The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1881.
In a recent lecture on Representation by Mr McCullough, the suggestions of Mr Hare " lor the better representation of the people iit Parliament " were referred to, and an outline of the new system was given. As, however, the subject is an interesting one, and comparatively but little understood, Mr R. N. Smith took' up the subject again at the Liberal Association meeting, aud devo'ed last Monday night 116 its consideration; He read many extracts iv the course of his lecture from a pamphlet by the famous Mr Bradlaunb, who is a warm advocate of Air Hare's system. The writer assumes that tbe right of every man to representation in Parliament, and his claims to have a voice in the governing of the couutry should be admitted, and as it can hardly be deuied that the governing classes of the couutry have had to a great extent the power of controlling the education of the people, nor can it be contended that this power has been so advautageuusly used as it might hire been if Hie rea[ elevation of the misses had been sought, or their inherent political rights ackuow (edged. The folio wing extract from the pamphlet was read by Me Smith, dealing with the particular viaws just stated :— " Mr Hare, while he does not contend for such au exteuhiou of. the suffrage as I should consider just, proposes a scheme uuder which I couceive it possible to obtain the real-representation of the people iv iheEuglisu. tiouse ot Commons. Mr Hare looks upou the Parliament tiouse as a place where miuorities, heresies, and protests of all sorts should be represented and eutitled to a hearing ; and iv order to attain this he has in a most masterly manner framed a measure which should be fully examined by the people ; lor so long as the working classes are denied justice, aud are not admitted to the suffrage iv so ample a manner to outnumber the upper class electors, it is to the working men that Mr Hare's bill is peculiarly beueficial; and 1 fcru3t that even if universal suffrage were obtained to-morrow the people would kuow that a permanent and progressive democracy can only subsist usefully by permitting its opponents to be heard in the national de. liberative assembly. Guizot "says that • au electoral system which in the formation ot the deliberative assembly annuls iv advance the iiifitieu.ee and participation of the alisorities* destroys the representative goi'erafljeat, aaci "would be fts fstal-to ;
tho majority as a law which in a deliberative assembly compelled the minority to remain silent.' At present elections are purely local, and the minority of electors in a particular borough are not only unrepresented, but are misrepresented. Of late several modes have been suggested tor giving an effective voice to a minority ; by limiting each elector to fewer votes than the number of members to be elected, or allowing him to concentrate all his voles on the same candidate. These various schemes are praiseworthy bo far us they ao, but they attain the object very imperleetly. ' All plans fur dividing a merely. local representation iv unequal ra ios, arc limited by the small number of members which can be, aud the still smaller which ou^ht to be, assigned to any one constituency. There are considerable objections to the election even of so many as three by every constituent body. This, however, under present arrangements, is the smallest number which would admit of any representation of a minority, and in this case the miuority must amount to at least a third of the whole. All smaller minorities would continue, as at present, to be disfranchised ; and in a minority of a third, (he whole number must unite in voting for the same candidate. There may, therefore, be a minority within the miuority wlio have sacrificed their individual preference, and from whose vote nothing can with certainty be concluded but that they dislike less the candidate they voted for, than they do the ri«al candidate.' Mr Hare would have principles represented ratber than places, and he would not confine the voters to a local candidate, but would widen their sphere of choice, and permit the vote to be given to any one who was a candidate for election anywhere in the kingdom. That is, supposing there to be in all 658 numbers of I Jailiament, aud a total of I,3l6,oooelectors throughout the kiDgdom voting at a particular election, he would divide the latter by the former, thus leaving a quotient of 2000, and he would allow any candidate who obtained 2000 rotes throughout the whole kingdom to be returned to Parliament. This would much modify the constitution of the House, even without any extension of the suffrage. For example there are the various Trades' Unions unrepresented in Parliament, and although numerically strong, tliey are spread over a wide surface, and are so weak in suffrage power in any given town or borough, that there is probably no locality where the Trades' Unions would have tbe ghost of a chance to carry a candidate ; but given all Great Britain, and a hundred votes in one city, and twenty in that b>>rougb, and ten in this town, and five in that village, and so on, and the quotient may be attained, and the Trades' Union may pick their best toau, and compel Parliament to receive him. So with the Cooperative societies, the Odd Fellows, and other large friendly societies. All these with their wide influences, might gather the necessary number of votes from different corners of the realm. This portion of Mr Hare's acheme provides for the representation of every minority of not less than 2000 electors and the representation is more nearly equalised than is otherwise possible. Every candidate who is elected can boast that he is the representative of a constituency unanimous in their desire for his return, and no voter can complain that he is misrepresented by a roan he has voted against. Some candidates of great popularity will probably get more than the quota of votes required, and if all these were counted for him, the House would be deficient of members, as none are to be returned who do not obtain the quota. To obviate this, Mr Hare proposes that no more than the necessary quota of votes shall be counted to-any. candidate, and that whoever obtains that number shall; be declared duly elected; all surplus votes being transferred to someone else. For this purpose the elector is to put on his voting paper more than one name, so that if the first named have elsewhere the necessary suffrages, then the vote passes to the second, or in case he shall already have sufficient, then to the third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth, or seventh, aud so on. Thus while the vote would in any case only be counted for one candidate, it would be sure to be counted for some candidate, and would not be tbrown~away as many votes are at present." .
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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3991, 13 October 1881, Page 2
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1,180The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1881. Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3991, 13 October 1881, Page 2
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