A B C DE FG HI J K L
Prop Memb Electorate Voters Majority
Memb Elect Memb Act Eq PR
Metropolis 60 658,795 57 LLI 29 279,492 223,151
Con 31 379,303 264,281 2 9 5
England—
South-East 48 636,108 55 LLI 5 58,248 209,434
Con 43 577,860 311,888 38 45 11
S. Midland 38 490,592 43 LLI 14 170,762 190,120
Con 24 319,830 219,876 10 13 3
East 29 400,062 35 LLI 16 256,750 164,849 3 9 1
Con 13 143,312 154,529
South-West 40 386,514 34 LLI 14 159,494 164,698
Con 26 227,020 168,992 12 6 0
W. Midland 58 713,761 62 LLI 19 246,842 268,125
Con 39 466,919 316,574 20 20 6
N. Midland 34 446,752 39 LLI 21 298,037 202,351 8 13 3
Con 13 148,715 173,545
North-West 70 928,640 81 LLI 39 524,682 400,508 8 11 1
Con 31 403,958 386,045
Yorkshire 52 701,856 61 LLI 40 570,544 321,622 28 39 9
Con 12 131,312 239,067
North 32 430,594 38 LLI 25 375,574 200,583 18 28 6
Con 7 55,020 142,388
ENGLAND 461 5,793,674 505 LLI 222 2,940,425 2,345,441 7
Con 239 2,853,249 2,377,185 17 5
Wales and
Monmouth 34 425,714 37 LLI 31 388,507 210,525 28 31 9
Con 3 37,207 121,013
Scotland 72 785,391 68 LLI 61 678,395 372,313 50 50 10
Con 11 106,996 277,183
Subtotal 567 7,004,779 610 LLI 314 4,007,327 2,928,279 61 88 14
Con 253 2,997,452 2,775,381
Ireland 103 688,284 60 LLI 84 536,675 350,029 65 34 24
Con 19 151,609 146,982
Total 670 7,693,063 670 LLI 398 4,544,002 3,278,308 126 122 38
Con 272 3,149,061 2,922,363
Majority 126 1,394,941 355,945
APPENDIX VI
PREFERENTIAL VOTING: THE TRANSFER OF SUPERFLUOUS VOTES
(A Memorandum by the Rt. Hon. J. Parker Smith)[1]
(1) The Element of Chance Involved: Its Magnitude
An objection, which occurs to every one who considers schemes of Preferential Voting, is that an element of chance is introduced into the result by the methods for the transfer of the superfluous votes of successful candidates. Supposing one part of the supporters of A, a successful candidate, have put down B as their second choice, and the remainder C, and that a certain number of A's votes are superfluous, and have to be transferred, how is it to be determined what number of AB votes, as they may be called, and what number of AC votes shall be transferred? If the question is settled by chance, as, by drawing the necessary number at random from A's heap, by declaring that voting papers shall be used in the order in which they were handed in at the polling booths, or by laying down any other set of arbitrary rules to determine the order in which they shall be counted, an element of uncertainty is introduced by which there seems to be serious danger that B and C will gain or lose unfairly.
Those who are accustomed to dealing with statistics will be prepared to find this danger less than might have been expected; but even they will be surprised to find of how small importance the arbitrary element is discovered, by actual calculation, to be.