On Wednesday there was another discussion at Manchester on the
subject of proportional representation after the Com- mittee appointed to examine the test-vote had examined it and reported on the results. Both political parties were represented at the meeting in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester ; and the meeting (which was thinly attended) was addressed by Sir John Lubbock and Mr. Courtney on the one side,and by Mr. Norman Glass and Mr. H. J. Leach on the other side. The plan of the party in favour of proportional representation was approved by a small majority ; but, so far as we can judge, the opponents of the Hare scheme did not take by any means the strongest ground in resisting it. The true objection to it is not that you ought to exaggerate in Parliament the effect of the popular majority,—for there is no sort of evidence that the one- seat system would exaggerate the Parliamentary majority of the successful party,—but that the Hare scheme would probably yield a much less faithful picture of the real convictions of the English people than the plan of the Government. This is what we have tried to show in another column.
