The Franchise.

We omitted in the first number of the "Spike" to

Students' Association Executive, 1916.

report a motion, that came up for discussion at a special general meeting held early in the first term. The purpose of the motion was to extend the rules governing eligibility for membership of the Students' Association—the intention being that Freshmen, who had paid their subscriptions, should be allowed to vote at the annual meeting, and should be given a limited representation upon the Executive. Much that was said in favour of the motion was very true and sound. Such a reform would tend to increase interest among Freshmen in the work of the Students' Association: it would be only fair to extend to a large body of students the right to vote upon affairs that would intimately concern them. Nevertheless, an amendment to the motion revealed one vital weakness in the proposed reform. The amendment was that Fresh men should not be allowed to vote in the election for Life Membership, the reason being that they would not have that degree of knowledge of past students, which would enable them to form a judgment. The movers of the motion accepted the amendment, thereby revealing the fact that it was patent even to them that the Freshman would inevitably be incompetent to form an opinion upon many of the questions, that would arise for discussion. Other amendments restricted the scope for the motion still more, and finally, after it had been amended out of recognition, the motion was dropped. We think that every credit is due to those, who brought up the subject for discussion but our own view is that the change contemplated by the motion would have been a retrograde step.