liKPKKSKNTATION. 383 



party lines tlie moderate niciii or tlie iiKlepciideiit mui) lias not the 

 ghost of a ehanee. The system of piopoitiojial representation, as I 

 have ah'eadv said, secures representation for all, and thus encourages 

 men of moderate views and independent opinions to come forward. 

 In the recent Cape Coloiw elections the coast towns were almost solid 

 for the Unionists, and the country for the .South African Party. Now 

 in Capetown itself, which returned all Unionists, the South African 

 Party nmst be strong relatively, and the converse must appl^^ to 

 certain country districts. If every five single constituencies had 

 been grouped into one lai-ge one returning five members, it is prob- 

 able that the South African Party might at least have secured one 

 representative in Capetown, and the Unionists would have secured a 

 success here and there in the country, which is otdy fair and reason- 

 able. To a certain extent this is what takes place for the Upper 

 House or Council elections. But the proportional system does much 

 more thcin this — it prevents the loss of voting power. Supposing two 

 parties were contesting for the seats of a five-member constituency ; 

 one candidate could be so very popular that he would secure far more 

 votes than was necessary for his election, thus invalidating the chances 

 of his supporters. By the simple expedient of transferring surplus votes 

 this contingency is obviated. 



J do not propose in this paper to deal with the many arguments 

 which have been urged against the system, as time does not permit, so 

 I shall merely content myself by stating them. They may be sum- 

 mai'ised as follows : — ■ 



(1) The system is too diflicult to understand. 



(2) In consequence of this there would be a gi-eat many spoiled 

 papers. 



(3) It does not secui-e what it aims at securing, viz., proportional 

 representation. 



(-1-) If it did secure its end it would make stable governments 

 impossible. 



Now the answer to all these objections is that the system does 

 work well in practice, because it has been adopted by several countries, 

 and the spoiled papers have been found to be no more numerous than 

 with any of the other simpler systems. I cannot, however, do better 

 than show you step by step how a trial election was carried on in 

 London in November of 1906 by the Proportional Representation 

 •Society with the assistance of some of the dail}' newspapers, which 

 printed ballot papers in their columns with the request to their readers 

 to fill them up and return them. The constituency was supposed to 

 return five members, and there were twelve candidates, whose names 

 were all Avell known to the newspaper reader. The ballot paper with 

 the necessary instructions to voters was us follows : — 



