40 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION, 



R.S. TAS. 



ure of the ordinary system of voting to secure a proportionato 

 representation of the preponderating opinions of the electors 

 on political questions either in single or plural electorates. 

 Under the first Electoral Act, which provided for the election 

 of the members of a bicameral Legislature, the city of Hobart, 

 by the " block vote," elected five representatives to the House 

 of Assembly as- one electorate, and the city of Launceston 

 elected three representatives to the same branch of the Legis- 

 lature in the same manner. 



Under that system it was discovered that a majority of the 

 electors, in each of the two electorates, could elect all the 

 representatives, and leave a very large minority totally 

 unrepresented in the Legislature. To remedy this evil those 

 two electorates were divided into eight single electorates. But 

 under this system it was discovered that when three or more 

 candidates presented themselves for election, it very frequently 

 happened that the successful candidate was elected by a 

 minority of the total number of votes recorded. The same 

 thing sometimes occurred in the rural electorates, which were 

 all single electorates, but the number of candidates in the 

 rural electorates did not often exceed two. It was also dis- 

 covered that the division of the cities of Hobart and Launces- 

 ton into eight single electorates reduced the area of each 

 electorate, and the number of voters to such small dimensions 

 that the agents and canvassers of the several candidates could 

 easily interview every resident elector and ascertain very 

 closely the number of purchasable or otherwise controllable 

 votes. 



After the representation of the cities of Hobart and Laun- 

 ceston was increased to six and four members, those electorates 

 were divided into five electorates, each of which returned two 

 members. At the same time, two rural electorates, each 

 returning two members, were created. Under this plan it was 

 discovered that the majority of electors in the total number 

 of the electorates which returned two members frequently 

 secured a much larger representation in Parliament than that 

 to which it was proportionately entitled, and thereby gave a 

 preponderance of voting power in the Legislature to a political 

 party which had secured only a minority of the total number 

 of votes recorded at a general election. In several instances 

 neither of the successful candidates in a dou))le electorate was 

 elected by a majority of votes. The lastmentioned result was 

 frequently produced by a large number of the electors voting 

 for onlv one candidate out of the five or six who were in the 

 field. 



With a view of avoiding these serious defects, the cities of 

 Hobart and Launceston were converted into two electorates 

 under the Clark-Hare system, which enables every section of 

 political opinion which can command the requisite quota of 

 votes to secure a number of representatives proportion n to to 

 its numerical strength. It also utilises every vote recorded if 

 the elector chooses to exercise the whole of his power to indi- 

 cate his preferences. If any vote is not used to help in the 

 election of a representative, it is because the voter has chosen 



