The Daily News FRIDAY, JULY 3. MAJORITY REPRESENTATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 165, 3 July 1908, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, JULY 3. MAJORITY REPRESENTATION.

Donioeratically every man and woman should have a vote for the election of the men who are to frame the laws : under which they design Ui live; in the j casting of that vote lie or she should be perfectly unrestrained and independent. Then, as far as it is practicable to make constitutional machinery work, it should be open to any man to present himself as a candidate for the voles of his fellow citizens; to tin's end all property qualifications have been swept away and it has, by euaetment, been, sought to limit the expenditure of money by candidates at elections to only siu-ii objects as were not only reasonable, bir. indeed, perfectly necessary. At the lirsi municipal election held in Uichiuoml a suburb of .Melbourne—there not being the slightest qualification required in regard to candidates, the ratepayers opposed to the bringing of (lie Municipalities Act into operation nominated as candidates a number of the hcsl-know. members of the Knglish nobility, and at the poll six of them were elected, a very popular local gentleman named Burnley contriving to win the seventh place. This experience proved that some qualifications were absolutely indispensable if popular elections wen- to be removed from the liability of being turned into a farce. In New Zealand a man cannot be a candidate against his own desire, and he must be an elector, lie. cannot be chosen to make laws for a body of which he is not a constitutional part, the body of course being the colony as a whole. These constitute the foundational democratic principles upon which the constitutional system of this Dominion rests.

There have been those, prominent public men, who boldly advocated the representation of minorities, and schemes, some of them, remarkable for their ingenuity, have been put forward in order to secure that end. The allotment of two or three members to a constituency was adopted on this ground, it being hoped that a minority might be able in a scramble to win at least one seat.. Not infrequently, hosvever, through plumping, a minority well organised succeeded in winning all the seats, Thai system, discarded in Australasian.Slates, survives iu England to this day. The great dilliculty has ever been to ensure the representation, not of of minorities but. of majorities, and that clinically remains with the people of Xew Zealand to-day. Where a stale is divided into a number of parties, and in a constituency at an election a candidate | is put forward on behalf of each party, under our present system the representation of a minority is certain to result. At the last general election in England the two great traditional parties—the Liberals and the Tories—stood face to face, but a third party—Labour came between, and representing minorities won some thirty seals. Labour in England recognises that it has nothing to hope for from the Tories. The great Tory parly, representing the historical claims of the nobility, together with the interests of the land-owning, the professional and the capitalistic classes, regards with a lofty scorn the preteusions of labour: yet, in numbers of instances, labour candidates, by diverting votes that would otherwise have been cast for Liberals, enabled the Tories to gain seats. In fact, at a general election in England labour candidates constitute the strongest'support the Tories could have.

It is safe to say that there never has been a general election in New Zealand in which a considerable number of the members of the House of Representatives lias not been returned by a comparatively insignificant proportion of the electors of their constituencies. The instances are very few in which, when three Candidales contested one seat, the candidate at the top of tile pull had more voles east for him than those cast for bis opponents added together. in the instances in which" the o lidales numbered more than three, »f course the result was still worse. It is to remedy this unsatisfactory condition of our represent a live system, to endeavour to ensure , in short, the absolute representation of majorities, that the (ioverninent propose, to introduce what is known as the Second Ballot Bill.

To the institution of a second ballol there have been urged strong objections which are entitled to consideration. Upon the candidates possibly additional labour and certainly additional expense are thrown: the services of clerks and scrutineers have to he paid for at the second ballot just the same as at the first. This seems to give the advantage to the man with the big purse. Secondly, in a great many cases the country has to pay the expenses attaching to the holding of an additional poll. Thirdly, 'and most important, electors to the neglect of their business arc kept involved in the excitement and turmoil of an election contest for an unduly protracted period. To meet these objections—in order to make one poll suffice—in Queensland and Tasmania a sort of preferential system has been for some years in operation. The voter frames his Ujiper to vote for While, the candidate he must prefers in the lirst instance; if AVhile fails to secure one-half of the votes polled, then the vote is lo be counted to Croon, whom Hie voter has marked as number two; and in (he same way, if (ireeu fails lo secure one-half of' the voles polled, the vote is to be counted to Black; but all such schemes, more or less theoretically perfect, take no ac-'. count of the general ■■'•aracrerUics ol the ordinary voter who. in times past, by plumping, showed himself quite capaide of throwing away two-thirds of his political power. An elector when be goes into the ballot-box is to be excused for refusing to wink out a problem in a sort of electoral F.uclid. Therefore such complicated schemes have not proved successful when tested by practical experience. Probably there will be more to lie said on this subject when the Clovenilnejit measure comes lo hand.