The Daily News TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1929. ELECTORAL REFORM.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1929, Page 8

The Daily News TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1929. ELECTORAL REFORM.

The intimation that the British Government has decided to set up a Select Committee to examine the question of electoral reforms is a reminder that the present system of voting is by no means perfect in registering with accuracy the views of an electorate. With the exception of the plural voting that is permitted to a certain extent in Great Britain, the voting system in the Homeland is very much akin to that in New Zealand. The results obtained by its use in the last general election held in both countries have been almost identical. In each there is a Ministry in office without a Parliamentary majority, and dependent upon the goodwill of the other parties for its existence. But the greatest anomaly is in the distribution of seats. In Great Britain the political party polling the largest number of votes secured only the second place in number of seats. In regard to the smallest party in the House of Commons, the Liberal party, the position was even more glaring. Polling four-fifths as many votes as the party which is now in office it only succeeded in obtaining less than a fifth of the number of seats captured by the Labour party. In New Zealand the figures were not so impressive, nor were the contrasts between votes cast and seats obtained so strong. They were sufficient to show that the present rough and ready method of balloting, while sufficient for any purpose in which public opinion is strongly moved, is totally inadequate to register the considered views of an electorate that holds divergent views upon many affairs that must form part of a party programme. But while there will be little hesitancy in admitting the imperfections of the present system, how best to remedy them is another matter. Preferential voting has been tried in some of the Australian States, and though theoretically it should achieve the desired result, it has been found cumbersome in practice, and there is already a movement in the State of New South Wales to

get back to the system in use in this country and in Great Britain. The second ballot experiment tried in New Zealand twenty years ago was by no means a successful one, and the abolition of the second voting was greeted with general relief. Proportional representation is the solution propounded by many theorists, and they maintain with considerable vehemence that it would give an. unerring indication of the will of the people. How the system would work out in practice is another matter, for electorates are a little disposed to resent systems of voting that appear in any way complicated or likely to lead to results that arc not clear on the surface. The British Government, in. referring the matter to a Select Committee, is doing so after consultation with the leaders of the other parties, and after seeking agreement with them as to the scope of the inquiry. If such agreement can be arrived at the work of the committee should be freed from party considerations that are so apt to clog any proposals for electoral reform. It is proposed to inquire into plural voting; methods of voting; and the use made of party funds during an election campaign. In this country neither the first nor the third of these subjects is of any moment. There is no plural voting, and our own laws are quite competent to prevent any abuse of party funds. In regard to the method of voting which is most desirable, however, there seems as much room for investigation in the Dominion as in Great Britain. Inquiry in regard to it by means of a committee representative of all the political parties would seem the wisest way of obtaining the information upon which legislation could be based, and of assuring its acceptance by Parliament. The verdict of the electors would still remain to be obtained, but legislative action must come first.