PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14528, 20 May 1909, Page 8

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

THE TASMANIA* ELECTIONS. (Frou Our Oyv.v Corresi'OHdent.) CHKISTCHUKUH, .May 19. The Ilobarl correspondent- of the Pi ess writes enthusiastically of the working of the Maic-Clark system of proportional representation, under which the recent general elections in Tasmania wine conducted. He says:—"Of all the countries in the world, great and small, Tasmania, is the only one that has a system of election thai cannot- err, that truly reflects public opinion, and that gives to each section of tho community its due .--hare in the management of affairs of State. The new system worked easily and smoothly throughout. The ollicers appointed to do the counting did their work efficiently and without- a hitch of any fort. The electors, too, found no ditliculty in casting then votes, and the inlornwls were less than 1 per cent, of the whole. At many of the polling stations there were no inform-.)] votes at all. There were- five constituencies tint! 60 candidates for 30 seats. The tt-iit-i----te'ocialisis were supp.-nled by per cent, of the votes, ami got 60 p t T cunt, of the seats. The- Labour men were supported by lO.'i per cent, of the voters, and got 10 per" cent, of the seats. The Liberal Democrats in none of the constituencies were support ?d by enough votes to make the quota, not even niter the second, third, and fourth preference votes had been counted. Some of these lost their deposits. The people saw it was to he a tight between Labour and the antiSocialists, and. desiring |'n;;t it should he a clean-cut issue, rejected the Liberal Democrats. Thus out of the ballot-box comes a vital political question with two strong parties to decide it. The Hare system has given jtidicc to Labrnir. and at the same time has welded the. rest of the members into a solid body. tVe have got scientific results fiom a seientiliu system." The writer riaims that the ballot-box has discriminated in favour of men of ability and good character. In a previous election [Sit- Elliott Lewis, a tormer Prime Minister, was scptrezed out. This time the electms of Ilobart gave him more than the quota. Several men of aldermanic capacity and pretensions sought election, and were rejected. Others, known in the churches, put up, and these, too, were not of the elect, The Labour party had pro-elections for the selection of the candidates, and among those nominated were undesirables, The ballot-box picked the best of them infallibly. Two of the four Labour candidates for Dcnison (Hobart) were elected—Mr Woods and Mr Sheridan. The former is an old member, and the latter not- long ago came to Tasmania from New Zealand. Mr Sheridan made a few speeches thai went well, and showed that- the man had ability and chaiactcr, and the ballot-box gave him the seat. In Bass two new men (Mr Soloman, a voiin™ barrister, and Mr Jjakh-.ige, a mining'man), both anti-Socialists, showed that they were men of great political ability, and were elected near the top of the poll on the strength of a few speeches. Mr Bakhage is the son of j. Chinese father and an Italian mother, and from the platform said he was proud of his parentage. Then there is the case of Mr Dicker, a very young man, not long out of a charitable institution. He was a Labour candidate for Franklin, and in a constituency notable chiefly for its orchards, was returned with the Labour leader (Mr Earle) at, the head of the poll. Thus Mr Dicker, clever and energetic, and mi enthusiastic student of public affairs, enters Parliament, despite his early handicap in life. Had it not been a scientific ballot-box Mr Dicker would be back at his bench in the sawmill. The only instance of a member of the last Parliament, possessing character and ability and a record, being beaten was the rejection of the Treasurer (Mr Urquli'iTt), which arose from the fact, that he has nothing in common with tho people of Darwin, a mining community, including Zeehau and Queenstown. ' Ifo is a lawyer. The Prime Minister had asked him to win a Darwin seat for the Ministry, which was about the same thin" as asking a Derby horse to take a load of bricks up a hifl."