PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16417, 10 January 1919, Page 8

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

OPPOSITION TO ABOLITION. A public meeting was held in the Chamber of Commerce last -night, audience being composed of those mte - estod in the retention or the propertional representation s ? stem 1 ~l j nexion with the of Mayor and councillors. Mr J. J. I>o«Sa» P r The chairman, in explaining the obof the meeting, said that the resolution of tho City Council to rescind Z spocial order adopting the system required to be confirmed at a subsequent meeting which, he understood would be held on the -/th inst. i Municipal election, ho did not take very n fori'di-f- «ort of scheme: but laat Council election had satisfied him that proportional ropresentaumi was ani s excellent system. Ho hart been always opposed to tho +«m Wau=c. oi necessity, it. proaiueu Sr MWhialisn- U'" 161 : proportional SSlwoKoa thoj conld h»« no ward system—(applause)—and those on th ?•"7? r«t '**%»«• pit"v h« lliousl>t. Aat. tho system ivas 5 l feHo°L™fliS U a n n r /i£ SS tZ 'tLk/ p a?"3r present cond - tions ( Vpplatiso.) He, tor one, hoped 'that'the divided into wards. If the r mained undivided, and the old of election was rovertea to, it was pos, si Me "hat the Citizens Association tk-ket, or the Labour ticket. secure completo control Wesi Tint considered, would bo unaesir Me! fc"»7g should bo represented. (Applause.) -rie could not be /iccnsod of being a Labour advocate, but he congratulated t}ie ; bour people upon bringing in p P° tional representation. (Applause ) I Mr D. G. Sullivan said that the La--1 6our members of the Council, and Crs. Tavlor and Hay ward thought that, they had done everything possible to nre, e a return to the old system of election, ana the idea was that the meetin„ should formulate its own campaign, in which tho city councillors supporting the system would' heartily co-operate. During the discussion in the City Council the supporters of proportiomvlrepresentation had simply °verwhe l med tlieii; opponents as far as logic and are 1 ""®"; was concerned. (Applause.) Those arguments and facts were unanswerable and had not been answered: the majority of those who voted against the. system made no attempt to meet those argumonts; he felt sure that many the councillors who supported Cr. Flesher. did so without knowing what thov wore doing." it would be a disaster if they could not induce the dumb majority to refrain from completing the action they had taken; Mr J McCombs, M.P., outlined the stops taken to introduce representation, pointing out that the proposal to adopt the system was ai • rived at practically unanimously _at a public meeting called by the Citizens Association, and held on February 18th, 1915. Since then the Council-had rocoived no mandate from the citizens to abolish tho system. Mr A. S. Taylor, in the course of remarks supporting the Previous speakers, osnressed' the opinion tbot if the system were abolished there would be a reversion J:o the ward systom —from enouiries h made of various councillors, he knew that a proposal to revert to the ward svstem would be carried. Replying to a questioner, Mr layior said that there was no power under tile Municipal Corporations Act for the City Council to take a referendum on a question such' as the retention of the proportional representation sysOn the motion of Mr J. B. Struthers, seconded by Mr L. P. Christie, it *u« decided, after a 'brief discussion:"That the Mayor be asked to call a public meeting' which the councillor opposed to proportional representation ehoula be asked to attend and give then reasons for opposing the system. Some discussion ensued as to what action should be taken in the event oi the Mayor "failing to call a public meeting. ' , , , . The chairman said that he did not think it fair to assumo that the Mayor would not call the meeting. It was suggested that a deputation should convey the resolution of, the meeting to the Mayor. Mr McCombs said that -it would be sufficient if the chairman conveyed the meeting's resolution to thei Mayor. The chairman: I will see *he Mayoi to-morrow morning, and if he won i call the meeting I undertake to. ll myself. (Continued applause.) Mr T. W. Reese moved: "That thif meeting of citizens representing • all I parties and shades of political anc • municipal opinion, expresses its'.strong dissent from the proposal to_ repudiat< • the proportional representation as s ■ system of electing members of tht 1 City Council:" Ho spoke in support, and said the system was the riiosl equitable evolved. ' 1 Mr J. Keir seconded, and said thai •f his experience at the t last • election convinced him that it was th< simplest, "best," and hiost perfect system: 'tem: to .revert to the old_ system would be analogous to scrapping th< - electric trams and gointc hack tc ' horse cars. It would be a publi( calamity if Christchurcli, after beinj j the first to adopt it. should scrap l | after one trial. Ho suggested cer r tain .- modifications, such as the divid 1 ing of the city into two or three districts. 'tricts. ' After a 'brief discussion tho motioi k was unanimously agreed to. • Mr Hiram Hunter moved, and .M: • L. P. Christie seconded, that a deputation ' tation should be appointed to wait oi that City Council at its meeting on th< , 27th inst. Mr Sullivan said that their objec was not to make a demonstration bu to succeed in saving proportional re presentation; long before the meotinj of the Council the councillors ooposinj proportional representation would hav made up their minds. The. motion was agreed to. The following committee was set ui to carry out "details: Messrs J. J Dougall, J. McCombs, M.P.. A. S Tavlor, D. G. Sullivan, J. A. McC"l J lotiah, J. Keir, A. W. Beaven. T. "W ' and H. Hunter: power wa eiyen to add to the number of the com 9 mittee. A vote of thanks to the chairman - carried by acclamation, closed th< I meeting.