The Sun SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1914. WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 241, 14 November 1914, Page 8

The Sun SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1914. WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING.

The conversion of prominent members of the Opposition to proportional representation has resulted in its inclusion in the official Liberal platform, and, as a the public is bound .to hear a good, deal about it in the . near future. The circumstance that Sir Joseph Ward and Mr G. W. Russell formerly opposed proportional representation need not be stressed , very mu<?h: even Liberals adapt themselves to changed conditions and occasionally discover what they think may be errors in their political creed. Besides, when politicians are casting round for show goods to put in the political window at. election time, they are always glad of a fine, large mouth-filling phrase like proportional representation which threefourths of the people will never understand. It looks and. sounds well, at any rate, and quite a lot of people are beginning to thiijk .that it connotes something in the shape of an important •political Therein they are being deceived. Proportional representation is a gold brick," and when newspapers and politicians lead the people to .there magic in this -curious system of voting that will improve. the quality of' • the, people 'a representation in -Parliament, they are perpetrating a heartless fraud on the simple elector, whose vote alone they are after. For instance, there is nothing in: this mathematical ; juggle with, and figures and \*aiues to convert Mr G. W. Russell from an ordinary* politician, elected on the iirst-past-the-post system, into a heaven-born statesman, merely .because he' reaehea Parliament as the product of election by the proportional system. And if Sir Joseph Ward or Mr Russell or Mr Isitt is to be' our next Prime Minister, does it matter two straws to the people of New Zealand by what particular process they get into Parliament and , secure the-job? The proof that proportional representation makes little or no difference to the calibre of the average politician and does nothing to mend his manners, methods, ideals, and legislation is to be found in Tasmania, where they have been electing members of Parliament on the proportional gystem since 1896. Party feeling-is ju&t as acute in Tasmania as it is anywhere else.' The same old party squabbles lower the tone of public life, and there is nothing about Tasmanian legislation I or administration to suggest that proportional representation has worked any improvement whatever. At any rate, the fact remains that New Zealand legislation, which is mainly the work of men elected on the old system of first-past-the-post is eagerly watched and frequently copied by other countries, but one never hears of anyone going to Tasmania for hints in the art of government, nor for legislative schemes for the benefit of the people. The reason is obvious enough. Politicians are not a reflex of the system of voting employed to sort them out for public office: they are a reflex of the electors who do the voting, and the shortcomings they exhibit are those of the average elector. If a system could

be devised which would exclude from nomination all those men who did not exhibit in a marked degree sagacity, public spirit, human sympathy, and administrative ability, politics in New Zealand would speedily be transformed, but the process would " disfranchise'' such a large element of the community that it could not be put into effect. On the contrary, it is one of the chief claims advanced on behalf of proportional representation that every section of the community numerically strong enough to reach the "quota" can get the representation its numbers entitle it to. Political groups that typify class hatred, ignorance, intolerance, and sentimentalism are expected to send their representatives to Parliament along with the rest, although they can add nothing to its usefulness and dignity. In short, proportional representation is incapable of producing the results claimed, for it, and if it is ever adopted in New Zealand, people may rest assured that the same old party game will go on as before with similar figures on the political chessboard.