BY E. L. PIESSE, B.SC, LL.B. 31 



1913. 



Single Transferable Vote Systems. 



71. The argument in §§ 6-21 has been restated more 

 fully and clearly by Mr. F. W. Barford, of Melbourne, 

 in a paper A Study in Proportional Rejyrcsentation read 

 at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the 

 Advancement of Science held in Melbourne in January, 

 1913. 



Close Contests. 



72. In a note to § 4, I collected some information as 

 to the frequency of close contests. Students interested in 

 this aspect of representation will find further information 

 in the following papers in the Journal of the Royal Statis- 

 tical Society : — 



John Biddulph Martin: Electoral Statistics: A Review 

 of the Working of our Representative System from 1832 

 to 1881, in view of Prospective Changes therein. Journal 

 of the Royal Statistical Society, March, 1884 (XLVII., 

 75-115). 



J. A. Baines : Parliamentary Representation in Eng- 

 land, illustrated by the Elections of 1892 and, 1895. 

 Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, March, 1896 

 (LIX., 38-118). Table D shows the distribution of seats 

 according to the majority per cent, in 1892 and 1895 ; 

 Table G the percentage of the majority in each constituency 

 at these elections. 



F. Y. Edgeworth : Miscellaneous Applications of the 

 Calculus of I^rohahilities. Journal of the Royal Statistical 

 Society, September, 1898 (LXI., 534-544). 



Sir Richard Biddulph Martin: The Electoral " Sudng 

 of the Pendulum." Journal of the Royal Statistical 

 Society, December, 1906 (LXIX., 655-707). 



Single-Member Constituencies. 



73. It is well known that single-member constituencies 

 usually fail to give proportional representation to parties, 

 and sometimes put a minority in power. (-^). But it is 

 commonly said that this defect will be remedied if the 



(*») The case against the single-membei- system is stated by .J. H. 

 Humphreys {Propnrtionnl Reprene/itation {London, VJll), Ch. v.); and 

 by Professor J. R. Commons, in his Prirport tonal lleprestutation (2nd 

 edition. New York, 1907) at pp. .36-85, his illustrations being taken mainlj 

 fi-om elections in the United States. 



