The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, FEB. 7, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume xxx, Issue 2430, 7 February 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, FEB. 7, 1888.

The late general elections demonstrated the existence of a grave defect in our system of popular representation, to which serious public attention litis since been drawn. The evil is not a new one ; it lias always made itself apparent from the time we first secured constitutional Government, but which various legislative measures passed from time to time have dealt with experimentally without affording a remedy. It has hitherto been found a difficult, if not an impossible matter, to secure a just and perfect representation in the Parliamentary Assembly, of the will of tlin people. It is true' that on party issues botween the Ins and the Outs a majority of votes will be found ranged on the side of one or the other after an electoral campaign, or what it is visually called, an appeal to the country, with which wo have felt satisfied as a fulfilment of the great essentiality, government by the majority. Analyses of votos given at general elections, however, afford ample proof that, whilsi party politics may have triumphed, too many constituencies, and thoso not the least in importance, are left practically unrepresented or are ruled by unproportional minorities, and in the aggregate that either the party who has gained the day lias been deprived of many members who really would have been returned under a more equitable method, or that the voting power between the two contending factions does not show a very wide gulf between them so fai as public opinion goes. Notwithstanding a strong tide of popular ■feeling apparent throughout the country ac the time of some crisis, it lias been seen that the result of {Ui appeal to the constituencies is

utterly fallacious so far us being ii a test of the wishes of the electors, d In the late elections, which evoked ai more than ordinary interest in the c; ""eneral hotly of the com- It inanity, there were a multitude of p candidates contesting the various O; seats, men of all sorts and condi- tl tion, and from this cause the evil o complained of arose in a most ti palpable manner. 'lhus A. B.C. and * D. were candidates for the sutlerages of an electorate ou whose roll s there are say -J,121^0 electors, out 01 whom, however, 5,000 only re- 1 corded their votes, A received 1,200, B 800, 0 000, and D -1-00 v votes. A was elected, and though he did not receive half . the number of votes ou the roll and much less than tiie combined number given to his opponents, he £ is in right of our accepted method, sitting in Parliament as the ropresenfcative of that district. Then? is _ clearly something radically wrong r with such a plan, which really stifles true representation of the ' people's will. Some there are who j think the Hare system, or a moditi- c cation of it, would supply the needed remedy, bv creating the whole j colony into one, or at most two or ,j three, large constitutiences whose concentrated voting power would be j directed towards tlie election of a certain number of members from candi- , dates brought forward by such enlarged electorate, instead of having numerous local contests, as at present. The Hare system has been before the world for a very long period, but its principle has failed to obtain practical acceptation with any country enjoying Parliamentary j institutions. Careful consideration of it will convince us at once that the plan is not applicable to, and would be subversive of, the great ■' principle of popular representation, c more particularly so in new countries where there is no fixity of the ® population, and where populous ' centres are being created with £ sparsely-inhabited country districts. 0 Under the proposed system promi- r nent public men in the chief town?, r backed by the whole influence of the r metropolitan press and possessed of x I the advantage of larger means and f easier accessibility to the bulk of the electors, would find their return a • dead certainty over any man, how- f ever great his abilities and qualifi- I cations, who might be nominated t from the country side. Our rural t population, the great agricultural i and pastoral interests, would be \ practically disfranchised. A reform of our existing system | can, however, be effected by which f the representation of the majority 5 can be made a siw qiui non of a successful candidate's return to the popular assembly. This would only apply in the event of more than two contestants being in the field or o-oing to the poll ; where there are but two one of them must be the chosen of the majority, excepting, of course, in the rare eventuality of a tie, of tin; number of votes recorded. When three or more candidates are in the field, the one securing the highest number of votes may not, thereby, be the representative; of the district, as the example above illustrates. But if the clue representation of the majority is sought to be secured, then in such cases it could be provided that C and D having obtained the least number of votes, they shall be withdrawn front the con- i test, and the Returning Oflit-or shall then order another poll to be taken as between A and B the two highest ] on the poll, but neither one i of whom obtained the quota ; that represents the majority of the electors in the constituency. The supporters of C and I) would exercise their privileges for either A or B, and it is possible that B would lie found to represent the popular will in place of A, as at first appeared on the prior ballot : or A may receive a very large accession to his numbers that would undoubtedly prove him the chosen of the electorate. In the general election the percentage of double ballots would not be great, and a check could bo placed upon their recurrence by insisting on a larger deposit from candidates than the sum the law at present requires to be made. And whilst we would have our best and most capable men ottering their time, talents and mind to their country, we would, though perhaps at a little more cost, secure the chief desideratum, namely, representation of the majority pure and simple, which again in its turn would strengthen and purify party politics. ===== I