ELECTORAL REFORM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18583, 9 December 1920, Page 6

ELECTORAL REFORM.

Wu publish this morning a letter by Mr John H. Humphreys, secretary of the Proportional Representation Society, who compares the electoral results attained under a very faulty and iratabrous method of proportional representation in New South Wales with those obtained in New Zealand under the primitive and rule-of-thumb method of “ firpt past the post.” Mr Humphries shows that in the new New South Walea Parliament the three principal political parties are represented very nearly according to the voting strength of their supporters as f disclosed at the polls. To put Mr ■Humphreys’s facts in a slightly different guise to that which he adopted, the voting strength of the three parties and the representation which they obtained was as follows:

NEW SOUTH WALES, 1920. Per- Percentage contage of rotas of seats

In New Zealand the results, tested on tbe same basis, were as follows: NEW ZEALAND, 1919. Per- Per-

Eor thei purposes of his computation, which is the basis of ours, Mr Humphreys has excluded independent candidates and those of doubtful affiliations, and lias dealt in each case with the three main parties. He shows a maximum error of representation in New South Wales of loss than 1 per cent, and a maximum error in New Zealand of 21.8 per cent. If we arc to subscribe to the dictum of Abraham Lincoln that in any State either a majority or a minority must rule, and that in a democratic State the majority ought to rule, we should think it would appear to the ordinary man that there are obvious points of desirability in a system which secures majority rule, and manifest defects in a system which vests government in the nominees of a minority. Onr morning contemporary, which published Air Humphreys's letter yesterday and commented upon it in the same issue, cannot imagine the ordinary man making any such deduction. It says that “ what to the arithmetician of the P.R. Society appears to be a perfectly beautiful political arrangement, will appear to all ordinary men and all students of practical politics to be a thoroughly detestable plan for the complete misgovernment of the nation.” Air Humphreys’s analysis is dismissed as “ irrelevant and trivial,” and <mr contemporary asks Its readers to Imagine the fearful state of New Zealand under conditions which would not allow tho Reform Party a substantial Parliamentary majority irrespective of the number of its adherents. Wo are told that if an unjust electoral system had not given Air Massey a majority in 1919 the Labour Party would have dominated tho situation, Which would have bowl minority rule in its very worst shape. The “ Press ” appears to be convinced that Whether under Proportional Representation or “first past the post” a minority is bound to rule, but it appears to overlook tho fact that the system at present in force in New Zealand gives no guarantee that the ruling

minority will always be a Reform one. For our part, we have no fear of a Labour minority or any other minority ruling New Zealand under an honest system of election, but wo do fear the result on tho minds of ordinary men of a system which legalises minority rule in Parliament.. A Parliament which does not represent th® people? is not calculated to promote reverence for Parliamentary institutions nor for tho laws which these promulgate. A study of history, particularly the constitutional history of our own race, shows that equity of representation, so for from being an irrelevant and trivial consideration in politics, is a fundamental necessity of stable government. The Reform Party once upon a time .coquetted with Proportional Representation. It has turned its back upon the principle now because it is a democratic principle, and because the party feels that it has not the confidenco of the people. It is committed to opportunism, and its policy in all constitutional affairs is subordinated to the task of ruling a majority of the people against their will. When the swing of tho pendulum takes tho Reformers out 'of office the first duty of their successors will be to make the Constitution of this country safe against* automatic minorities, and tho first and most important safeguard will be tbe institution of Proportional Representation.

polled. won* Official Labour i . 49.4 49.4 Nationalist . . 38.6 82.9 Progressive . . 17.0 17.7 100.0 100.0

centage centage of votes of seats polled. won. Reform . 40.1 61.9 Liberal . 33.8 26.7 Official Labour . 20.1 11.4 100.0 100.0