ELECTORAL REFORM

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 19 July 1929, Page 5

ELECTORAL REFORM

j PROPOSALS SUBMITTED. SCOPE OP INQUIRY. LESSONS OF LAST ELECTION. (United tress Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) Received 10.45 a.m. to-day. LONDON, July IS. Tiro Rif. Horn. Ramsay MacDonald lias submitted to IMessrs Baldwin and Lloyd George the. proposed terms of reference for the inquiry into electoral reform.

The “Daily Telegraph”, understands that these contain :

(1) Abolition or retention of the present limited system of plural voting.

(2) Methods of voting including ap alternative vote, second ballot and proportional rep rese nta ti on.

(3) Use to be made of party funds for the purposes of election campaigns. The inquiry is the direct out-come of the recent election. Liberals protested at their under-representation according to the votes cast, while Labourites complained of lavish expenditure of other parties from their respective headquarters, as distinct from the candidates’ own expenses. Mr Lloyd George practically made Liberal support conditional on the Labourites embarking on a scheme of electoral reform. Mr MacDonald agrees, but extends the inquiry into party expenditures.