ELECTORAL REFORM

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9174, 14 October 1915, Page 7

ELECTORAL REFORM

proportional representation an INTERVIEW WITS ME J. H, HUMPHREYS. No ono of the present generation lias done more among British, communities for the cause of electoral reform than has Mr John H. Humphreys, the hon. secretary of the British Proportional Representation Society, who chatted with a “Times” reporter yesterday on the subject he has made his own with a diffidence that would have become the learner, hut with a comprehension that always revealed the master.

Mr Humphreys had just come across from Australia, where he had lingered longer than he hadi intended on his “round-the-world” tour at the pressing invitation of the friends of electoral reform in the Commonwealth. He had been delighted and deeply interested in what ho had seen and heard “ over there,” as he colloquially expressed it, and had been muon encouraged by the growing popularity of the principle of proportional representation. “The Australians ate thoroughly alive to the defects of their present electoral system,” he said, “and that, ,of course, is the best earnest of speedy reform.” Turning ,to New Zealand, Mr Humphreys was more inclined to interview than he interviewed. With him the collection of information is an Instinct as well as a habit, and it soon became evident that he knew as much about the Dominion’s electoral system and its effects as the average Journalist does, and more than, the average politician knows. “The outlook seems very favourable,” : was his comment When ho had confirmed his own impressions of; the position. ■ “All you want now is to get the people to understand what proportional representation means, and to roaliso that it is not a party scheme by which one set of politicians is going to benefit at the expense of the other set.” Mr Humphreys expressed no surprise when he was shown the inequitable results of some of the voting at the last general election bore—6o,ooo Reform votes in one group of constituencies securing : fourteen : seats, ahd 61,000 Liberal votes In the same groUp securing only six seats, being the most striking example. Such results were inevitable, he said, with single-member electorates, and no palliative measures like second ballots or preferential voting could get rid of them. Reform, must . aim at the very root of the evil by giving every elector just his right voting power and no more. Perfection woUld bo reached when the community was sufficiently edip cated to accept constituencies largo enough to enable every considerable section of political thought to obtain its just share of representation in the Parliament of the country, but in the meantime Mr Humphreys would welcome something short of perfection. Three-member constituencies with proportional representation would be infinitely better than single-member constituencies with any system. Six or seven-member Constituencies would realise the spirit of the reform very well,

The , “country quota” presents no terrors to Mr Humphreys. , Without committing himself to any opinion upon the propriety of giving the country districts a greater share of representation than the towns, he explained that the principle of the distinction could be preserved by grouping constituencies of the-same character together. Of course the advantage of 28 per cent. ,to the country districts might not be uniformly maintained, but ho doubted if this was the case under the present system. In a young country like New Zealand, with settlement pro; greasing apace, there must bo constant changes in the populations of the districts. A rough calculation he hod made suggested . that the : “country quota” last December varied from 10 to 40 per cent. If that wore really the case there did not seem to he much ground for insisting upon the precise 28 per cent. Of the minor objections to proportional. representation' Mr Humphreys makes light. S)o far from fearing that it would intensify the worst elements of party, he believes it would go : a. long way towards removing them by giving each party representation in exact proportion to its voting strength in the constituency. As for. the young politician who would he handicapped by tho large constituencies lie had not met this Unenterprising person in Australia, and ho would be sorry to think he existed in Now Zealand. He - was firmly convinced himself that New Zealand presented a particularly favourable field for the reform, and that its adoption would do mere than anything else could to maintain the Dominion in the very forefront of well-governed, progressive, and prosperous nations; Mr Humphreys will, remain in" Weilington till Monday next, when he will leave for Auckland, and afterwards visit the South Island.