PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18954, 30 August 1923, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.

THE NEW PROPOSALS. A HYBRID BILL. PREFERENTIAL AND PROPORTIONAL. (Feom Our Own Correspondent.) / WELLINGTON. August 29. The new but long-promised amendments of the Legislature Act were introduced in a Bill which was circulated this morning. As had been predicted it is a hybrid measure providing preferential voting tor the country 'and proportional representation, for populous city and suburban areas. Part one of the pill deals with the compulsory registration of doctors. Persons qualified to bo registered must register within four months of the passing of the Act, and the offence of failing to register is to bo made a continuing one until application for registration has been made. Thee penalties provided are small—lss on a first conviction, and 20s on subsequent convictions. Changes of address have to be notified, but an elector is not to be disqualified for not ’notifying a change of address and neither is temporary absence from a district to be considered a disqualification. Ihe Registrar of Births and Deaths has to notify the registrar of electors of deaths. Ho shall also report marriages for the purpose of amending the rolls. This is necessaVy because when a woman marries she usually changes her name, and the roll should be corrected accordingly. PREFERENTIAL VOTING. Part 2 Of the Bill deals with preferential voting, which is not to be applicable to the urban districts in which proportional voting is tp be enforced, except in the case ol by-oleotions. In preferential voting ihe elector is to mark the ballot paper by placing the figure in the square opposite the name of the candidate he desires to bo elected. Ho may also indicate his preference" for as many other candidates as he pleases. There are the customary provisions for counting the votes, and also in regard to informal votes. There are machinery clauses concerning deputies, the official count of the votes, and the declaration of the polls. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION. The constitution of electoral divisions for the purposes of proportional representation are to be as follows: (a.) The Auckland electoral division shall comprise the. electoral districts of Auckland West, Auckland Central, ■ East, Gre,y Lynn, and Parnell. . _ . (b) The Wellington electoral division shall comprise the electoral districts of Wellington North, Wellington Central, Wellington East, Wellington South, and Wellington suburbs. (c) The Christchurch electoral division shall comprise the electoral. districts of Christchurch North. Christchurch East, Christchurch South, and Avon. (d) The Dunedin electoral. division shall comprise the'electoral districts of Dunedin North, Dunedin West, Dunedin Central, and Dunedin South. These districts are, each to have as many representatives as there are electoral districts within them Thus Auckland and Wellington would each have five members and Christchurch and Dunedin each four members The machinery clauses for preferential voting show that the voter is not compelled to exercise more than one preference. Qualification for enrolment is varied by .providing for three months’ residence in an electoral district prior, to application. The accepted proportional representation system is modified in that where an absolute majority is not obtained, the second and subsequent preferences are distributed at their full value instead of at a fractional value. Parliament is not at all likely to pass the Bill in its present form. It may, however, bo the basis of amended legislation. The Prime Minister stated before his departure thht there would be many differences of opinion in regard to the Bill, but he in-, tended, all being well, to proceed with it next session. He hoped that the united wisdom of the House would dnablo a better electoral system to be devised than that at present in operation.