The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1908. WORSE AND WORSE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 215, 10 September 1908, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1908. WORSE AND WORSE.

The Second Ballot Bill has been passed in the House of Representatives, and now awaits the finishing touches of the Legislative Council. In its passage through the' House- the Bill has been vitally amended, a clause being inserted in direct opposition to the raison d'etre of the measure. The Prime Minister in introducing the Bill made a strong point of the fact that it was designed to secure the representation of majorities, only. The chief amendment, introduced by the Prime Minister at the suggestion of a leading Opposition Member, provides that if the candidate at the head of the poll at the first ballot'has secured 500 more votes than the second man, he shall be deemed to have secured an absolute majority of the votes polled, even if he has not actually done so! This is simply playing with the question, and reducing the whole thing to an absurdity. Either the absolute majority should rule, as laid down in the first* instance by Sir Joseph Ward, or it should not, but this hybrid proposition makes of the measure neither "fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring., A majority of 500 is to ,be regarded as an absolute majority, even though it may not be so, while a. majority of % 499 will involve all the expense, delay and trouble of the second ballot! Sir Joseph would have done better to stick to his first intentions, and have thus avoided the ridiculous position in t which he has been placed. The measure would' -then have been what it professed to be, and not something which enacts one thing while affecting to provide for something altogether different. Then in another respect an amendment has been made which in ho way improves the position. Between the first and second ballot no canvassing is to be permitted, no meetings are to be held, no advertising is to be done by candidates, and no press comment is to be made. The press is to be muzzled, and the public is to be left in the dark as to the position of affairs between the two ballots. And this in s enhghtened New Zealand! If this really becomes law the tired journalist, and the no less tired candidates, will be fervently ' thankful for the rest it will give them.. But this will not assist the public in arriving at a decision as to the merits of the two candidates left for their choice. It will, however, result in the very thing: which the Bill is designed to prevent, the representation, of constituencies by minorities. This journal has previously pointed out that far less interest is likely to be taken in a second ballot than in a first, and consequently there is a greater probability of a candidate being returned by a small section of the voters "upon the second ballot, when the interest in the event has waned. And this probability is reduced to a certainty when all the usual means of stimula-

ting the necessary interest is abolished by law. The action of the majority in the House in adopting such a provision only -serves to bring into strong relief what? might be expected were absolute majority rule to be actually effected. It was in the dark ages that the doctrine of "might is right" was fully enforced, but subsequent enlightenment led to a recognition of the fact that minorities have rights which must be respected. And if the House of Representatives is going to ignore these rights, and enact a measure ostensibly designed to rule by "the force of a brutal majority," it remains for the Legislative Council to manifest more regard for the interests of the people as a whole and jdeal with measure as its merits, 'or demirits^ deserve.