The Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1912. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.
It is on epen secret that one of the first acts of t-hp .M-ansey Adyninist<ra-ti-ou .will be to -bring down a democratic proposal for the reform of the electoral tsys'-Cin of the Dominion. The details of tlfe .proposal may no(t be available for some days, but it is tolerably certain t'l/at 'it v.'iiT bo i"> the direction of the Hare-Ciark system of proportional representation which is now 'lit operation in system has' been carefully examined by aufhoritie« on electoral matters, land it is declared that, with certain moelifie.-.it'ioirs', it would he the g.imprest, the most nccud ate, and the most-' ■democratic ever produced. Tasmania, under the Hare-Olark system, is divided into five .cfeliriote, each returning ■six members ; and as the largest district corJt'ains 21,506 electors, arid the ism'allc.sfc 18,789 elce'tors, there could be no serious complaint on the score J of unequal electorates. Nor, as there 1 were at tho last election from nine to .sixteen l candidates for t>lie «ix -seats in each district, it bo isaid that t)be Tasinmian system did not «ur.m ou nt all the difficulties of the f. pi itvote. Moreover, r.s at the last election there were but two parties, and the poll wais tlie. heaviest on record, it mur.it <be ad.n.!i.tted -that ilie Taenia ni:in system,'ha.s been tested under exceptional conditions. Each elector is c:.';it!ed to record only one vote, but is asked to .sav whom he -prefers lfext to tho candidate for whom lie actually votes. A .minimum quota is iixed, and every candidate nunst I'each this q-uot i ibc-fore ho can bev elected. If a candidate receiver* more votes in the ■election t'han Yhe minimum. he ifx of cours'e, declared elected. The isurphis' votes .above the quota are then counted for the 'andia'ates :f'>r wihom- ihe electees have declared Ike next prc-
fercoicc. By a process of excfuswKi, which is ii'cpe.ited, it is .possible to tuirive, in, tho icourso of a clay, at those candidates' who, in the opinion of the majority of the voters, arc entitled to election-., ft hw< 'l)«n urged in connection with the Ta&manian. elections that the .result has been,to m:iko parties so evenly divided that .stable gov- j I omment is impossible. As against this it is maintained that evo;ry demo- < cratic country should be ruled by tho voire of the-people, and that tTn& should be given the .fullest expression "at the ballo't-lvox. Labour cmmW" wil'l, of course, raise the. poh'nt tW the large constituencies will be more ireacHly eaiuwscd by t,ho wealthy candidate than .bv the poor man. This objection' applies to all electrons; hut may be> ovoroome by limiting the amount of the electioneering expenses, ae at present. The great advantages of tlio iTasmanian yystem arc (that it secures represonitation for t'r.e ■minority ns .well a,s the majority, and tliat it destroys the parochial spirit .•wdvieh .is so .mimical to pure and good (govern men t.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10677, 25 July 1912, Page 4
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493The Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1912. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10677, 25 July 1912, Page 4
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