The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-12-12 00:00:00

:;It Stourbribig Oberinr.

_
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12th, 1895.

THE REPRESENrATION OF THE

PEOPLE.

THE General Election of 1885 furnishes sub-

ject for serious reflection to the thoutrhtfril
. po!itifian, and only he 4' hoc e vision is fr,43
from the W9rpins4S and prejudices or partigaii
spkiLh tlie matter Ai ith_ that
which its rty;lneni,.!-,
ivt•r) :1;•12,1.v“I's. We Would premise that
rn.ent ought, to be a true' miiror of the
nation. refloctimr, in the le.,isiative chnt
th. peorle's will. So much would probably
c:Aleetied to-day ou all sides. The new
k form Big. which became law the suf-

`f.yrance consent, aal agreement, f ihe re-
_ • co.:zrtised political parties of the State,
ex:..-mdcd practically to the entire kingdom
to :t voice in the constitation of the House
of Commons. Every householder has now
a vote. So far, good. -But has each voter a
fair share in the representation ? The
Liberals of Kent, especially the Home
English counties generally, and the City of
Liverpool on the one hand, and the
Conservatives of Scotland, Wales, and Birm-
ingham on the other, can give to-day a bitter
• reply to the question. Their emphatic and
plaintive negative is a heavy condemnation of

the redistribution scheme Which accompanied
• the latest Reform Bill ; for, equitably re-
garded, representation under the prevalent
singie-member system, in areas as nearly as
possible numerically or territorially similar,
has nndeniably proved a signal failnre. It
is altogether unsatisfactory to even the
party man, and more so to the politician
whose aim is to secure just and fair repsent-
ation to all. Something will have to be done,
then, in the near future, in the direction of
securing that righteous representation of the
whole enfranchised people which the polling
• just past has shown to be conspicuous by its
absence. Power to the true majority of the
entire body of voters, an adequate hearing
to the minority, and the representation of
each section of the people by its most fit-
ting champions and ablest leaders, are the
objects to be aimed at in the attempt to solve
the riddle of representation. How very far ,
away from its attainment we are now has
been set forth for all to see by the result of
the General Election. We have given, so
to speak, -every responsible man a vote ; but
we have so arran,.ed for its recording that,
after all, the Parliament, in the aggregate,
returtml is a body of men owing their seats
- in many cases to accident, and far from be-
ing fairly representative of the total vote
cast. t-.;ecli ttn absurdity as the fact that the
:•'•1‘1,564) electors who in Kent County declared
for Liberalism have no voice whatever in
Parliament, while the 40,194 who voted the

Conservative ticket secured the whole eight
members, or the anomalies of Scotland and
Wales, in the latter of which, while the vote
showed a proportion of about three to two
in favour of Liberalism, the representation,
roundly, gives Mr. Gladstine ten times the
-ngth of his opponents, are sufficiently
--I the face of them, one would
death-blow to the single-
-9,v should the Liberals
sve no mem-
' `l,e Midland
ted

flagrant
think, to deal s.
member system. le
ef Liverpool City ns.,
leership, or the Conservatives ot
metropolis be absolutely unreprese,...
What rational reason can be advanced for
the exclusion of 10,000 odd Conservative
Cornishmen from the rights of Citizenship?
How is it that Lincolnshire Liberalism,
numerically on the aggregate in the ascend-
gint,-is in a minority in the House ? Roughly,
one in two of the county electors living
round about London have declared then:.
selves to be in sympathy with the progree-
sive party, yet no Liberal member interprets
their voice in the new Parliament. On a
calculation based upon the polling up to a
stage near the completion of the elections,
each Parnelite member will speak for 3,246
voters ; every Liberal for 6,309; and every
Conservative for 7,489; and . yet all these
three classes of members will have equal
standing in the House. In view of these
statistics, it is idle to endeavour to console
the unrepresented Conservatives of Scotch
constituencies, or the memberless Liberals
of Liverpool with talk of the compensations
of the gross results of the polling for, tested
by Eguree, the implied assertion is a more
groundless fallacy. Single-membered con
stituencies are entirely conducive to misre-
presentation. Your Kentish Conservative
=ay jubilantly regard his "victoriouscounty"
with (including che boroughs) nineteen
members, and never a Liberal among them ;
and your Scottish Liberal may proudly point
to it practically solid band of legislators
pledged to follow the lead of Yr. Gladstone;
I)nt their complaisant boasting, even judged
from the low standpoint of party, is empty
and delusive. Each must calmly look to
the total vote and estimate its results. And
how unsatisfactory they are? The sole solu-
tion consonant with the principle of fairness
is that the Liberal electors of Kent should
have a proportionate share of Kentish Liberal
members, and vice versa as regards the
Scotch Tories ; and so on through all the
constituencies. No leaving of such an issue
as the balance of party representation to the
accident of differently determined areas, de-
pending upon all mannner of varying cir-
cumstances, can ever meet with national ap-
probation. A systematic grappling of the
difEculty must be seriously essayed by Par-
hament itself. Strictly fair and scientific
principles must be proceeded upon, nothing
less. One need not multiply instances of
representative inequalities in actual exist-
ence, for they are as plentiful as blackberries
ia.September ; but we may suppose a case,
as a type, to show the worthlessness of small
slivisione into single member districts, in
iltustration of the possible ridiculous rend.
venation of representation. A seven mem-
ber city may have a proportion of 80e1ectors
of one political persuasion to 70 of another.
Split it up into seven divisions, in the first
if which the stronger party has a propor-
of 26 voters end in all of the remainder a
proportion of nine ; while
.the weaker party
14.1 its strength equally divided over every
district. What is the result ? Why the
party in the minority, really entitled to less
tha;t half the representation, actually secures
-six out of the seven seats ! The truth is
that the single member system has nothing
at ell in it 4 fly ou r. Where parties
.are
pretty evenly divided, an independent section,
nnitnr, xtant really ti 6 to be out of con-
"i4ifiracion, may. by th-owing in its lot with
tltti 13ighest: bidder, turn the scale in its
fseenr. Thus the manipulation of the Irish
Tote may at L,/,-
./ time determine many an
English borough election at the will of the
leaders of the Irish party. Who will say it
has nct done so in the struggle just Fast
The single.seat system also has the effect of
limiting the freedom of the electors to the
supporting of official candidates of the recog-
nised parties, for suffrages given to any
other are necessarily thrown away. Thus
many abstentions are accounted for. No sup-
plementary candidate can be "run" without
endangering the interests of the great party
to wheat his views are most nearly allied.
Thus minorities are crashed out,. or forced
into obstruction and political immorality.
Representation must be lifted from this re-
ach by some well-considered and equit-
.heme. Scrutia de listt3 will not supply
14 eon 04 be Sound iP *8 WO-

161''
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