The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1911. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

New Zealand Tablet, 3 August 1911, Page 1469

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1911. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

a-sfo. HE parliamentary session was opened last Jf jiy Thursday; and this being the third session ijpIMP £ the present Parliament its expiry will be followed by a general election. If the ■I V somewhat unexpected results of our experiment with the Second Ballot at the last v ' elections are repeated in the coming con- ' V*®/ - tests, it; is certain that the Second Ballot Act will go, and that an important and far-reaching* amendment of the electoral law will be brought down. The Second Ballot Act is all right in theory, and on paper ; but it makes no allowance for the infirmity of human nature. Theoretically, when there are two Government candidates and one Opposition candidate at an election, and a second ballot has to be taken between the leading Government candidate, and the Opposition candidate, it is assumed that the supporters of the Government candidate who has been eliminated will throw. in their lot with the surviving Government candidate, and make his return certain. Practically, that is precisely what does not happen. Out of sheer annoyance and chagrin, the supporters of the disappointed Government man promptly transfer their votes to the Opposition candidate, and secure his return. That is what happened, notoriously, at Tuapeka, at Dunedin North, and at Wellington North at the last election. That is not only contrary to the principles of true democracy; but—what is a still more serious matter is very annoying to the Government ; hence the likelihood that, sooner or later, our electoral laws will undergo very radical amendment.

* Both in England, and in many of the overseas diminions, the eyes of political reformers are directed very hopefully to the experiments that have been made in what is known as proportional representation; and when our New Zealand electoral laws come up for reconsideration it is certain that an effort will be made to . securein some degree—the introduction of this principle. There are two principal methods of giving effect to Proportional Representation-—the List system, in force in Belgium and one or two other Continental countries; and what is known as the Single Transferable Vote system. This latter is the only system that has been—or is likely to be—adopted in anv Englishspeaking country; and it is the only one" which at present we propose to trouble our readers with. The first step in adopting this system is to unite existing constituencies into larger ones returning three or more members each, and having regard to natural divisions of the countryeach constituency so formed being given a number of members proportionate to its electorate. Probably the simplest way of explaining the operation of the system will be to give a specimen ballot paper, as used in a model election held recently in Dublin. The directions both to the elector and to the Returning

—which arc appended to the paper are those issued , by the English Proportional Representation Society. DUBLIN ILLUSTRATIVE ELECTION. In this Election Five members are to be elected for a . single constituency, such as Dublin might be under a proportional system. The following Nine Candidates have been nominated : Order of Preference. Names of Candidates. | Russell, Rt. Hon. T. W. P.C. | Plunkett, Rt. Hon. Sir H., K.C.V.Q. | Redmond, John E, M.P. | Campbell, Rt. Hon. J. H. K.C., M.P. ) Devlin, Joseph, M.P. v | Dillon, John, M.P. | Dockrell, Sir Maurice, J.P. | Mooney, John, M.P. | O’Brien, Wm., M.P. ... The Single Transferable Vote. A. Each elector has one vote, and one vote only. B. The elector votes ' (a) By placing the figure 1 opposite the name of the candidate he likes best. He is also invited to place (b) The figure 2 opposite the name of his second choice. (c) The figure 3 opposite the name of his third choice, and so on, numbering as many candidates as he pleases in the order of his preference. C. A candidate, to ensure election, need not poll a majority, but only a certain proportion of the votes cast. This proportion, which is the least number of votes sufficient to render certain the election of a candidate, is called the Quota. Thus, in a single-member constituency a candidate who polls one more than half the votes must be elected, the quota is therefore one more than half. So, in a two-member constituency the quota is one more than a third, for not more than two candidates can poll so much ; and in a three-member constituency one more than a fourth, and so on. Therefore, to ascertain the quota, divide the total number of the votes by one more than the number of seats to be filled and add one to the result. D. The Returning Officer ascertains the result of the election as follows: 1. He counts each ballot paper as one vote to the candidate marked 1 thereon; he also counts the total number of votes. 2. He ascertains the quota. 3. He declares elected the candidates who have received the quota. 4. lie transfers in strict proportions the surplus votes of those candidates who have received more than the quota, and credits them to the unelected candidates indicated by the figures 2,3, and so on, as the next preferences of the electors whose votes are transferred; This operation renders all votes effective; votes are used and not wasted. 5. He declares elected those candidates who, after the transfer of surplus votes, have obtained the quota. 6. He eliminates the candidates lowest on the poll one after another by transferring their votes in accordance with the wishes of their supporters to the candidates < indicated as next preferences. This process is continued until the required number of candidates, haying each obtained the quota, have been declared elected, or the number of candidates not eliminated is reduced to the number of seats still vacant, in which event the candidates not eliminated are declared elected. * The above election was conducted with satisfactory results; and in the event Messrs. Devlin, Dillon, Red-

mond, Russell, and Sir Horace Plunkett were elected. It requires a little concentrated attention to follow all the working of the systemespecially in respect to the transfer and counting of; the votesbut for those who are really interested in the question it is worth the effort. For the average elector, however, such detailed knowledge is no more necessaryas one writer expresses it —than a knowledge of the steam engine is necessary to a railway traveller. The actual voting is simplicity itself. All the voter has to do is to place the figures 1,2, 3, 4, etc., opposite the names of the candidates as he prefers them—and to suggest that New Zealand electors cannot accomplish this is an insult to their intelligence. The essential and outstanding merit of the system is that it gives minorities, a chance; and secures representation according to actual voting power to a greater degree of accuracy than any other known system. It appears, indeed, to closely approach mathematical correctness in securing the proper ratio between the seats actually obtained and the seats which should be obtained in proportion to the actual voting strength of the various parties. Here, for example, are the results of the Belgian elections for 1908—conducted on the List system. The figures for Liberals and Socialists are given together, because in several constituencies these parties presented a common list. . Vnfpo Seats Seats Parties. Obtained Actually in Propor’n Obtained obtained, to Totes. Catholics 515,926 37 36 Liberals and Socialists 633,258 43 44 Christian Democrats ... 16,095 1 1 The principle of proportional representation was embodied in the last Tasmanian Electoral Act (1909); and the election which took place in that year was held under the new system. Again the results were almost arithmetically proportionate to the numerical strength of the parties. They were as follow: v . Seats Seats Parties. \ °. s . Actually in Proportion Obtained obtained to Votes. Anti-Socialists ... 29,286 18 18.3 Labour Party ... 18,802 12 11.7 The adoption of the system means, of course, the enlargement of all electoral areas; and, as we have said, its special merit is that it secures effectiveness for the voting power of any considerable minority. In New Zealand, Catholics are exactly one-seventh of the population; and presumably, also, one-seventh of the voting body. On that basis, if there were candidates with just views on the education question, and Catholics were united in supporting them, they should be able with certainty to return ten members out of a House of seventy-six. * Proportional representation, in one form or another, is now in force in Denmark, Switzerland, Wurtemburg, Finland, Belgium, and Japan. France is on the point of adopting it; and the Bill which has, afterexamination by a Committee, been recommended to the Chamber for adoption, has the hearty support of the Catholic Deputies. The idea is making rapid headway in England, and in the British Colonies. Less than two years ago Mr. Asquith declared that unless the career of the present British Parliament was * tragically interrupted by some unforeseen and unforeseeable disaster,' it would ‘take another long step in advance on the road of political reform in removing from our electoral system those grave anomalies and abuses which render it now so inadequate and untrustworthy an exponent, of the real opinion of the people.’ Advocates of the reform are to be found in all the Australian Colonies, and the Chief Electoral Officer of Western Australia has just issued a favorable report. The new South African Constitution provides for the election of the Senate on the new principle, whilst the Transvaal Municipal Act applies it to the elections of the Town Councils of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Ardent advocates are also at work in Canada and the United States. As we have mentioned, the reform ' Was adopted in 1909 in Tasmania, and proved in the

subsequent elections to be most satisfactory. Sooner or later, the system will certainly be introduced into New Zealand; and, on the strength of its successful operation in other lands, we are inclined to hope that it may be sooner rather than laterfor it offers a reasonable prospect of enabling us to secure by our own strength at the polls that electoral representation which under the present system we are unable to obtain.