THE GREATEST POLITICAL STRUGGLE OF MODERN TIMES—WEALTH AND PRIVILEGE V. DEMOCRACY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 26 January 1910, Page 21

THE GREATEST POLITICAL STRUGGLE OF MODERN TIMES—WEALTH AND PRIVILEGE V. DEMOCRACY.

<1» \ demonstration in favour of the Budget passing underneath Marble Arch into Hyde Park. London. i‘J» Mr. Joseph Chamberlain driving thiotigh Birmingham the ■•. Mecca” of Tariff Reformers. The British elections, which are now in full swing, will not be completed la»fore February. To Colonials accustomed to see their elections finished in on day. the British system seems incomprehensible. In Britain, however, there is no one man one vote. Out of a total population of 43.«hmuhhi. votes are held Io only 7.i’luial voting is still the order of the day. The land-owning classes have votes In every electorate in which they hold property, ami ’t is simply a survival of the hid old days that permits the elections to be so arranged that the plural voter can register all the votes at httr*-command. This necessarily gives the propel ty owners relatively mm h greater power to decide an issue nt the polls than that possessed by the householders who pay not less than £lO per year in rent. Thottv who paj less than that, of course, have no vote.