i K WSI'KK \i:i.K VOTE \l MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. 295 



value towards the election of the candidates, whom its voters 

 individually must appreciate. 



7th. Canvassing and bringing up indifferent voters to the 

 poll is no more the powerful instrument it was, when only one 

 of two candidates had to be elected. Personal application to 

 individual voters is now not so efficacious as public speaking, 

 and appeals through the press to the more intelligent sections 

 of the voters, and the general recognition of the candidate's 

 reputation and fitness for the post. 



When every vote is effective it will be the voters who will 

 canvass each other for the sake of their party, or from their 

 knowdedge of the fitness of a candidate. It will be the voters' 

 anxiety for the success of their candidate, instead of the in- 

 fluence of the agents and friends of the candidate in bringing 

 indifferent and often ignorant voters to the poll, which will deter- 

 minate the result of the election. 



8th. The inducement to citizens of the right stamp to come 

 forward and offer their services will be very much increased. 



When the element of personal contest is gone, failure at 

 the poll is deprived of the stigma of defeat, and the fact that 

 six other men are, in the opinion of your fellow citizens, preferred 

 as their representatives, is rather a matter of congratulation than 

 otherwise. 



25. In Cape Town in the very hotly contested ward elections 

 in 1909 only about 42 per cent, of the voters were got tO' the 

 poll, though two outside organisations, the Citizens' Guild and 

 the Ratepayers' Association, did their best to bring up all voters 

 to the poll. At Pretoria the trial for the first time of a perfectly 

 new system of voting, explained by the able secretary of the 

 Proportional Representation Society and much boomed by all 

 the newspapers^ brought 61 per cent, of the registered voters to 

 the poll; 2,814 voted. In 1910 — though the register was 

 larger the novelty was gone — 2.616 only voted, or 54 per cent. ; 

 in 1911 the experience of what effective voting was probably 

 began to tell, for 3,878 voters, or 63 per cent., went to the poll. 



In conclusion, let us consider what the transferable vote 

 means to the voter, the councillor and the candidate. 



26. So far as the voter is concerned, it means that every 

 voter should know it is his own fault if his vote does not help 

 to elect a member. It means that every one of the larger num- 

 ber of voters on the roll who do not vote should know that this 

 is true of every voter who votes on the other side — that not one 

 of their votes will be lost except through their own fault, and 

 that he had better hurry to the poll if he wants to make as 

 good use of his own vote. What stronger stimulus can be 

 imagined to get rid of the deplorable apathy of the voters under 

 the present plan? 



2y. To the Councillor it means that he would know that he 

 and his fellow members were elected by the practically unani- 

 mous vote of the constituency ; that he need have no doubt or 



