PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 17, 20 January 1914, Page 4

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

The Proportional Representation Society of Great Britain held an “international dinner” in London last month. Lord Grey was in the chair, and lie gave a cheering account of the progress of the reform movement associated with the Society. He said that in all parts of the British Empire the demand for proportional representation was “gaining in weight, dignity and momentum.” People were coming to realise that a form of representative government which gave representation merely to local majorities, or sometimes to local minorities, was not suited to democratic requirements, since the essential requirements of any democratic form of government were that the whole body of electors should he equally, fairly and proportionately represented, and that the majority should rule. Lord Courtney said that the most serious political task before the world .was the solution of the social question, and the nation which most closely absorbed the principles of proportional representation in its constitution had the best chance of arriving at a solution of the problem by the most- peaceable means. The gathering, the “Lyttelton Times” says, sent out a message of good cheer to supporters of proportional representation tlmoughout the world.