Sta,—By ironic coincidence, several letters on Liberalism appeared in your
issue of September 12th, the very day when the result of the Edge Hill by-election was published in the daily newspapers. The Liberal poll of less than 5 per cent, of the votes cast indicates dearly the public estimation of Liberalism at the present time.
Arguing from the 21 million votes obtained in the 1945 General Election, Mr. Bell has reiterated the Liberal demand for a system of proportional representation. His claim that "the influence of Liberal thought in politics would be considerable were the Liberal Party fairly represented in Parliament" is true if fair representation is taken to mean proportional representation. The election statistics illustrate this point very clearly; for the total Socialist vote, i.e., Labour, Common Wealth, Communist and I.L.P., amounted to 49 per cent, of the total. The combined total of the opposition group of Conservatives, Liberal NrAionals, Ulster Unionists and Nationals was 40 per cent. Liberals polled 9 per cent. and Independents 2 per cent. Consequently, on any controversial political issue, the Liberal Party and Independents would hold the balance of power under a system of proportional representation. Such power placed in the hands of a small minority would be a menace to responsible govern- ment and hence to democracy. Therefore it must be deemed fortunate that there is no possibility of the return of a Liberal Government in the forseeable future.—! am, Sir, yours faithfully, DAVID J. M. ROWE. 42 Hill Barton Road, Exeter, Devon.
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