A TRIUMPH

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15033, 2 September 1922, Page 8

A TRIUMPH

UNDER ACTUAL TEST. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM IN OPERATION. To understand the influence of the proportional representation system in the Irish election we must make clear what would have taken place in the existing political conditions of Ireland if these elections had been held in the single-member areas used in December, 1911 (writes Mr John H. Humphreys, secrclary of the Proportional Representation Society, in the Manchester Guardian). Then political conditions would doubtless have rendered necessary I lie pact between Mr Collins and Mr do Valera which preceded (he elections. Indeed, it is said with some confidence that without the pact the elections could not have been held. Under the single-member system the sitting member for each singlemember area would have been nominated under the pact as the candidate for that area. There would have been one panel candidate for every constituency. It would have been extremely difficult for any Independent to have entered The field against the one panel candidate. Even with the proportional representation system only forty-seven candidates have entered the field. But how many would have been willing to fight the panel candidate in single combat? Would as many as thirty have done so? The estimate is probably too high. In other words, there would have been contests at most in about thirty of the 124 seats.

Take for example the county of Galway. There would have been seven single member consliltiencie c . Only one Independent has entered the field in Galway. With single-member areas there would have been a contest (if any at all) in only one of die seven divisions of Galway. Quite clearly there would have been no adequate opportunity for the people of Galway to express their views. The same conditions would have obbained in other counties, and if this eleclion haci been fought, over thirty (probably less) out of tlie 124 seats the result wc-uld have been inconclusive.

But further, the verdict in such constituencies as were contested would not have been clcar-cut; it would have been obscured. —The people would hav e had to choose between the panel candidate and the Independent. There would have been no possibility of determining how many of the votes for the panel candidates came from pro-treaty or anti-treaty electors; The Provisional Government and the country itself would still be groping in the dark as to what the people of Ireland desired. P.R. at Work. The first consequence of the proportional system has been to enlarge the area over which elections have been held. The nomination of one Independent candidate In Galway has necessitated an election over the whole of Galway. Taking Ireland as a whole, instead of 30 seats at most out of h(aMe ben contested. These fire three-fourths of the whole, and are sufficiently numerous to give a verdict which can be accented as generally true of the whole electorate.

But proportional representation has done far more. It has made clear lo the whole world what this verdict is. There were on th e panel, in most constituencies, both pro-treaty and anti-treaty, candidates. The people had to vote by marking their first choice. As a result the system revealed that in Galway the number of people voting in favour of the treaty was 24,723, and the number voting against it was 11,780. The figures for the other constituencies are also known, and the position in each is clearly defined. In other words, proportional representation has made it possible to elicit the views of the people on the question of the treaty almost as accurately as if a referendum had been taken. The information yielded is at least sufficiently accurate to allow authoritative conclusions to be drawn. Contrast this with what will take place in Great Britain. When the dissolution comes a fresh coupon election may be arranged. Then no one will be able to discover from the result what is tile relative strength of public support behind the two wings of the Coalition. In one constituency Coalition Unionists will he compelled to vote for a Coalition Liberal candidate; In another constituency the conditions will be reversed. The strengtli of opinion behind each wing will remain completely hidden. What has been the total result of asking the people to mark on the ballot paper the figure 1 against, the first choice? The figures for Sligo ancl East Mayo have not been published, but all the others ar e now known. The verdict, so far as it is available, is as follows: • Votes. Pro-Treaty 476,100 Anti-Treaty 115,861 The Irish people have voted more than 4 to 1 in favour of the treaty, and the figures from the one constituency not yet available will not disturb this verdict. But the proportional system has not only revealed the mind of the people on th e main issue, but where people have voted for special interests the transfer of surplus votes lias revealed valuable information. In the city of Cork there was only one Labour candidate; in County Dublin there was also only on£ Labour candidate. Each had a surplus. The transfer shows that the rank and flic of Labour in Cork voted 15 to 1 in favour of the treaty. The revelation of the elector’s mind is not so clearcut in all places. There was only one pro-treaty candidate on the panel of five in Kildare and Wicklow. The pro-treaty panel candidate was elected with a largo surplus. The one Labour candidate was also elected with a surplus. Tile next choices of Labour, in so far as they were for the panel, had to he recorded for anti-treaty candidates. In an election unhampered by a panel the information revealed would have been more complete. But the transfers have given information which must be of great value not only to the leaders of the Lahour Party but lo any Government which may be formed.

The additional work which t.hc proportional system entails can he illustrated from the experience of these elections. In the city of Cork the checking of the contents .of the ballot boxes occupied, willi the presiding officer's returns, five hours; Iho counting on Iho first choice occupies four and a-half hours. The first two operations would he necessary in the simplest form of one-quarter of the whole time taken. In Waterford there were employed a dozen counting clerks. There were 35,000 voles. They took nearly cloven hours in checking the hallo! boxes. The counting of the llrst choices took nine hours, and the transfers occupied about eight hours and a-half. Onethird of the time was spent in Iransferring votes. This additional time, however, accomplishes and reveals so much. The transfer <>f the surplus votes of the Labour candidate at

Cork took about one hour and a-half, but surely the information gained on the altitude of Labour towards the main issue of the day—the treaty—was cheaply gained. The proportional system has shown that it can defeat all attempts, save those imposed by physical force, to suppress public opinion. Further, it not only reveals the mind of the people on the main political issues of the day, but it throws valuable light on the attitude of section interests towards main issues. The comparatively small number of spoiled papers, the intelligent purpose disclosed in tile marking of choice show how rapidly the electors can grasp this new method and revealed in an unmistakable manner the new

power, the new freedom, which proportional representation confers on citizens. It makes the franchise, it makes the act of voting worth while. But for Great Britain proportional representation would have a special value. The House of Commons is failing in prestige because of any electoral system. The newspapers have been full of discussion as lo when is the most favourable time for the Government to dissolve Parliament. Can the country 'be caught at such a time that it can give a verdict only on the issue submitted to it, an Issue to which only one answer can be given? This may be regarded as skilful electioneering, but at what cost? It is destroying the confidence of the people in the House of Commons, and nothing can be more disastrous to the country. Proportional representation will restore not only freedom, but honesty to our electoral system. The people would give Ihe desired verdict on the issue submitted, but it would be free to express itself on other and equally vital issues of the day.