Mataura Ensign GORE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1884.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 329, 8 February 1884, Page 2

Mataura Ensign GORE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1884.

It is probable that the reform of the Upper House will be one of the burning questions of New Zealand poli'ics before long. . Captain Mackenzie, in his interesting and many-sided address, gave no uncertain sound as to his opinion — "I am for electing the Upper House or abolishing it altogether." It may, in fact, be taken as settled that reform must come and the only remaining qtiestion is — "What shall the reform be? If to make the Council elective then upon what system V The Hon, Mr Whitaker and others have favored the idea of dividing the colony into two great electorates, and returning ten or twenty members each, who should be elected according to some modification of the Hare system. There is considerable discontent now-a-days with the present method of elect" ing representatives of the people. Many are of opinion that Parliament should be an exact epitome of the nation, and that every shade of opinion that, taking the country through, would be strong enough to elect one member should be represented. Such parties, being scattered through all the electorates, are a ridiculous minority everywhere under the present system. But minorities that are by no means ridiculous are also left without a voice. Scotland, for example returns 60 members to the House of Commons. In the present House about 51 are Liberal and 9 Conservative, N o one can say that these figures represent the true feeling of the country. The fact is that ten thousand and ten electors may elect ten members, while ten thousand on the other side may elect none at all. Can it be just that it should be possible for such a small difference of voting power to gain such an infinite I advantage in representation ? It is also objected to the present system that, as constituencies are unequal, a minority of the people may return a majority of members. Eifty thousand votes in twenty small boroughs may return twenty members, while a hundred thousand in largo towns may only return bix members. To this it is replied (1). As the majority rrvat ultimas dy decide, they may as well ■.'. it- at the poll as in the lobbies o: the Ihuse ; and (2) that a Libera' minurily in one place is compensated for by a Conservative minority in another. . But these replies do not settle the { i^^^^ le -Liberals make a beavy^HHg^oughout the conatry their minoi^^^^^^y i>e a hundred less numerous than ~-Aume of the Conservatives, so that thfcr? can be 310 com pensation. Further aix election is not to fight the battles, but to choose "the champions." To beat a minority at the poll is very different from beating it in a House. At the poll it is condemned unheard, in the House it has at least enjoyed the right of being heard by the country. Such difficulties as those stated have led to endless electoral theories. The most favored of these is that known as Haee's, from a work published in 1859 by Mr riARE. The main idea is that of making one constituency of the whole country and allowing each candidate to receive votes from any part of the country. By this means the weakest sect, by combining, would be able to elect at least one member. But here again numerous practical difficulties present themselves. For example, Mr Gladstone, standing for the whole country, would poll, say, half a million votes, which . would so disturb the balance that weak parties would succeed in representing themselves in an undue degree. This popularity of great men would also put far too much power into the hands of committees. He who did not wish to throw his vote away in one of the gigantic majorities would write to a corresponding committee and ask, "Is it any use to vote for Gladstone?" "No," says the secretary; "he has more than enough, you must vote for so and so, or your vote will be thrown away." This system of committees would tyrannise over electors and candidates alike. It is necessary therefore in the Hare system to fix the " electoral quota." There are, say, 600 seats and 3,000,000 votes. ' There are therefore 5000 votes per seat. The electoral quota is therefore I 5000, and no less number can elect. It is also provided that votes above the quo t& van be t'ansferi'ed to make up din quota of .others. The voter is provided with a lint of candidates and with a paper with numbered lines on , it , On this he writes his first choice, then the name of the person be would like to vote for if the first did not 1 need his, or had less than enough to elect him. He may write down in order all the candidates, beginning with Mr Gladstone and ending with Lord'RANDOLPuCpuRCHiLL or vice versa. The duties of thft lictiiriifijo- Ojgonr are eertr.vn'y uo<: I'^hi un-JeiihiH system, i In counting Jic votes^polled by ;<cd ' he would in p first ihosp p.tpers which contained Rid's riitttj.c and no other. If there were enough of these t,o male* the lied would be struck off ail the other pape^ on which he might stand first, third, fifth, .qr in any other position.; That is, all tho3© yptes would, be. transferred to the next name on the list. But if there were not • enough of papers with a single name, then recourse would tye fyad to those : with only two names, of w^ii.eb J£gd was. first. Aa soon as the quota ja made up the remaining Kens would be

struck out, and the next name would take;*&e votes, and so on. But Mr Ha:re's' System- is complicated by desire to keep locil interests alive. He would have candidates stand for districts as now, but yet; capable of receiving votes from all over thefcountry. He would count the votes first that were recorded for Red in his own town or.. (district ; next those that came from the nearest district j then, in order, those from more remote places. The order in which the votes are counted is obviously of great importance, because on that it depends who shall get the transferred votes after Red's quota is made up. Por instance, Red has 4500 votes given him in Dunedin, where he is standing. He receives also 500 from Oamaru which stand (1) Red, (2) Green ; he also receives 500 from Timaru, which stand (1) Red, (2) Blue. Oamaru being nearest ia counted first, and Green gets none of the vote; but the quota being made up before Timaru is reached the 500 from that place are transferred to Blue. It is therefore easy to see that many seats would depend on the order of counting votes. This seems to us a very serious matter and one that opens a gate for electoral frauds. It Red, standing for Dunedin, receives more votes in that place than he needs who is to determine which are to be regarded as the over plus, those +hat favor Blue or those that favor Green 1 There are many other points i worth discussing in this elaborate proposal, but we must leave the matter to soak in the minds of our readers till soma definite scheme emanates from Wellington for the election of the Upper House.