The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1923. AN ELECTORAL BLEND.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1400, 6 September 1923, Page 4

The Waipa Post. Published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1923. AN ELECTORAL BLEND.

THE Liberal and Labour Parties have unceasingly denounced the existing electoral system and have united in clamouring for the abolition of it. We do not suppose, however, that the Liberal Party will, any more than the Labour Party, express approval of the proposals which tlhe Government has put forward, in a Bill introduced at the close of the recent session, for a reform of that system. Yet they are proposals which provide for the entire abolition of the electoral method that is now in operation. Mr Holland, leader of the Labour Party, has, in a speech, charged the Government in effect with a design to “fake” the electoral system in order that it may be retained in power. It was a precisely similar charge that was made against the Government in respect of its omission to propose any amendment to the electoral law during the last Parliament. Whether the Government proposes, or does not propose, any change in the law, apparently it commits a heinous fault, and is inspired only by a wicked purpose to entrench itself in office. Those who allege that an amendment of the law is framed solely in the political interests of those who are responsible for it should be careful to see that their criticism does not expose them to a similar taunt. While, however, Air

Holland asserts that the proposals for electoral reform are intended to give the Government an advantage, his opposition to them is clearly based on the ground that they do not, in his opinion, give an advantage to the Labour Party. The idea of the proposals, he says, is “evidently to secure the Reform Party’s quota of representation in the cities where Labour has at present an advantage, while debarring Labour from getting its quota in the country where Labour is at a big disadvantage.” But, even if Mr Holland | refuses to acknowledge the fact, it j must be recognised by most people I who give any consideration to the subject that the system ot proportional representation cannot be satisfactorily applied in the country di.uiicts ..j well as in the cities of New Zealand. Any country electorates that woi.ld have to be created to admit of th : utilisation of the system would necessarily comprise vast scattered areas. The effect of the constitution of electorates of this character would be to prevent the candidature of any person who was not possessed of ample leisure and means, or who had not the backing of an effective organisation. The influence of the political “machine” would consequently be magnified, with the probable accompaniment of abuses of the proportional representation system such as have been practised by the Labour Party in New South Wales. The impossibility of satisfactorily applying the system of proportional representation throughout the whole Dominion has led the Government to submit a compromise. While it proposes that the members for grouped city constituencies shall be elected under this system, its Bill provides for the election of members for rural constituencies under the system of preferential voting. The latter system is open to some of the objections that rendered the second ballot system unpopular, for it certainly opens the door to the exercise of chicanery and intrigue, and we are not convinced that it secures the true representation of the opinions of the electors in the countries, such as Victoria, which have adopted it. The argument, also, that it is desirable that a Parliament should be elected on a different system of representation is not devoid of force. But if the proportional representation system is unsuited to the requirements of the country districts in New Zealand, and if a system of preferential voting is open to objections of the kind which caused a reversion from the second ballot system to the system tlhat is now in force in the Dominion, what measure of electoral reform can be devised that would prove satisfactory.