ENORMOUS NUMBER OF INFORMAL VOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 April 1920, Page 4

ENORMOUS NUMBER OF INFORMAL VOTES.

SYDNEY, March 26.

The. system of proportional representation, under which the New South Wales State elections were held on Saturday, is proved to have two disadvantages, at least It causes immense confusion in the minds of the more ignorant class of people, and renders an abnormal number of votes informal, and, where the voting is close, it leaves the result of the election in doubt for a. considerable ime. There are those who argue, not without reason, that persons so stupid that they cannot master the simple method of numbering, from 1 upwards, all the candidates on the bal-lot-paper, ought not to have a vote at all. -Many of the ballot-papers carried twenty names ,ancl, since the numbering had to be consecutive —that is, if one went from 12 to 14, forgetting to put in a Id, in the excitement of the moment the paper became invalid, it was not difficult to fall into error. The total of informal votes, about one in every ten apparently, is appalling, and will certainly bo used with effect by the

i many opponents of the system. However, to really test the system, one must discover if it really is proportional. Do the men returned repre- ; scut, proportionally, the voting strength I of tlie parties? One cannot say, be- : -cause, so far, only the first, or primary i votes, are counted. All the preferences j have yet to be counted and allotted. | lb will be some days yet before it will j he possible to ascertain the state of | parties. But if the proportional system j works properly—that is, if the average voter voted strictly according to party —the new House, as disclosed by the first preferences (or primary votes) will be constituted as follows:—Labour 42, Independent Labour 2, Nationalists 29, Independent 2, Progressive 15. That would leave the Labourites only two or threo votes short of ail absolute majority in a House of 90, and there would seem to be a number of anti-National-ists among the Progressives to furnish the majority. If the state of parties is anywhere near that shown, however — and everything so far indicates that it will be—another election would appear inevitable. If, however, the later preferences of the Progressive voters go to Labour to a greater extent than is generally expected, the Labour Party should find itself with a workable majority in the House. The Nationalists are still hoping to get a larger number of seats than, at this moment, seems likely. If, in the final wash-up, the state of parties was like this—Labour 40, Independents 3, Nationalists 32, Progressives 15, the Ministerial Party would probably make some sort- of bargain with the Progressives and Independents which would enable it to carry on. The Progressives, generally, are more friendly to the Nationalists than to Labour—the majority of them,, indeed, were recently Nationalists themselves—hut, as indicated, a few of the Progressives are sharply anti-National-ist, and, jn 4 close division, these men will have to be reckoned with. On the primary votes, of course, the election is a Labour victory. The Nationalists’ big majority is gone, and, even ii) they can iiiold power with the help of the Progressives, it will only be for a limited time. That solid body of Labour men, placed there as a public protest against the weakness, vacillation, and administrative incapacity of the Holman Government, must be the dominant element in the new House. Its size will tend to consolidate the othei parties against it, so that Nationalists, ex-Xaionalists, Farmers and Settlers, Soldiers and citizens, and all the others grouped under the heading of Progressives, will be inclined to forget their sharp differences, but if the Labour Party gets not less than 40, and not more than 47 seats, there should be another election soon. *The defeat of Mr Holman seems very likely—it all depends on the later preferences. That is as it shonkl he. Mr Holman is far and away the most brilliant man in New South Wales politics, but he seems temperamentally incapable of .getting the right class of man round him; lie lives in an atmosphere of political intrigue, and he is a' most hopeless financier—probably the worst Treasurer New South Wales ever had. Neither his public nor private reputation is distinguished by the high odours which cling round many public men in this country—yet, if he goes, the State will be well rid of Jiini. Then, if the Nationalists think they can carry on, Sir George Fuller will take the leadership. He is a very wealthy squatter, a useful type of administrator, urbane, popular, of good personality and strong character. He has no breadth of vision or depth of mentality—just the solid sort of person, of conserative ideas, who would make an excellent and safe company director. His associations, his title, and his lack of fire, make it certain he will never be a great leader in New South Wales. If Labour gets a majority. Mr John 1 Storey will be Premier. If Mr Storey had been born a rich man, and bred a squatter instead of a boilermaker, lie would have approximated closely to the type of Sir,George Fuller. He is an honest, good fellow, somewhat illiterate, handicapped severely hv a lack of useful men in his party, but, while very advanced, in no sense a revolutionist or even extremist.