PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3092, 24 May 1917, Page 3

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

THE CHRISTCHURCH EXPERIMENT. "Proportional Representation" was the subject of a lecturo given by Mr. Georgo tfogben, C.M.G., baforo the Wellington Philosophical Institute last evening at tho Dominion Museum. Mr. Hogbon, with the assistance- of a sot of figures representing the result of an. imaginary election, explained the method of voting and counting adopted under tho Now Zealand and Tasmanian systems of proportional representation. He showed that the duty of the voters was to place numbers against the names ofcandidates in the order of their preference, 1, 2, 3, and so on, and then described in , detail tho method of determining the quota, distributing surplus votes received by favoured , candidates in excess of tho quota, and allotting, if necessary, tho votes Teceived by candidates at tho bottom of tho poll. He emphasised the scientific accuracy . and scrupulous fairness of the system in giving each section of tho community tho precise share of representation to which it was entitled. Having dealt with, tho general principles of the system, Mr. Hogben explained the actual operation of proportional representation at the recent municipal election in Christchurch. He produced copies of the instructions that had. been handed to sorters, counters, computers, and supervisors, and stated_ that oxnerienco had shown the importance of having a full-eized staff and a certain amount of preliminary practice. He was convinced that the New Zealand Act would not be misconstrued, and that as long as the instructions were followed the count would always give the same result. The only effect of a mistake involving a recount would be to delay the announcement of the result. The system provided its own checks, and the element of chance had been very nearly eliminated. Mr. Hoglxm eaidthat the Christchurch municipal election had given, as nearly aa possible accurate representation to tho parties, and had thus confirmed the results secured elsewhere. He added that the Now Zealand Aot should be amended in order to secure tho true "transfer value" of all transferred votes. A quick announcement of Tesulta was not possible under the Act, bnt it did not seem to important except from tho point of view of people who did not like to wait for an. exact count. He suggested that a substantial saving of time and labour could be effected by .a slight modification of the method of counting, with the object of eliminating some fractions vhat did not affect the ultimate result.

In answer to questions, Mr. Hogben said he did not think that the alphabetical order of the names had affected the result in the Christchurch election. Voters had shown some tendency to give their first and iecond preferences near the top of the voting paper, but they had distributed their subsequent preferences, and the distribution of surplus votes had restored the balance. 'I ho number of exhausted voting papers had been very small, under 200 out of 17,000. 'The great majority of the electors had usetT their voting powe.r fully. Ho believed tilat' proportional representation offered the best and fairest method of electing a Parliament, but thought care should bo talcen to avoid making the electorate too large. Mr. S. H. Jenkinson made a protest against proportional representation as applied to Parliamentary election. Hβ said that if the system wa3 applied to Parliamentary elections, the result would be a lack of adequate working majorities, and resultant confusion, inefficiency and dishonesty under the party system of government. Thd presenT system of election in single constituencies gave accurate and- satisfactory results. Mr. Hogben contested this opinion warmly, and quoted figures to show that the present system of election produced Parliaments that did not represent public opinion. Sir Francis Bell said the Christchurch experiment had ueen very interesting. Ho believed that the local people probably would have blundered if they had not had the benefit of Jlr._Hogben's advice and assistance.' 'fife wnoio country was indebted to Mr. Hogben for liaving conducted a very important experiment, and demonstrated Uio accuracy of the proportional system of voting in giving l-H» >-pr>rpc(> T if n f;j nn In tile various pni'tios.