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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.
The Alinister of Lands, in reply, to Air.
Jewell, said Air. Sampson, when connected
witli tlie Closer Settlement Board, was
given a. free hand to obtain any informa
tion he required to arrive at his valuations.
The board selected the valuers, and con-
sidered that the necessary qualifications
were -practical knowledge of productive
value of land, and local knowledge of land
and locul conditions. It was not " .within
the knowledge of the board that any of its
valuers were unreliable.
The' Alinister of! Railways,, hi. reply to
Air. Gordon, said it was the intention of
tlie Government to introduce a bill this
session for tlie construction . of the Rush-
worth to Cplbinabbin railway.
PREFERENTIAL VOTING BILL.
; Tlie debate on the 'bill to provide for
compulsory preferential voting at elections
for the Legislative Assembly was con
tinued Si committee.
At" the last sitting of the -House, Air.
Smith' moved as an amendment to clause
4 — which provides how votes ure to he
marked by voters— the inclusion after the
"word "shall" of the words "if he so de
sire." This would leave it optional to the
voter, having given his first preference
vote; to give contingent votes for the re
maining candidates or not, as he pleased, .
Air. Haiiipson. in support of. the amend
ment, did not think it right -that the law
-should compel pereons to vote for candi
dates for whom tliey had no preference.
Mr. Cotter, dealing witli problems that
might urise under tlie present -bill, stated
.that a few days ago he was present "at a
ballot taken of nine people. A, B and O
went to the poll, anu each man got three
.first preference votes. "The returning offi
cer liad to decide which of the men should
stand out. On the second preference votes
being examined it was found that A had
received 3 and C 6. B had none.
The "Acting .Premier: That is the case
mentioned by Air. Billson last week.
Air. Cotter: This is tlie record of :iin
actual experience. . On theipresent bill it
is 'J«st possible that C " would have been
scored out by the returning officer..
Mr. Irendergast said .the bill did not
ullcet the Labor party more . than : any
other party. There -was- no reason, there
fore, wbv it should be opposed if "it were
a fair bill. The fault of. the bill was' that
it gave the balance, of .power, not to the
second-thoughts of the majority of voters,
but to the second thoughts of the minority,
illiereduid been no demand for the biff
from the, ejectors. /The gr".had accused
i?11!0 , wh had spoken of oavinc
that it would a failure because of the
crass ignorance of the electors. Those
worda were not used. Air that had been
urged was that the change would not
work out to the . benefit of the
electors, and that the present system,
w-li a5V ,C wai?' superior to it.
YViMi other members of the Labor rnrtv he
baa, come to. the. conclusion that' the party
would not bc affected any more than others
by. tlie bill.
!r 5aos: I' will help you.
r'.1 i rendergast: If. there are any tactics
jused we will not be beaten.
v !L£,n/tll'wai?e(ldnieIlt ' rejected "by
fc, \ote to 22, Labor, members, with Mr
.Langdon, constituting tlie minority. Tie
clause was agreed to.
Dayles eaid- a ballot paper was to bc
rejected if a brat preference for one can
didate and contingent votes for the re
maining candidates was not indicated. This
provision ought to be . made clear on the
ballot papers.
1 he Acting Premier: The provision in
clause 6 is meant for the instruction of. the
officers who will have to count . the votes.
Mr. Layles: Supposing there are two can
didates, will the striking out of -one name
be legal?
The Acting Premier: That cannot he
done.
Afr. ( Robertson argued, that where the
intention of tlie voter was clear the bal
lot paper ought, not to be declared in
formal. -
The Acting ' Premier: Where there are
only two candidates and one is indicated
that will be sufficient. The numerical sys
tem of voting must be kept to in other
earesy.
Air. ALGratli: The Acting Premier will
not have "The Age" behind liim when he
stands ngiiin.
The Acting Premier: The hon. gentleman
will never have "The Age" behind" him,
-because he is behind the age. (Laughter.)
Mr. Lnngdon was against compulsory
voting.1 It was unfair and unwise. The
Government knew whieh-way his vsipjvas
going. -
The Acting Premier: I regret I do not.
Afr. LangdqnifcTha t is an unnecessary
interjection ott'ttre/part of the loader of
the House.' '(Jwauier.)
Mr. 11 a m psonrawVo d to amend the clause
to provide thatY . vote should -be .'valid as
long as the ballot paper clearly indicated
the intention of the voter. .
.Tlie Acting Premier said that tlie effect
of the amendment would be to overthrow
the preferential system.
Air. Drendergast . said the object of the
amendment was tliat where there were
only two candidates a ballot paper would
foe fornu') as long as. the intention of the
voter was clear.
The Acting Premier said the furthest the
Government could go would foe to insert
the following addition :— "At elections
where there are only two candidates a bal
lot -paper shall not be- rejected if it indi
cates the elector's first preference only."
This amendment was agreed to.
.Mr. Robertson moved tlie addition, of the
following sub-clause: — "Provided that
where there are two candidates ' only the
striking out of -the name of one candidate,
or the placing of a cross, shall foe taken to
indicate the vote of the elector."
'Air. Hannah contended tliat: any voting
paper should be regarded as correct so long
as the: intention of the 'voter was made
clear. .. . _ .'!/ ; ;
.The Acting Premier thought it would be
'best for the public that all that should he
recognised was voting in one way. The
voting .ought to be uniform. As to . "edu
cating. the people," there was no doubt
tbgt when an election took place the press
would teacli the people lioyy to vote. The
placing of the figures 1, 2 or 3 against the
names of candidates would not be a diffi-
'cult thing to learn. He could not accept the.
amendment.'
7 .The - amendment was negatived on divi
sion by 27 votes to 22.
The -Acting Premier, in- answer to. Mr.
Prenderga8t. said that' he would consider
the advisability of placing full instructions
on ;.the ballot paper. "The general rule,
however, was tp. keep the- ballot paper
clear and 'to! give directions on posters in
the- room where the voting! took place:
i M? 9- dealing with the procedure
to be followed where there are more than
two/candidates, Mr. Elmslie referred- to sec
tion 8 of the clause". This related to .the
w"i?e' j, counLng o£ the .votes 'and' distri-
huhng them- against the, other 'candidates.
jei®i??MnA'd,at«foad:.been., declared
defeated, it woiddbe. found that a number
of jhentingent; yironld j#fterw»rd.
»eJperence«y(beded?i£,The
would have one returning oificer acting in
ono wav-and nnothor one in another way.
The. Acting Premier replied, that the bill
provided that the preference votos should
be divided- amongst remaining undefeated
candidates. There was no other way of
making -the hill thoroughly effective. If
every - vote were not directed to its final
lodging jilacc they liad waste votes. The
system proposed prevented waste and ex
hausted the votes.
Mr. Elmslie said some fearful nnd won
derful changes might take place under the
preferential system when men were not
voting according to their- convictions, -but
to keep out a man dangerous from their
particular point of view. He thought
some statement should be made, ns to the
kind of instruction that would be given
to returning officers when- the new'systcm
of counting was inaugurated.
The Acting Premier said the chief elec
toral officer, a man. of great experience, in
whom they all had confidence, had already
sketched for himself a system by wliioh the |
returning officers would know the ins and I
outs of the hill. Difficulties of -the kind |
inferred in regard to technical transfers
would be obviated by the instruction tlint
would foe given. The report of the Tas-
manmn chief electoral officer on the re
sult of the first ballot under a much more
complicated, system than that the House
was now discussing, showed that the count
ing wns.nn unqualified success. No seri
ous difficulty of any', kind was found in con-
ducting _the scrutiny, Tlie lender of the
uppositroir Jim! on tlirco occasions inti-
inatetl that tlie ysteaii tliey were discuss
ing was a minority system. His reasoning
>vus -ingenious, '.-but- fallacious.
Air. Prendergast said what be bad point-
jd out was this:— A received 1001 votes,
B 991 votes, and C 20 votes. The people
w ho voted for C clearly did- riot care the
snap of a finger for cither of tlie two great
parties. But they iluid . the right to vote
twice, and their votes "could displace the
man who, was on top. .
0" c,f'l"3/ U, providing that only pri-
S otos ke counted in determining whe-
feited ca"dld"tcs should be for-
-nrde f?,'.d W0llM be possible
4 Hps condition for a man to lose his
tor) P0S and 1vm t,le «cst. (Laugh-
Air. Mackinnon suggested that in the
shnnfrl w a enndidate . being returned there
his deposit 1,r0V1'S lie Bhould not lose
nrin'A,0tinf jPremier ®?'d- tliat under the
!„?"c,p,al nct n only lost his deposit
when lie was not successful. -The provi-
aion in riie-foill wus token from the West-
draftomn sa'"lIl "ii' He./vould consult .the
/,i ,w to I'10 w-ords used.
J jic clause, was, agreed to
;.Ji lil,st clause of the bill, No. 12, denling
flw Anntel 8&T a8r0cd, t0 a,nid »
writs" f or<?'i' retornof
c Assi?mbly c'cctipns to 21' days,
instead of 14 dura as at present. Tlie new
cIiuimj was earned.
.-lira iJlry' ?ovcd1 t0 :llave a new clauso
ilteertod, limiting -the period in which the
act should continue m force until the 31st
Decgmbciv .1912, "and to -the end of the.
then next session of Parlinmerit and no
mine " " .Plir,mmcnt otherwise detcr-
Sir Alexander Peacock was 'stromrlv of
opinion tliat tlie Government should ac-
eW-S0,ne 'rimltation P'-oposal— say, two
elections. J.licre was a great deal of mis
apprehension in the public mind. Some
invP,!e l o"Rbt "'c Government was pass
ing a compulsory voting bill. He con-
wmild be nf i, l CffeCt of tl,e measure
w ou Itl be of boomerang nature It wn»M
not do as much barm to th other " de
as some of tiiem imagined;
Mr. ,T. \V Billson objected to tlie limita-
r<tU,.I)/i"POaa V i m raeaaure was a failuri>
aftei the next; clectmn, it could be altered
rttriimit!i>risn.,eti,ei' t!,erewere or
a&ttsa ttisa
Sgr-ajtar
Air Prendergast said that if the act was
!lt",;.one election it could not n-o
vin. Ol,ci'atlon too soon. " ot
,!"c" tji;; 'il'.tiou was put Arr.'Prender-
Knd mnio-ri'
H5h,ofc T8ide,'a-
mlde an of
adjournment.
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