The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1924. THE INFERNAL TRIANGLE.

Southland Times, Issue 19278, 24 June 1924, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1924. THE INFERNAL TRIANGLE.

Now that the South African Party has suffered defeat in a triangular fight, the effects of the first-past-the-post system are being canvassed. It has been found that, although the South Africans polled half of the total votes in the Union, they are in a minority in the popular chamber. General Smuts, of course, has had an experience which is by no means confined to South Africa. In the Old Country there have been many elections to show that under the haphazard system in force there, there is no relationship between the votes cast by the electors and the constitution of the chamber containing their representatives. The opponents of Proportional Representation profess to see some virtue in this system, but it is probable that the South African Party will be among the converts to this electoral reform now that the leaders have had a chance to realise what the old system can achieve in the way of misrepresentation. Mr Massey in two elections was given a taste of the. inconsistencies of the system. He saw his majority in the House dwindle in spite of the fact that the votes cast for his party increased substantially, and similar accidents have occurred in the Old Country. It is a significant fact that those who regard Mr Massey as a minority Prime Minister in this country do not refer to the position of General Hertzog, who, after conveniently forgetting his republicanism, now goes into power with a minority of the votes in the Union as his authority. The evils of the triangular contest are apparent in South Africa, and the lesson has been learnt in this country, where at last there are efforts to reduce the political combatants to two. At present there seems to be a large number of political kites in the air, but the variety of their shapes and colours shows that there is quite a lot of manoeuvring being done by men who are old in the ways of the party game. Various names have been mentioned as possible leaders of new organisations, among them the Hon. J. G. Coates, Mr F. J. Rolleston and Mr W. D. Hunt, but all these have stoutly denied that they are involved in any movements to create a new political force. A little while ago we were told that the Reformers were rent by dissension and now it seems that Mr Wilford has been found to be a failure as a leader, although he himself insists that the party is solid behind him. In a reference to some of these attacks upon himself from quarters which only a little while ago were glowing with enthusiasm for his good qualities, Mr Wilford -.said that the aim seemed to be to get rid of the old leaders. If this is so it must be accompanied by an effort equally determined to get rid of the old ’uns in the ranks. A Young New Zealand Party, such as Mr William Stevenson dreams about, in conjunction with expensive schemes for the “stabilisation” of land values, would be rather ridiculous if it went into battle with its banners born aloft by old soldiers, and a Nationalist Party would be just as absurd if it carried on old parochialism of the past.