THE TRADE-UNION CONGRESS AND ELECTORAL REFORM.
[To TAX EDITOR OF TUN " SPECTATOR...1 SIR,—May I, before the echoes of the Trade-Union Congress have died away, direct the attention of your readers to the important modification made in the electoral reform resolu-
tion submitted to the Congress by its Parliamentary Com- mittee P This resolution as originally framed contained the following paragraph :—
"The provision for a second ballot where, at the first election, the candidate highest on the list has not secured a majority of the votes polled."
This paragraph was, however, eliminated, and the following addition unanimously substituted
"In view of the complete failure of the second ballots in Austria and Germany to secure the just representation of political forces, in view of their universal condemnation in France, and in view of their abandonment in Belgium, this Congress calls upon the Government to institute an inquiry into methods of proportional representation, preference, or second ballots, so that the most effective means of securing the true representation of the electors may be embodied in the new Reform Bill."
The modification indicates a noteworthy change in the view taken of the second ballot ; and if, as Mr. Asquith has promised, the Government intend to submit " a really effective scheme for the reform of our electoral system," it is most desirable that the inquiry asked for by the Congress should be instituted without delay.—I am, Sir, &c.,
JOHN H. HUMPHREYS, Hon. Sec., The ProportiOnal Representation Society.
107 Algernon Road, Lewisham, S.E.
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