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Evening Star, Issue 17234, 26 December 1919, Page 4

It the Fates had written it inexorably that Mr Massey was A Travesty of to hold the reins of

Representation, government for the next three years, we would have preferred that he should rule by the will o£ the majority. Possibly, However, political parties are only grateful for the gifts of the gods, and question not the manner of the giving. For many years we have endeavored to awaken the consciences of the political leaders to the iniquity of our present electoral system "of representation—the right word would be misrepresentation. We believe even now that in this matter the people are ahead of their leaders.

There can surely be one excuse only for holding an election—that is. to ascertain the will of the electors and to make that will operative. The will of the electors can only become operative through their representatives. The majority of the electors have an inherent democratic right to govern. The minority have a right to be represented and heard. , These are the merest rudimentary principles of representation. They are all abrogated in the new Parliament, for the reason that the minority party will rule N

It will not be contended that anything but votes should finally count in the constitution cf Parliament. If a minority of electors are against any party it cannot rule except by outraging the fundamental principles of Democracy. In the new Parliament the Eeform Party have 44 European seats, having polled 173,000 votes. The Liberal Party have 18 European seats, having polled 155,000 votes, Official Lahor eight and Independent Labor three seats with 147,000 votes, while the seven Independents polled 53,,000 votes. The proportion of seats to votes shows a mostglaring inequality. It will be seen, taking the three official parties, that, while 3,931 votes eleoted "a Reform member of Parliament, 8,611* votes were required to elect a Liberal member, and 15,125 were required to elect an Official Labor member. Surely nothing cotild be more ineguitable than such an allocation. Taking -what we consider as an over-generou3 allocation to Mr Massey, the 'lyttelton Times' makes the following comparison between a just allocation and the actual allocation :

All this is very regrettable; but it 5s not new. It has become a habit with political leaders to adopt that electoral system which is calculated to best suit their respective parties. Before the last seajfon of tire old Parliament expired it was very frequently, rumored that the Eeform Party mathematician had made certain calculations, and had decided that the existing electoral system of " first past the post" would help the fortunes of the party. It was a perfect guess; but the result does not surprise students of electoral systems. Our system has produced similar inecrualities whenever and wherever tried. As iM late Dr Bedford pointedout ia our columns after the 1914 election the Reform Party on that occasion polled 213,476 votes and secured 39 members; while the Liberal and Labor Parties, who polled 272,451 votes, obtained 37 members. Therefore the .party who were in a minority of 28,975 votes had a majority of two seats, and 216,730 votes were cast for candidates who were unsuccessful. What will be seen, therefore, that all that has happened on the present occasion is that the antiquated system has worked a little worse than usual. -

The number of absolute minority representatives in the new Parliament easily constitutes a record. In more than a score of electorates the member representing the electorate is > political accident, and;

nothing more. Some members will elfin the new Parliament with a majority of two to one against them. More than half of the members will sit by virtue of polling a thousand less votes than were polled by the unsuccessful candidate forDunedin South. Unfortunately, the new House of Representatives is the .most unrepresentative House in our history. At this time it should have been as nearly as possible truly representative, and in harmony with the aims and aspirations of the people.

As our readers very well know, we strove for stability in government at the recent elections; but we cannot either excuse or condone a system which can only result in breeding contempt for parliamentary institutions, because it outrages and denies true representation of the people. The present system is therefore dangerous and mischievous, and should be replaced by Proportional Representation. And we note with surprise, tinged with amusement, that a section of the strong party Pres3 which urged during tho election that there was no political difference between the party of Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward is now attempting to justify Mr Massey's majority by explaining that some other political leaders in bygone days profited by our obsolete electoral system. By all means let the race go to the victor; but let us see to it that tho rules of tho game are not framed in tho interests of only one of the contestants.

Reformers Liberals Labor Independents Just Actual Allocation. Allocation ... 28 44 „. 20 18 ... 20 11 ... 8 3 76 76