The Star. FRIDAY, JULY 18, 1913. THE GREY ELECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10824, 18 July 1913, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JULY 18, 1913. THE GREY ELECTION.

The results of the first ballot in tlio Grey election are a very good indication of the state ol politics throughout the dominion at the present time. No party has an outstanding claim to public support, and public oi>inion is fairly evenly divided between the two older groups, while a very substantial section of tho community is disposed to support Labour, for the reason that it offers tlio only definite progressive programme. Tlio Reformers have perhaps most ■ reason to bo gratified, for their candidate., wlio did not belong to the district, has topped the poll. Mr Michel doubtless lias plenty of personal friends in Grey, but the votes he polled yesterday are in tho main a tribute to the very thorough campaign that tho Reformers have conducted. On paper ho appears certain to lose at the second ballot, however, because Liberalism on tho West Coast has always had a very strong incline tion towards Labour, and it is difficult to believe that the Seddon tradition has died out so soon. Of course., the Reform agents may spend the next week in making lavish promises that may affect a goodly number of votes, and the general attack on the Federation of Labour and the recent failure to unite tho two'great sections of organised Labour may have the effect of divorting votes from Mr Webb, but there are nearly two thousand votes to bo distributed at the second ballot, and Mr Webb is at present less than a hundred behind Mr Michel. It looks to be a foregone conclusion that the majority of the Liberal votes will go to Mr Webb, unless, of course, there are local causes to tho contrary or unless special influences not now evident ave brought to bear on the constituency during the next week. The results of tho first ballot, however., illustrate very conveniently the absurdity of the existing law. Tho six thousand votes were distributed very evenly among the three candidates, Mr Webb being 86 votes and Mr Hannan 178 votes behind Mr Michel. Under a sensible system of preferential voting it is easily conceivable that Mr Hannan, although bottom of tho poll at the fifst trial, would be preferred to either Mr Michel or Mr Webb, but under tho present law the ninety-two votes that separate liim from Mr Webb deprive him of the right to participate in a second trial. The only logical system of election for single-member constituencies is that which provides for an examination of the chances of all the candidates under equal conditions. The second ballot enables the people of Grey to say which of the two candidates, Mr Michel and Mr Webb, they prefer, with Mr Hannan out of the contest. But surely if this is reasonable it would be reasonable also to permit them to say whether they would prefer Sir Webb to Mr Hannan, with Mr Michel out of the contest, or Mr Hannan to Mr Michel, with Mr Webb eliminated. The second ballot is a rough-and-ready method of arriving at the opinion of the majority. In Grey the people will now have to accept a compromise representative, and if thero is to be a compromise at all it ought to be the compromise that most accurately expresses the average political feeling of the electorate, and the only reliable method of ascertaining what that compromise would be is to weigh the candidates against one another in pairs. When Mr, Massey decides to go on with tho reform of tlio electoral method that is the system he should adopt, unless, of course, ho is prepared to go on with tho scientific method of proportional representation.