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EFFECTIVE VOTING.

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

BRITISH VISITOR'S VIEWS.

Mr. John H. Humphreys, secretary of the Proportional Representation Society of   Great Britain of, of which Earl Grey is presi- dent, is making a short stay in Melbourne and will this evening deliver an address on Proportional Representation and a National Parliament in the Old Council Chamber, Town Hall.

When interviewed yesterday, Mr. Humph-       reys said that the immediate object of his visit to Australia was to make himself fully acquaintcd with the position of proportional   representation in Tasmania.

"The question," he said, "is of consider- able importance, for the Imperial Govern- ment during the passage of the Government of Ireland Bill, otherwise the Home Rule Bill, accepted amendments applying the Tas- manian system of effective voting to the election of the Irish Senate, and also to the election of the representatives of nine con- stituencies returning three or more members each to the Irish House of Commons. Fur-   ther, a proposal to apply proportional repre-   sentation to all elections to the Irish House of Commons was adopted almost unani-     mously by the House of Lords. The pro- posal was supported by Lord Bryce, Lord MacDonnell and all the Irish Unionist

peers."

Asked why this system had been adopted, Mr Humphreys said that the consideration     in framing a Parliament for Ireland was to make provision for the representation of all citizens. For 30 years the residents who    

comprised the minority in the south and

similarly those in the north-east had had no   representation in the House of Commons The results in Tasmania had shown that there was not an electoral district in which the minority did not obtain a fair share of representation. If the same result hap- pened in Ireland the very rigid divisions between those of the north-east and the rest of Ireland would be to a considerable extent broken down.

"Then," continued Mr Humphreys, the Tasmanian system has been in use in the municipal elections at Johannesburg and Pretoria. It was adopted for the South   African Senate and also in the elections for the governing councils of the four pro-       vinces of which the South African Union is     composed. General Botha and General Smuts both advocated the adoption of the principle for all elections when the Consti-  

tution was framed in 1909, and had their proposals been agreed to the solid block of representation held bv General Hertzog in regard to the Orange Free State would have been prevented. There the large minoritv of British residents are practically disfran- chised. Wherever racial or religious differ-   ences exist the Tasmanian system will be of great value."

In addition there is the experience of Belgium, where the proportional representa-   tion system has been in vogue for 15 years. Here was a country of two races, and under the old method of voting Catholic Flanders     was represented by Conservatives and     French-speaking Walloons by Liberals and         Socialists. Two solid blocks faced each other in Parliament, and this was broken down by the proportional system and a schism of the country prevented.

"Then," concluded Mr Humphreys on this point, "there was the warning conveyed in the results for your Australian Senate as   to what may happen under an unfair system.

of election."

"Has the system a direct bearing upon the Australian Constitution?"' Mr. Humph-

reys was asked.

"I think so." When in Adelaide I found 15 metropolitan seats in the State Parlia- ment held bv members of one party. The Liberals obtained their representation solely from the country. The same applies to Western Australia where the Goldfields are represented bv members of one party. There seems to be the tendency also in New South Wales and Victoria for the   metropolitan areas to be monopolised by one party. It is always unfortunate if the differences between town and country are emphasised in this way, and what is even more unfortunate is that under the present system of election the commercial and other non-Labour elements in the capital cities   are permanently divorced from representa- tion. A proportional system would broaden and deepen both parties, for both would derive representation from town and coun- try, and Parliament can onlv continue to   command complete confidence if it fairly and fully represents all those entitled to be represented in it.

In answer to an inquiry if the movement was growing in Great Britain, Mr.   Humphreys said that it was gaining the support of representative men in all parties.   Among the Unionists there were Lord Grey, Lord Milner and Lord Cromer; in the

Liberal party Lord Loreburn and Sir John       Simon; and among the Labour represen-

tatives Mr Philip Snowden and Mr G. H.   Roberts, a member of the Coalition Govern-

ment. "It is generally thought," concluded   Mr. Humphreys, that in the constitutional reconstruction which must inevitably follow

the Government of Ireland Act the ques-   tion of fair representation and the efficiency   of Parliament must take the front place."    

_________________________________  

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