THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, AUGUST 200, 1910. THE SECOND BALLOT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14917, 20 August 1910, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, AUGUST 200, 1910. THE SECOND BALLOT

The explanation offered fo>. the introd'uc 'ion of a Second Ballot Bill in the-Ncn South Wales LcßßiatiiM-namcly. thai the Government" „„{. , 71sl , to i nlro . duco drastic alteralwr* in the. Perioral law-has a Braicwhat apologcHp ring. Apology is otherwise not inappropriate iaassociation will, , h J M instrument of .jlectwa! -ok,,™. The avowed object of this Second Ballot Bill is to secure the representation ot an ato-. Into majority ot the elector* in each con-Btiloeucjr-im. object- which, ammonia . itself the Jess since every g M er,d election that is conducted on the pvinnpie that irrespective of al! other considerations' majorities must rule, adds to the accumulated evidence condemnatory oi such a, system. Whatever merit may attach to an' electoral scheme on the ground that it seeks to bring it about that tlie :-epj«sciif tative of ■■« constituency in Parliament shall represent a majority ot: the electors of that constituency is discounted if no provision is made-for the representation of the minority, however atrong this may relatively be. The majority is entitled to rule but is justly entitled to no greater preponderance of representation than is proportionate. tc its relative strength. In New Zealand the lesson of the second ballot has been sufficiently convincing, we imagine, to sjil reasonable people who have studied its effects, and are not bent, like the Government, on securing further evidence- of its deficiencies. Experience has shown that the second ballot cannot even be depended upon to achieve ui move than >i. very superficial senso the primary object that serves.as a plea tor its institution. It is quite possible.that the candidate returned through its operation may not represent! the political views of the majority of the electors, even though circumstances may have contributed to his , securing i pre. ponderimco of votes Over and above tho objection that it ia not equitable in its results, it has been shown thai the system entails unnecessary expense,, and that, like all'.systems of deferred election, it is open te serious abuse. The merits and • demerits of the second ballot have been ventilated exhaustively in the Parliament of this Dominion, and ire may depend upon it that our own Hansard will be an authority frequently cited in the course of the discussions on tho' GovernnWnt'u proposal in New Sooth Wales. Tlib re-.' suits of out first—and, so far, only—experience of the system certainly left little reasonable pretext for a Government that was largely influenced in its • introduction of the second ballot by its apprehensiveiicas that it might suffer losses through vote-splitting to cling to in expedient which proved itself singularly unreliable at the polls. The adherents of proportional representation cannot bo otherwise than encouraged by the recent report of the British Pvoyal Commission on Electoral .Systems. That report embodies'a free''admission of the : practicability of pioport-ion.il representation,'arid not' 1 tha least important ot its .vecomine'ridatidits is that of the 'adoption of "the alternative' vote m single-member constituencies as a substitute for the; second ballot.- -.With respect to tlii:- system it is claimed by the executive oi the Proportional-Reprcsenta--, tion Society that, if acted upon, it'." will familiarise a, great number oi, our electors with the- only machinery needed for, proportional representation by means of tha transferable vote.'' Tht. second ballot must continue to exemplify, in a greater or less degree according to circumstances, its utter unreliability as a means of securing that effect shall be given to the wishes of the majority of the electors, and, at a. time when other countries are abandoning it and the inherent fairness of proportional is ensuring- that principle an increasingly wide recognition as the coming instrument of electoral reform, the proposals of tho New Soutii Wales Government appear neither! .enlightened nor progressive.