that State interference seemed absolutely
imperative to save the neglected unfortunates for a worthier
citizenship. It is much easier and far more economical to save the
child than to punish the criminal. One of the most effective means of
clearing the streets would be to raise the compulsory age for school
attendance up to the time of employment. That truancy was to a great
extent responsible for these juvenile delinquents was proved by the
fact that more then one-half of the lads sent to Magill had committed
the crimes for which they were first convicted while truanting.
Moreover, an improvement was noticed immediately on the amendment of
the compulsory attendance clauses in the Education Act. Truancy--the
wicket gate of the road to ruin in youth--should be barred as
effectively as possible, and the best way to bar it is to make every
day a compulsory school day, unless the excuse for absence be
abundantly sufficient. Another aspect of the neglected children
problem, which Federal action alone will solve, is in dealing with
cases of neglect by desertion. At present each State is put to great
trouble and expense through defaulting parents. Federal legislation
would render it possible to have an order for payment made in one State
collected and remitted by an officer in another State. By this means
thousands of pounds a year could be saved to the various States, and
many a child prevented from becoming a burden to the people at large.
These are some of the problems awaiting solution and the women of South
Australia will do well to make the salvation of these neglected waifs a
personal care and responsibility. Perhaps no other work of the State
Children's Council has more practically shown their appreciation of the
capabilities of the children under their care than the establishment of
the State children's advancement fund. This is to enable State children
who show any aptitude, to pursue their education through the
continuation schools to the University. To private subscriptions for
this purpose the Government have added a subsidy of 50 pounds, and
already some children are availing themselves of this splendid
opportunity to rise in the world. The longer I live the prouder I feel
that I have been enabled to assist in this splendid work for the
benefit of humanity.
The years as they passed left me with wider interests in, deeper
sympathies with, and greater knowledge of the world and its people.
Each year found "one thing worth beginning, one thread of life worth
spinning." The pleasure I derived from the more extended intellectual
activity of my later years was due largely to my association with a
band of cultured and earnest women interested in social, political, and
other public questions--women who, seeing "the tides of things,"
desired so to direct them that each wave of progress should carry the
people to a higher place on the sands of life. To the outside world
little is known of the beginnings and endings of social movements,
which, taken separately, perhaps appear of small consequence, but which
in the aggregate count for a great deal in what is popularly known as
the forward movement. To such as these belonged an interesting
association of women, which, meeting at first informally, grew
eventually into a useful organization for the intellectual and moral
development of those who were fortunate enough to be associated with
it. This was the "Social Students' Society," of which Miss A. L.
Tomkinson was the secretary and I the first President. One of the
addresses I gave was on "Education," and among others whose addresses
helped us considerably was the Director of Education (Mr. A. Williams).
Speakers from all parties addressed the association, and while the
society existed a good deal of educational work was done. Much interest
was taken in the question of public playgrounds for children, and we
succeeded in interesting the City Council in the movement; but, owing
to lack of funds, the scheme for the time being was left in abeyance.
In the agitation for the public ownership of the tramways, I was glad
to take a share. The private ownership of monopolies is indefensible,
and my American experiences of the injustice of the system strengthened
my resolve to do my utmost to prevent the growth of the evil in South
Australia. My attitude on the question alienated a number of friends,
both from me personally and from effective voting, so intolerant had
people become of any opposition to their own opinions. The result of
the referendum was disappointing, and, I shall always consider, a grave
reflection on a democratic community which permits a referendum to be
taken under a system of plural voting which makes the whole proceeding
a farce. But the citizens of Adelaide have need to be grateful to the
patriotic zeal of those who, led by the late Cornelius Proud fought for
the public ownership of the tramways.
These years of activity were crossed by sickness and sorrow. For the
first time in a long life, which had already extended almost a decade
beyond the allotted span, I became seriously ill. To be thus laid low
by sickness was a deep affliction to one of my active temperament; but,
if sickness brings trouble, it often brings joy in the tender care and
appreciation of hosts of friends, and this joy I realized to the
fullest extent. The following year (1904) was darkened by the tragic
death of my ward, and once more my home was broken up, and with Miss
Gregory I went to live with my good friends Mr. and Mrs. Quilty, in
North Norwood. From then on my life has flowed easily and pleasantly,
marred only by the sadness of farewells of many old friends and
comrades on my life's journey, who one by one have passed "through
Nature to eternity."
Much as I have written during the past 40 years, it was reserved for my
old age to discover within me the power of poetical expression. I had
rhymed in my youth and translated French verse, but until I wrote my
one sonnet, poetry had been an untried field. The one-sided pessimistic
pictures that Australian poets and writers present are false in the
impression they make on the outside world and on ourselves. They lead
us to forget the beauty and the brightness of the world we live in.
What we need is, as Matthew Arnold says of life, "to see Australia
steadily and see it whole." It is not wise to allow the "deadbeat"--the
remittance man, the gaunt shepherd with his starving flocks and herds,
the free selector on an arid patch, the drink shanty where the
rouseabouts and shearers knock down their cheques, the race meeting
where high and low, rich and poor, are filled with the gambler's ill
luck--fill the foreground of the picture of Australian life. These
reflections led me to a protest, in the form of a sonnet published in
The Register some years ago:--
When will some new Australian poet rise
To all the height and glory of his theme?
Nor on the sombre side for ever dream
Our hare, baked plains, our pitiless blue skies,
'Neath which the haggard bushman strains his eyes
To find some waterhole or hidden stream
To save himself and flocks in want extreme!
This is not all Australia! Let us prize
Our grand inheritance! Had sunny Greece
More light, more glow, more freedom, or more mirth?
Ours are wide vistas bathed in purest air--
Youth's outdoor pleasures, Age's indoor peace--
Where could we find a fairer home on earth
Which we ourselves are free to make more fair?
Just as years before my interest had been kindled in the establishment
of our system of State education, and later in the University and
higher education, so more recently has the inauguration of the Froebel
system of kindergarten training appealed most strongly to my reason and
judgment. There was a time in the history of education, long after the
necessity for expert teaching in primary and secondary schools had been
recognised, when the training of the infant mind was left to the least
skilled assistant on the staff of a school. With the late Mr. J. A.
Hartley, whose theory was that the earliest beginnings of education
needed even greater skill in the teacher than the higher branches, I
had long regarded the policy as mistaken; but modern educationists have
changed all that, and the training of tiny mites of two or three
summers and upwards is regarded as of equal importance with that of
children of a larger growth. South Australia owes its free kindergarten
to the personal initiative and private munificence of the Rev. Bertram
Hawker, youngest son of the late Hon. G. C. Hawker. I had already met,
and admired the kindergarten work of, Miss Newton when in Sydney, and
was delighted when she accepted Mr. Hawker's invitation to inaugurate
the system in Adelaide. Indeed, the time of her stay here during
September, 1905, might well have been regarded as a special visitation
of educational experts, for, in addition to Miss Newton, the directors
of education from New South Wales and Victoria (Messrs. G. H. Knibbs
and F. Tate) took part in the celebrations. Many interesting meetings
led up to the formation of the Kindergarten Union. My niece, Mrs. J. P.
Morice, was appointed hon. secretary, and I became one of the
Vice-Presidents. On joining the union I was proud of the fact that I
was the first member to pay a subscription. The free kindergarten has
come to South Australia to stay, and is fast growing into an integral
part of our system of education. I have rejoiced in the progress of the
movement, and feel that the future will witness the realization of my
ideal of a ladder that will reach from the kindergarten to the
University, as outlined in articles I wrote for The Register at that
time.