ALTERNATIVE VOTE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 137, 6 March 1931, Page 9

ALTERNATIVE VOTE

Clause Retained in Bill ELECTORAL REFORM Labour Measure Discussed EFFECT ON GOVERNMENT By Telegraph—Pre»» Association—Copyright (Rec. March 5, 7.80 p.m.) London, March 4. In the House of Commons in Committee on the Electoral Reform BUI, the Government accepted an amendment that the alternative vote should not apply till the next general election. Sir Samuel Hoare (Conservative) moved the rejection of the alternative vote clause. He said that the country had not demanded it and the Conservatives were opposed to it. Labour was divided On the subject, and the Liberals were half-hearted. The elections would-be controlled by the last candidate’s second preferences, possibly out of a hundred votes given to a Communist. There would be wangling between the parties, and the system, instead of giving representation to minorities, might be Used to suppress them altogether.; He appealed to the Government to allow a free vote on the question. Election By Minority. Sir Herbert Samuel (Liberal) said that they could not continue with the present system, which returned, a Government by a minority of votes. Neither the Conservatives nor the' trade, unions adapted the system of first past the post in adopting candidates. However the leaders might recommend the distribution' of votes, the great mass of the electors would hap; pily make up their own minds to vote accordingly. If the people wanted, they could crush out a third party. Mr. J. Beckett (Labour) recalled Mr. Ramsay MacDonald’s declaration that the alternative vote would ruin the Labour Party, which had always refused to give a mandate for it. The Government had introduced it in defiance of party principles in order to entertain the nation for another six to twelve months with the spectacle of degradation. “Great Present Need.” Sir Austen Chamberlain opposed the clause “because it was essential to the success of our Parliamentary institutions to have a party, not a group system.” The latter, he contended, would make the House of Commons a market far votes instead of a great, deliberative assembly. The country’s greatest present need was a Government strong enough to govern and the Bill would make the Government weak and the House of Commons ineffective. The clause was carried by 277 votes to 251.