1905. _Married Women's Property Amendment Act._—This Act rendered a married woman capable of disposing of a trust estate without her husband, as if she were a _femme sole_. 1907. _Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act._—A similar Act was passed for Scotland in the same year, and for Ireland, with modifications, in 1911. These Acts removed the disqualification of sex and marriage, and rendered eligible on local councils married women living with their husbands, and daughters living with their parents. Fourteen years' strenuous work up to 1907 was necessary to secure their adoption. The necessary legislation was announced in the King's Speech as part of the Government programme of that year. It was the first time in the 700 years of British parliamentary history that an extension of the civil liberties of women had occupied such a position. 1914. _County and Borough Councils Qualification Act_, and similar Act for Scotland in the same year. These Acts provide for men and women alike a residential as distinct from the rate-paying qualification. 1914. _Affiliation Orders Act_ sought to improve the position of the unmarried mother, but was very imperfect on account of its failure to provide any proper machinery for carrying it out. 1918. _The Representation of the People Act_ (passed in February, 1918).—It placed nearly eight and a half million women upon the registers of voters in parliamentary elections. It also multiplied the number of women local government electors from one million to over eight and a half millions. It applies equally to every part of the United Kingdom. 1918. _Eligibility of Women Act_ (November, 1918) rendered the election of women to the House of Commons a possibility. No work was required to get the Act passed. It was all but unopposed. Owing to the very short time between the passing of the Act and the General Election the opportunity for women to select constituencies and work up their candidature was very inadequate. Nevertheless, there were seventeen women candidates, one of whom, in Ireland, was elected. 1918. _Affiliation Orders (Increase of Maximum Payment) Act_, 1918, amends the Bastardy Laws Act of 1872, which fixed five shillings a week as the maximum which the father could be made to pay towards the maintenance of an illegitimate child, raising this sum to ten shillings a week. 1918. _Midwives Amending Act_, 1918, removes some of the weaknesses of the Act of 1902, and is sufficiently described in the foregoing chapter.