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Evening Star, Issue 16335, 30 January 1917, Page 4

Now that the local Trade Unions have decided ou a coustituProportiona! lion to govern the Representation political activities of at ■ Elections. Labor under the banner of tho Otago Labor Representation Committee, it will be interesting to learn to what extent these activities will be devoted towards the introduction of Proportional Representafiou in connection with future municipal elections. Christchurch has definitely decided to lake advantage of tho Local Elections Act, .1914, by adopting tho system iu April next, not only in the election of municipal councillors, but also iu the election of members to the Harbor and Charitable Aid Boards, 1 he adjoining borough of Wooistcm has also decided to adopt the reform for the ensuing municipal elections. ’This is a lead which progressive Dunedin would do well to follow. Proportional Representation has been advoeated as a model electorate reform fur hall a century ; yet wo do not think we. are overstating the case when we say the average citizen lias still but a hazy idea of it., principles. 1 he main argument urged against its introduction iu New Zealand, and produced ad nauseam during the 1914 debates in both Houses of Parliament, are briefly as follows It leads to too largo electorates thereby militating against the interests of the non-motor-car-owning poorer candidate when conduc-tiim hj% election campaign: it, increases informal '■cling: U means an unfair -swamping ol country representation; it accentuates machine-made party politics.' loading to an undesirable encouragement of anti and Prohibitionists, Bible j n tho school and no Bible in the .school, and similar parties; and the average clectoi v.ill never be able to understand the system of counting. The arguments in favor of its introduction are few in number. The “pros” claim that : 7t reproduces the opinions of the c.cclors m Parliament* in their true proportions; it secures that the majority of the electors shall rule, and teat all considerable minorities shall •■e braid; it gives representatives meater freedom from parochial nreswire: it ensures to panics representation by their ablest and most trusted members. - Wo would, however, go further Ilian the above, and dogmatically state that L no other system can tlie people, be truly and proportionately represented. It would be. impossible' witliin the scope of this article to deal fully with the many wrongly-conceived suspicions which have been aroused as a result of the recent parliamentary debates. We rum, however, point out how, in the existing “ first-past-Urn-post” system, the majority aro'frequently left ridiculously unrepresented. It is quite common, when examining municipal election figures, to find that out of a council of, say, 18 members one party is leproscntod by 12 members and another party by 6; yet when the total votes are counted in the, aggregate it is shown that tho positions should bo inverted. Hero, then, is dearly a case where a, ma-joritv is governed by a minority. Take the English General Election of 1900. Tho Unionists recorded 2,n48,b30 votes and returned 402 members, whereas the seats in proportion to the. votes that those members represented were only 545. Again, Liberals recorded 2,591,319, and returned only 268 members, yet seats iu proportion to the voles that those represented were 5,271; 6,1 that the majority of those who voted (157,417) represented 134 scats, whereas iu proportion to the votes it should, have been 16. Abo, iu the second 1916 dec- 1 tioms, an increase iu the Liberal vote from 2,075,116 to 3,093.978 (an increase of 50 per cent.) resulted in a, change iu tho mini her of representatives from 186 to 428 —an increase of 150 per cent. ; wjiiie a decrease in tho Conservative vote, from 2.402,740 to 2,350,086 (a decline of a little moie than 2 per cent.) resulted in a, reduction of rep resen tat ion from 581 to 159 members—a decline of 65 per cent. It is seen by such incontestable examples that the current belief that tho “ finst-past-ihe-pust “ system invariably yields a largo majority has m> solid foundation in fact. Jt is with the viva of a removal fur all lime of these anomalies that we advocate the introduction of Proportional Representation in Dunedin. The main, arguments, quoted iu a previous paragraph, against tho introduction of an electoral reform so palpably favorable to majority government d 5 not apply in the same degree to municipal as to national elections. 'The bogy of largo electorates is plainly inapplicable. Party politics are always prevalent in municipal affairs, and, even if an evil, a necessary evil. Town dwellers arc no more likely to make informal ballot papers :u placing thereon 1, 2, 5, as required by Urn Local Elections Act, 1914, than in making- a cross or striking out a candidate's name. Even if the average citizen does not understand the systems of counting first preferences, quotas, transfers, and surpluses, which the administration of Proportional Representation entails, it is no more necessary he should do so than it is necessary for him to understand how electricity is harnessed to his use when he applies for current. Wo are not advocating any very new thing in supporting this electoral reform. It has been long in force in several countries ou the Continent of Europe, and is in operation in Tasmania. In South Africa —a country' which as rightly claims to bo a world leader in municipal progress as wo hero rightly claim to be leaders in educational progress—the principle is largely in vogue. The British Government have adopted tho principle for the election of tho projected Irish Senate; and from conversations we have had with the Premier of New South M ales we shall not bo surprised to hoar that that State will shortly substitute it for the Second Ballot. Another convert to the principle is to be found in Speaker Lowther’s Committee of British Peers and Commoners, who, after very exhaustive investigations of general electoral reform, have reported favorably ou its application to Britain, “so as to

“ ensure that the House of Commons shall “ be a more exact mirror of national feel“ing.” Dunedin, being now an undivided borough, is a peculiarly genial soil in which to plant Proportional Representation ; and citizens will do well to encourage its adoption if they wish our City to retain its high position as on© of the most progressive municipalities in tho Southern Hemisphere. To meet the expressed wishes of -a number interested iu Electoral Reform—and who in New Zealand is not?—we have decided to promote a “ mock Proportional Representation ballot,” taking Otago as an undivided constituency rcturniue 13 members to the House of Representatives. A study of these ballot papers will give an indication as to the difficulties or simplicities which the system offers to Otago electors, and ' will further enable us to publish an elaborate analysis <jf tho results and of showing how they were arrived at—information which should prove of great assistance to those who have not quite grasped tho principles that lie at the root nf tho Proportional Representation scheme. AVe have much pleasure in announcing that Messrs H. Maxwell and D. Larnnch have consented to act as returning officers on tho occasion. J7ie ballot will be held during tho month of February, so that our subscribers at a distance and others may have an opportunity of participating in this educative and interesting experiment.