Rkpkeskntation. 379" 



The al)<>\e iv.<ult is ,siu<i to hji\e l)eeii lnouglit about Ijy the 

 "swing of tlie peiukilum," but it has not swung nearly so niucli as. 

 the above results would show. Fn the cases cited, the later election 

 has meant a violent revolution in the policy of the Council — a reversal 

 of all that had been done befitre — ^a complete breaking away from that 

 continuity which should be the feature of all administration, municipal 

 and otherwise. 



Then, again, in the elections for the House of Commons in 1895, 

 the Liberal, or Home Rule voters, polled 1,800,000 and the Unionists- 

 l,77r>,000, i.e., the Liberals had a majority, small no doubt, of 25,000. 

 The actual composition of the House was 279 Unionists and 202 Home 

 Kulers. Jn other woitIs, the House of Commons majority had no right 

 to be a majority at all. 8o n)uch for the Unionists, but the anomaly 

 cuts both ways, as is shown by the elections of 1906, when the 

 Liberals and Labour Party combined obtained an absolute majority 

 of over :MH). whereas on the total poll they were only entitled t(» one 

 of 94. Innumerable examples could be cited to the same eifect, 

 V)ut all showing the inetlectiveness of the system in the way of 

 securing proportional representation of parties. I might say, however, 

 that statistics of Ameiican elections conducted on this basis show even 

 greater anomalies. No doubt inequalities in the size of the consti- 

 tuencies and other factors tend to increase these anomalies, but even 

 where constituencies ai-e approximatel}' equal anomalies just as great 

 may arise. As I ha\e pointed out already, even lai-ge minorities may 

 fail to get any representation whatsoever. 



8o far I have assumed that there are only two candidates in the 

 field, but when it comes to a three, or even a four coinered contest, 

 the general result is that a minority, and sometimes even an insignifi- 

 cant one at that, secures all the representation. Multiply similar 

 conditions all over a country, and it is quite conceivable for an actual 

 minority to secuie a majority representation and impose a policy on 

 a country which it has no desire to have. 



In passing 1 cannot help alluding to an equally reprehensible 

 feature of this same system, viz., the eii'ect which it has had on the 

 class of public men who now offer themselves for parliamentary or 

 other elections. A tendency towards deterioration was noticed many 

 years ago, and there is a geneial consensus of opinion that the process 

 is still steaflily going on. No doubt this system is not altogether 

 to blame, but it is largely contributory. The demagogue has such 

 immense influence nowadays, that men of probity, of ability, of wealth, 

 would rather avoid a contest altogether than risk the chance of being 

 beaten by such an one. Hurely there nuist be something wrong with 

 a system which has so altered the constitution of practically every 

 popularly elected body within the Empire — not to go ouiside — which 

 made Gladstone, Salisbury, Harcourt, and even Winston Churchill 

 seek safe seats. Whatever might have been wrong with their politics 

 at the time, their presence could ill be spared. However, this is a side 

 issue. The system itself must l)e condemned for tlie reasons ahead}' 

 given. 



