[Footnote 8: The following is taken from a letter sent to the press by the Chairman of the Committee: "I am aware that many people are opposed to the principle of a ticket on the ground that it savours of 'dictation,' &c. &c. We are exceedingly anxious that every voter should be in a position to exercise his privilege of choice to the fullest extent…. It is not reasonable to expect him, without advice, to express an order of preference in the case of men he does not know. This is exactly one of the strongest justifications for a representative committee to come forward as we do, to say: 'We have carefully inquired as to the character, capacity, and ability of all the candidates, and having taken everything into consideration we recommend you to vote for the ten whose names are on our ticket, placing them in such order of preference as you please.'">[
[Footnote 9: Labour Party Conference, Leicester, February 1911.]
[Footnote 10: Owing to the small numbers taking part in the election, the publication of the details might possibly have furnished a clue to the votes of individual members of Parliament. For this reason the returning officers and the scrutineers were pledged to secrecy. The fairness of the results were fully recognized by the press, as the following extracts show:
"The result has demonstrated the absolute fairness of the single transferable vote."—Bloemfontein Friend.
"The system proved in practice as simple and accurate as it was scrupulously fair in character."—Bloemfontein Post.]
CHAPTER XII
THE KEY TO ELECTORAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
"De la manière de régler le suffrage dépend la ruine ou le salut des
Etats."—MONTESQUIEU
Electoral problems awaiting solution.
The Liberal, Conservative, and Labour parties are all agreed that a large measure of electoral reform is long overdue, but hitherto the various parties have contended only for such reforms as would strengthen their own parliamentary position. Liberal and Labour politicians, looking at the inequality in the voting power of electors, have demanded a reform of the franchise; they urge that every man should have one vote and no more. The Conservative party, looking at the inequalities in the size of constituencies, have demanded a redistribution of seats on the ground that all votes should be of equal value. Liberals, again, feeling the difficulties which have attended the emergence of third-party candidatures in the constituencies, ask for a reform in the method of voting so as to ensure that the member elected for any constituency shall represent a majority of the citizens. Apart from the question of the enfranchisement of women, which involves considerations of a different order, these are the three electoral problems with which public opinion has been chiefly concerned.