Some who recognize the great merits of proportional representation have suggested its application to urban constituencies by way of experiment. Thus, Mr. Winston Churchill has expressed the opinion that "the proportional representation of great cities was a point upon which electoral reformers ought to concentrate their minds."[12] A partial application of the reform might be of value as further evidence of its practicability, but there is no need for this further evidence. The full benefits of the system cannot be expected from such experiments, and although a partial measure is apparently working satisfactorily in Würtemberg, the history of the movement shows that such schemes usually arouse fierce opposition. An attempt to introduce a partial scheme in Belgium provoked a storm of indignation and had to be withdrawn, and the amendment to the original draft of the South African Constitution, carried in the Cape Parliament, limiting the proposed application of proportional representation to the towns, resulted in its complete abandonment for the elections for the House of Assembly. All partial applications of proportional representation are apt to work unfairly. In Belgium, the Catholics were stronger in the rural districts than in the towns and the proportional representation of the towns alone would have strengthened the political position of the Catholics. Similarly the limitation of proportional representation to the towns in South Africa would have strengthened the political position of the Dutch in those constituencies without giving a corresponding advantage to the minorities in the country areas. Were a partial application attempted in Great Britain it would be necessary to overcome the initial difficulty of selecting the constituencies to which the experiment should be applied, and in the absence of an agreement between the parties, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to escape the fatal charge of partisan selection.
Proportional representation and democratic principles.
What hinders the adoption of a complete scheme of proportional representation? Is it not primarily a lack of courage and of trust in the principle of democracy? But does it need a greater courage, a greater belief in the value of the democratic principle than the grant of self-government to the Transvaal and to the Orange River Colony within a few years of the Boer War? The courage and faith in the latter case have been abundantly justified, and were statesmen actuated by a similar courage and belief in democracy to propose a system of proportional representation there would undoubtedly be a public response which would astonish them; for reforms which are obviously based upon justice are quickly and gladly accepted. Democracy cannot be carried to its highest pitch of perfection if the electoral methods by which representative institutions are brought into being are fundamentally defective. "By proportional representation," said Mr. James Gibb, "if electors were enabled to put more intelligence and conscience into their votes, the nation would be the gainer. The character of the electorate is of paramount importance, one outcome of it being the character of the House of Commons. The electors have not yet had a fair chance of showing what they can do in the making of a House of Commons. The question put to them is in such a form that they can hardly give an intelligible reply. The single-member system seems to imply a belief that the elector's liberty of choice must be narrow. We have now arrived at a point when another step is due in the evolution of the people's liberties, when an individual elector should obtain a greater freedom of choice and therefore a more intimate relation to national affairs.[13] Further, the smooth working of democratic institutions requires that no section of the electors should be permanently divorced from the governing body. Such separation begets a feeling of hostility towards the institutions of the country. Thus, Lord Dunraven has referred to Ireland as a country in the government of which some of its best citizens are not allowed to take part. Similarly, many British settlers in the Orange Free State, although resident for several years, never had any representative in the State Assembly. The natural feeling arose that the government of the country was a matter which did not concern them, and they never attended the meetings addressed by the member of the Assembly for the district. It may be true that minorities must suffer, but there is no reason why they should suffer needlessly. Here justice and expediency go hand in hand. It is to the advantage of the country that all should be associated with the representative body which speaks in the name of the whole, whether that body be a town council, a county council, or a House of Commons.
Constitutional reform.
As pointed out in the opening chapter, the question of electoral reform is intimately associated with the constitutional problem which has occupied Parliament since 1906. This problem contains two factors—the relation between the two Houses of Parliament, and the constitution of the House of Lords. The House of Commons claims greater power in legislation on the ground that it is the expression of the national will. This demand has called forth a movement for reforming the House of Lords in order that it may fulfil more adequately its duties as a Second Chamber. The Unionist leaders have proposed that the peers should delegate their powers to a small number and that the House should be strengthened by the introduction of nominated and elected elements. With regard to the suggestion that a certain number of Lords of Parliament should be nominated by the Crown, all evidence points to the fact that such nominations invariably become party in character. No Government can afford to ignore the claims of the party which supports it, or to miss the opportunity of strengthening its position in one of the Houses of Parliament. The Canadian Senate, which is a nominated body, fails to give satisfaction, and there is a strong demand for its reform. At the conclusion of Sir John Macdonald's long lease of power the Senate consisted nearly wholly of Conservatives. Now that the Liberal Government has been in office for a good many years, the Senate is nearly wholly Liberal. Obviously, the introduction of a nominated element will not provide a Second Chamber that will command public confidence.
The elected element might be chosen indirectly by the County Councils or by the House of Commons, or the much bolder course of direct popular election, advocated by Sir Edward Grey, might be adopted. Direct election is distinctly preferable to indirect election by bodies created for other purposes. The experience of the United States, France, Sweden, and all other countries where the Upper House is elected by local legislatures, provincial councils, or municipalities, show that elections to the local authorities are fought on questions of national politics. But whether indirect or direct election is determined upon, it is already clear that the only possible method of election is that of proportional representation. The Royal Commission on Electoral Systems has reported that there is much to be said in favour of the transferable vote as a method of election for a Second Chamber, and this verdict has since been endorsed in numerous articles in the press. Thus a writer in the Quarterly Review says that: "If an elected element is thought to be necessary for the popularity and effectiveness of a reformed Upper House, then let a certain number of members be elected in large constituencies by means of proportional representation."[14] Were the minimum age qualifying for a vote in such elections raised to twenty-five or more there would naturally be provided the conservative tendency to which that House is intended to give expression, and were peers eligible as candidates doubtless such peers as were interested in politics would experience little difficulty in securing election.[15]
The principle of election has been adopted for the Senates of Australia and of South Africa. In the former the majority system with direct election is used; in the latter, a proportional system with indirect election. The difference in the results is most striking. In Australia each of the States is polled as a separate constituency, each elector having three votes. The result of the election of 1910 was as follows:—
AUSTRALIA: SENATE ELECTIONS, 1910
State. Votes Polled. Labour Non-Labour Seats Obtained. Votes. Votes. Labour. Non-Labour. Victoria 648,889 692,474 3 — New South Wales 736,666 735,566 3 — Queensland 244,292 124,048 3 — South Australia 171,858 148,626 3 — Western Australia 128,452 109,565 3 — Tasmania 92,033 75,115 3 — ————- ————- — — 2,021,090 1,997,029[16] 18 —
It will be seen that the Labour Party polled 2,021,090 votes and obtained 18 seats, whilst their opponents, with a poll of no less than 1,997,029 votes, obtained none. So effectively does the majority system in the form of the block vote blot out minorities. The Hon. W. Pember Reeves, in commenting upon these figures,[17] said that: "Such results give rise to revolutions."