PROPORTIONAL VOTING

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1933, Page 7

PROPORTIONAL VOTING

DIFFERENT SYSTEM WANTED. MR. McCOMBS TO SEEK NEW LAW. ‘ An announcement that he proposed to introduce a bill into the House of Representatives authorising local bodies, if they so desire, to adopt the ‘‘British system of proportional representation in preference to the “Tasmanian” system has been made by Mr. J. McCombs, M.P., retiring chairman of the Finance Committee 'of the Christchurch City Council, and a New Zealand authority on the different proportional systems. Mr. McCombs said that he had introduced such a bill three or four years ago, but that it had not received the support of the Government and had been rejected. He recalled, however, that the Government had itself proposed the British system in its original bill legalising proportional representation for local bodies, and that the minutely accurate Tasmanian system had been substituted at the last moment largely on account of the influence of Sir Francis Bell, who was determined to have the . nearest mathematically perfect system that had been devised. In. Mr. McCombs’ opinion the Tasmanian system is needlessly exact and therefore more cumbersome than the British system which, he claims, invariably produces the same results. > The difference between the two systems Mr. McCombs explained with this example: “Supposing the _ quota of votes necessary for election is 2000, and a candidate has 4000. Under the Tasmanian system, which is now in use for the Christchurch municipal elections, the whole of the 4000 ballot papers are transferred at the value of half a vote each. Under the British . system the surplus votes only, that is, 200,0 votes, are transferred at their full value, and in proportion among the candidates according to the way in which the ballot papers, were marked for second preferences. The British system no longer pays attention to the strict proportion when the transfer of the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth preferences is reached, and the result is that whenever the ballot paper is allocated it has a value of one vote.” He mentioned that the British Proportional Representation Society had been so interested in the Tasmanian method that it had on five occasions gained access to all ballot papers in Tasmanian elections and counted them according to the British method. Although it was admitted that the Tasmanian system. was the more scientincs in not one of these cases had the result of the election proved any different under the British system. With this system, which was used in Southern Ireland for the election of tire Dail and for all municipal elections, the Christchurch returriing officer would be able to complete his official count and declare the elections long before the counts in cities using tire first-past-the-post system were finished.. “This is the first time in the world that .the proportional system of representation has been used in an election where there are 43 candidates,” declared Mr. McCombs. “All the proportional representation societies in the world will be looking for a report on this, and I am sure they will deprecate the fact that we have to use tire Tasmanian system. The record of the count that is now going on will put Christchurch on the map all over the world. There will not be a country in Europe or a State in the United States that will not want to know what happened in Christchurch.”