The House of Commons adopted on Thursday week the principle
of the Alternative Vote, though only by a majority of one. The Alternative Vote applies when there are more than two candidates for one seat, and the successful candidate may poll barely more than a third of the votes cast. It is a Simple device, far less trouble- some than the Second Ballot employed on the Continent. The voter for A has merely to record on the ballot-paper his preference for B or C or D if A should fail to get a clear majority on the total poll. Suppose that he gives his alternative vote to C, who is elected, A's supporter has at any rate the partial satisfaction of having helped to decide the election, and C, for his part, is assured that he commended himself wholly or partly to the majority of his constituents. The Alternative Vote was of course denounced as another form of Proportional Representation. We are glad to see in its adoption, though by the narrowest of majorities, a con- firmation of our belief that the cause of Proportional Represents. tion is by no means lost.
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