80 



evils it claims to correct are only beginning to receive adequate 

 recognition. Each of these facts would admit of illustration and 

 proof. But it is not so much the object of this paper to attack or 

 to defend the Hare sytem, as to give an exposition of its applica- 

 tion to this colony. The Bill of 1896 has become law, and it 

 includes several important modifications upon the proposals of Mr 

 Hare, which should be of more than local interest. Before 

 attempting their consideration, it may be well to indulge the 

 curiosity of the uninitiated by a statement of the merits which 

 have been claimed for the system whose defects the Tasmanian 

 modifications are designed to remedy. 



The determination of constituencies by reference to geo- 

 graphical considerations, is at once the great aversion of Mr Hare 

 and the most conspicuous trait of the usual system. In substitution, 

 he proposes the determination of constituencies by voluntary 

 association. The tie by local contiguity is to be superseded i>y 

 the bond of kinship — kinship not of blood but of ideas ! The 

 great law of progress, defined by Maine as from status to 

 contract, already abundantly illustrated in the sphere of private 

 law, is to find a new illustration in the domain of Jus Publicum. 

 Every constituency is to be a partnership " in which there are to 

 be no sleeping partners, much less partners repudiating 8nd pro- 

 testing against the acts of the rest and yet unable to extricate 

 themselves. . . Full scope will be given to every generous 

 sentiment by which men may be drawn together. Devotion to a 

 great principle, regard for an illustrious name, affection for an 

 ancient house, admiration of worthy deeds, attachment to a 

 particular neighbourhood, love of country or of class, community 

 of feeling, harmony of taste, may all form so many occasions 

 of concord, and create innumerable circles, binding together in 

 society all varieties of rank and station."* But how is this 

 unanimity to be attained ? If the electors are left to their 

 own devices, attempts at the formation of voluntary con- 

 stituencies may end in a Parliament of party leaders. To avoid 

 such a contingency it is necessary to establish a quota by 

 dividing the number of voters by the number of seats. Who- 

 ever obtains the quota is elected, and any excess vote recorded 

 in his favor is given to the next preference of the voter. This 

 simple plan of transferring the vote is also followed in cases 

 where the candidate at the head of the list has no apparent 

 chance of election. As nothing is to be gained by transferring a 

 vote to a candidate who is already elected or excluded, " next 

 preference " must be understood to mean invariably, next available 

 preference. Such refinements need not perplex the elector who is 

 only required to express his choice by placing the numbers 

 1, 2, 3, etc., opposite the names of favored candidates. 



However, we may differ in estimating the importance of the 

 fact, it must be admitted that such a system secures equity 

 of representation. The Legislature represents the opinion 

 of the country, with an approach to ideal fidelity; its members are 

 the representatives of the people — not of the chance majorities of 

 arbitrarily formed electorates. It is not easy to doubt the fairness 

 of such an arrangement. " The electors are the dispersed in- 

 habitants of an extensive and populous kingdom, possessing 

 *Hare; " Kepresentative Government," pp 38-9. 



