22 FEBRUARY 1946, Page 4

John Humphreys was one of the most effective propagandists of

his day. He was advocate for a cause—proportional repre- sentation—which had other able supporters, some weighty and

distinguished in public life, but essentially he was the spokes- man and recognised authority on a method of electoral reform which has made more headway in other countries than in this. If any- one wanted to know anything about P.R.—and there is a good deal to know, for all that its supporters describe it as so simple—it was inevitably to Humphreys that they went. His zeal, and the in- genuity he displayed in finding pegs to hang the public advocacy of his pet project on, deserved a success which, whether it ever materialises or not, he has not lived to see. jANUS.