496 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION O. 



Of late years another method intended to supersede the "rule 

 of three method" has been brought forward by Professor D'Hondt, 

 of Brussels. The fundamental idea of the scheme is the adoption 

 of a " unit of representation " so small that the sum of the quo- 

 tients exactly equals the number of representatives to be elected. 

 The result, of course, is that remainders are entirely disregarded. 

 The way in which the "unit of representation" (which will in 

 future be referred to as the D'Hondt unit) is obtained may be illus- 

 trated as follows. Suppose there is a constituency returning eight 

 members, and three parties are in the field who poll respectively 

 5,000, 3,700, and 2,800 votes. 



Arrange these numbers with their sub-multiples in three 

 columns as follows : — 



If these numbers are arranged in order of magnitude, the 

 eighth on the list would be 1,250. This is taken as the '"' unit of 

 representation." 



The Block Vote. 



This is a method which has been frequently used when a con- 

 stituency has to elect more than one member. Each elector has 

 as many votes as there are members to be elected, and can only 

 give one vote to each candidate. The result is that the evils of 

 the majority system are perpetuated and multiplied by n where n 

 is the number of seats, for the majority party, in a strict party 

 contest, wins every seat. This system is in vogue in America 

 where the different States send delegates to the Electoral College; 

 and it is the system by which the Australian Senate is elected. The 

 evil results were evident in the Commonwealth elections of 1910. 



The Limited Vote. 



This was an experiment tried in England to obviate one of the 

 worst features of the majority system — the absolute extinction of 

 minorities. Several constituencies returning three or more mem- 

 bers were created, and each elector, instead of having as many 

 votes as there were candidates, had less votes — usually one less. 

 F'.iY example, in a diroe-mem.ber constituency an elector might 

 hrive two votes: in a iour-meniber constituency lie might have 

 three votes; and so on. The idea was that the minority party, 

 instead of being entirely disfranchised, as in the majority system, 

 or block system, might get at least one seat. The scheme, how- 

 ever, is open to an objection embodied in the following para- 

 graph. 



