ELECTORAL REFORM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21934, 31 January 1946, Page 4

ELECTORAL REFORM

Sir...ln my letter of November 28 it was stated that more than 20 years ago the Labour Party declared definitely and emphatically in favour of proportional representation. This is supported by the statement of "A.H.K.” in his letter of January 24 that P.R. was a plank in. the Labour Party's platform for long enough. "A.H.K.” was careful to add “while they were in opposition, of course.” Arc we to infer from this qualification that, once in power, the party has no further concern for electoral justice? Could your correspondent explain how it was that the Labour Council of Christchurch, after attaining office subsequent to a P.R. election, dropped the P.R. system and reverted to "first past the post?” The analysis of the 1924 election i s beyond me as I have not the data at hand. In Gisborne Borough Council elections of 1944 the Independent, Dr. Singer, polled 3756 votes while 22,000 votes were cast for Citizen candidates and under 20,000 for Socialist candidates The Citizens returned six councillors and the Socialists two, the ninth seat going to the Independent. In the Mayoral contest, the Citizens’ candidate polled 3177 votes and the Socialist ■2573. In this proportion, Citizens would have had five representatives to four for their opponents on the coun-

oil. The P.R. system could be adopted for next borough elections if the council is in favour of the test. That portion of “A.U.K.'s” letter dealing with Maori representation I will leave for Mr. Kohere to handle. “LIBERAL.”