ELECTORAL REFORM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2710, 23 November 1889, Page 2

ELECTORAL REFORM.

TO THH HDITOIi. Sir, —It is to be regretted that political questions of vital importance are, as a general rule, not debated except on the eve of an election. This is to regretted because on such occasions, instead of discussing the question on its own intrinsic? merit". w« are apt to regard it with a prejudiced mind, and from a partisan or biassed stand-point —we are apt first of all to select an ideal man as our representative, and then endeavour to mould our opinion to suit his political opinions, or at least to view with the mind of an advocate and not of a judge, questions which, had they been maturely deliberated when before the heat of election, would have been determined in our minds different. There is at present a question agitating the minds of many electors, certainly not causingthat absorbing interest which it deserves to cause, but yet viewed by many as a question of paramount importance inasmuch as on the is •■i.ie which it gives birth to may depend many and important future measures. This question is the necessity of reform in our present system of representation, To a person who has analysed and compared the results of any general election and judged how for the return of members echoes the voice of the country, it is manifest not only that the number of members returned is no safe index of tiie feeling of the country, but that in closely contested elections a minority may actually be in the ascendancy. One great aim of Parliamentary representation is to make Parliament the reflex of the opinion of the majority. Our present system of representation does not ensure this end. It is possible (and as [ will point out very probable) that a minority may rule, and that a minority may return a majority of members, Take the instances of the two last general elections for the Imperial Parliament. From the number of votes polled the Unionist party were in a majority of 5 per cent. \et the Unionist mem Dors exceeded the Home Rule members by a majority of i! 0 per cent. Since then with the additional mttuber of members returned at the • bye-elec-tions (viz., 70 out of 75 in favour of Home Rule) 1 believe the feeling of the majority would be in favour of the concession of that form of government to unfortunate Ireland ; in other words, that the majority of the people want Home Rule, and that by the present system of unrepresentation the minoiity can withhold it. If this is the case, something must be radically wrong. This is only one instance of the anomalous working of the present system. For others I can refer your readers to a very lucid pamphlet on the subject by W.J.S., published about two years ago. The present system is always liable to bring about such unfair anomalies as I have sketched in any Parliament elected under the present system. Surely the Hare system modified slightly to suit the exigencies of this colony could not prove more absurd and iniquitous than the present system. —Yours | truly, Kkfobji. I