The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1908. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 5, 7 January 1908, Page 4

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1908. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

The Tasmanian Government Statistician, Mr E.. .M. Johnston, has recently contributed to the London Spectator an interesting article; upon the .Clark-Hare system of voting. In view of the proposal of Sir Jpseph Ward to \amend ;our voting methods, so as to ensure the absolute representation of majorities, the' article will repay perusal. Sir Joseph proposes merely to safeguard the position of majorities, thel rights of minorities being apparently ignored, 1 Air Johnston's article, on the contrary-, ,-. shows how equality of representation may be obtained. Might should not always be regarded as right, and in any new proposals the views of minorities • should be given adequate expression, while at the same time giving majorities all that they are equitably entitled to. Under the present system it is undeniable that both parties suffer injustice* Mr Johnston 'shows thiß by means of a simple illustration. He supposes that a city of 6000 electors, of whom 4000 belong to one party and 2000 to the other, is divided into six constituencies. Each returns one. member, but by the unequal distribution of the voting strength the 4000 electors secure three members and the 2000 the same number. If the city were converted into one constituency and the 1 election conducted under the ClarkHare system, the stronger party would retura four members and the weaker two, which would be exactly the proportion of representation to which they were entitled, Mr Johnston contends that the chief merit of the system he advocates is that it entirely removes all artificial barriers to just and reasonable representation of the various political forces. He points out that in the ordinary system of voting the fair power of majorities and minorities is wasted by the manner in which the votes are given. Hare's method of preference, in a very large measure, obviates I this defect. By indicating favourite candidates in their numerical order of preference the Hare method prevents the waste of valuable votes by automatically distributing surplus strength fairly and exactly to the next and next in order of preference, until at last the full fair strength of the particular part is properly determined. In such a method as this there appears to be all that Eis needed to ensure fair and equitable representation, and Sir Joseph Ward may be well advised to look closely into the system before committing himself definitely to some other less effective scheme. The fact that proportional voting has been for some years in force in both South Australia and Tasmania, and has been working satisfactorily in each State, is a strong argument in favour of its adoption in New Zealand.