284 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



opinion to-day as a result of Winnipeg's first experience with the new election 

 system ' {Toronto Daily Star, ]une 30, 1920) . ' Winnipeg has put Proportional 

 Representation upon the Canadian political map. Its extension to the 

 rural constituencies in Manitoba is assured, and its ultimate adoption for all 

 elections — civic, provincial, and federal — may now be looked on as inevitable. 

 In Winnipeg the test was classic, and Proportional Representation came 

 through with flying colours. Proportional Representation eliminated the 

 excitement and bitterness from the election campaign ; the knowledge that 

 each party could only get its fair proportion, and no more, of the valuable 

 seats made the old-time strategy and electioneering useless ' {Manitoba Free 

 Press, July 5, 1920)." In the United States, the best disinterested political 

 opinion " is alive to the merits of Proportional Representation. It is the 

 subject of an increasing degree of favourable comment in the organs of 

 political and municipal science. A few cities and a large number of private 

 organisations have already put the system in practice in their elections. At 

 the present time, favourable opportunities for the adoption of P.R. in State 

 constitutions are afforded in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, and on these, 

 the American P.R. League proposes to concentrate its efforts in the immediate 

 future. New Jersey Legislature has had under consideration a Bill providing 

 the Hare system of P.R. {i.e. the single transferrable vote) for the election of 

 members of the State Assembly in counties returning three or more members. 

 The Bill was favourably reported on by the Committee on Elections, passed 

 the second reading unopposed, and will be reintroduced next session. The 

 P.R. Committee of New Jersey has done excellent educational work in support 

 of the Bill." Progress also has been made with the scheme in New South 

 Wales, Malta, and Holland. " The last issue of this Journal described the 

 application of P.R. to the Irish municipal elections of January 1920. Some 

 126 separate councils were elected ; there were few uncontested seats ; the 

 persons voting were 69-79 per cent, of the whole ; the spoiled papers were 

 2-79 per cent. ; the machinery for counting votes worked without a hitch. 

 There was a chorus of praise from the Irish Press, the Belfast Unionist Journals 

 excepted. " In not one of the divisions of Belfast was a solid party return 

 achieved " ; P.R. in Belfast, as elswhere, had done justice to minorities. 

 Labour and Nationalist citizens residing in Unionist wards. Unionist citizens 

 residing in the Nationalist ward, all secured their full share of representation. 

 Additional local government elections took place in May and June. These 

 were for county councils, rural district councils, and, in county boroughs and 

 in urban districts, for poor law guardians. All were held under the P.R. 

 System. 



" P.R. is now firmly established in Germany. The main principles of 

 the Reichstag law, including P.R., were applied to the municipal elections 

 for Greater Berlin on June 20, 1920." One of the chief aims of the 

 Society, however, is to get P.R. firmly established in this country, and already 

 many Members of Parliament are greatly in favour of its trial. " ' We want 

 a fully representative House of Commons ' was the keynote of a large and 

 enthusiastic gathering — numbering over a thousand — held at the Central Hall, 

 Westminister, on May 13, 1920. It was an excellent tribute to the educational 

 work of the Society, and recognition of the important fact that, even after 

 equality has been gained in the matter of the franchise, the House of Commons 

 will not possess a fully national authority until a method of election is adopted 

 which will give every vote an equal value, and an equal share of influence 

 in the legislation of the nation." The meeting carried unanimously the 

 following resolution, which was moved by Lord Robert Cecil: " That this 

 meeting, convinced of the necessity for making the House of Commons 

 completely and fairly representative of the nation, calls upon His Majesty's 

 Government to introduce the necessary legislation in order that the principle 

 of Proportional Representation may be applied at the next General Election." 



