52 



QUOTA IN PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION, 



there are two parties they are frequently nearly equal in 

 strength. (^) It is therefore important to compare the 

 various systems and quotas in regard to the size of the 

 majority they are likely to produce in close contests. 



[^) Mr. J. Rooke Corbett, ((1), Table I.), has tabulated the results of the 

 seven General Elections held in the United Kingdom according to the four 

 kingdoms, and, in England, according to the ten divisions used by the 

 Registrar-General. These divisions contain constituencies returning from 

 29 to 70 members. From this tabulation I have computed that in Eng- 

 land for the 10 divisions at the 7 elections (70 occasions in all), the larger 

 party exceeded 60 °o of the votes on only five occasions, and its greatest 

 strength was 64 "/© ; the averaa^e for the 70 occasions was 55 "/o. In 

 Wales the strength of the larger party varied from 58 °/o to 68 <*/©, and the 

 average was 63 %. In Scotland the strength varied from 50 "/o to 61 **/©, 

 and the average was 56 "/q. In Ireland the strength varied from 67 "/o to 

 74 "/o, and the average was 70 "/o. For the whole of the United Kingdom, 

 the strength of the larger party at the seven elections was 56, 51, 52, 51, 

 61, 58, 54 °/o ; the average was 53 **/o. 



Mr. Corbett states on the authority ^)f Mr. J. H. Humphreys that at 

 the General Election of 1910, there were majorities of under 500 in 144 

 constituencies. The average number of voters in a constituency was about 

 10,000. 



In Tasmania the strengths of the parties at the elections of 1909, 1910 

 (House of Representatives) and 30th April, 1912 in the five six-member 

 constituencies, and in the whole of Tasmania, were : 



Tasmania — Strength of Parties, 1909, 1910, 1912. 



At the election for the House of Representatives held throughout Aus- 

 tralia on 13th April, 1910, the larger party was between 50 °lo and 60 °/oin 

 30 of the 64 electorates in which the principal contest was between single 

 candidates of the two parties; its average strength was (51 °/o. 



At the election for the Senate held the game day the strengths of th& 

 parties in each State were : 



