The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, l950. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 36, 13 February 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1950. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

Proportional representation is discussed at some length in a special article contributed to the Auckland Star. The writer who maintains that such a reform is the need of the hour, explains that proportional representation means exactly what its name implies—that each considerable party in the State is represented in the elected body in proportion to the number of voters it contains. do reach Lord Courtney’s ideal of “a nation in miniature,” it would be necessary, he says, to have very huge constituencies, so that every school of thought possessing one or two hundred adherents in each of the present divisions by combining its forces could return a representative to the national assembly. But without attempting to make Parliament a. miniature of the nation it is possible to make it a far more accurate reflection of public opinion than it can be under the present system of election. This system is designed solely to secure the representation of majorities. It takes no account ol a minority in a district, however large it may be, except to see that it is entirely and absolutely dominated by the majority. It is also pointed out that in this respect New Zealand, save for the legislation of last session, is among the most conservative countries within the Empire. Tasmania and South Africa t have more or less effective systems of proportional representation, while even the Mother Country herself, between the introduction of the Reform Bill in 1832 and the abolition of three-member constituencies in ISSo, made spasmodic efforts to lessen the tyranny of majorities by limiting to two the number of votes that could be exercised by an elector in these constituencies. Touching on what is known as the Hare system, it is shown that this method of dealing with the ballot papers differed only in detail from the various systems

since devised. The elector was to indicate his preferences on the ha lint paper, and the returning officer wasj to use the first preference for the ejection of the candidate to whom it was allotted, or in the event of that candidate having already secured the necessary “quota” of votes, to transfer it to the elector’s second or subsequent preference as the case mightj require. The objection to Mr Hare’s system was that the method of transJ ferring preferences made no provi-, sion against one candidate being i placed at a disadvantage compared I with other candidates by an undue proportion of ballot papers on which bis name stood second being employed in the return of the first prefer-

cnee. Mr Hare argued that the possibility of serious error was so small it would not he worth the time and trouble and cost that would be involved in its eradication. Later authorities have taken a different view, and by the introduction of elaborate and rather intricate calculations, of which some idea may be obtained .from the schedules to the Legislative Council Act and the Local Elections Proportional Representation Act of last session, have reduc-

ed t 1 j possibility of error to a minimum, a very small fraction indeed. Simplification is a point next dealt with and on this the writer says : “When the average politician is asked to explain proportional representation he usually replies that the electors’ duties-are very simple, and that the rest may safely be left to the returning officer. But this does not satisfy the elector of an inquiring turn of mind who really wants to know what happens to his vote, and probably it is the intricate calculations by which mathematical precision is reached under the highly revised systems that have done more than anything else has to delay the wide adoption of the reform. In his Proportional Representation and Effective Voting Bill of 1911, the Hon. George Fowlds preserved the simplicity of the original Hare system in his attempt to apply to vital principle of all the systems to the House of Representatives with comparatively small constituencies and without abolishing the “country quota.” He provided for the quota being ascertained by the number of votes being divided by one more than the number of seats to be filled and one being added to tbe result. All candidates who received first preferences (marked J on the ballot paper) equal to this quota were to be declared elected, and their surplus votes (the number beyond the quota) distributed among the other candidates in accordance with the wishes indicated by the electors’ second preferences. If the candidates given the second preferences were already elected the surplus votes were to be -allotted to the candidates given the third preferences, and so on till they became an effective factor in the election. In order to provide comparatively small constituencies and to preserve the “Country quota” as far as possible, Mr Fowlds proposed to group each of the four city districts into one constituency, Auckland comprising six of the present electorates, Wellington six, Christchurch si.., and Dunedin five, and to group the rural districts into constituencies containing from three to live of the present electorates, A close examination of Mr Fowlds’ proposals in the fight supplied by two general elections leaves every reason to suppose they would bear the t&st of practice. Whether it is desirable to sacrifice fractional accuracy in an effort to secure simplicity is a question open to argument ; but it is certain that the Hare system, with the slight modifications made by Mr Fowlds, would give incomparably more accurate results than are obtained by the present clumsy system. The proposed constitution of the electorates displays a singularly accurate knowledge of the natural features and general character of the existing constituonces, and with, perhaps, one exception, could hardly be improved upon. The whole -bill indeed is so carefully thought out and so admirably framed that it may not be over-hazardous to predict that it will form the basis of the scheme of proportional representation which the Leader of the Opposition has included in the fighting platform of his party. At any rate it would represent an advance in the' present electoral system that would entitle its author to the gratitude of everyone who wishes to see the asperities of party government lessened, the interests of the State exalted over those of the politician, and the highest welfare of the country engaging the earnest attention of a truly representative Parliament.”