REPRESENTATION OF THE MINORITY.
IN the Third Report of the South Australian Colonization Commis- sioners, we find an ingenious, and we believe original plan, for securing the representation of' the minority in bodies popularly elected. It is proposed to grant municipal constitutions, for local self-government, to towns in South Australia with two thousand inhabitants and upwards ; such municipalities to consist of a Common Council of at least fifteen members, a body of Aldermen of at least three members, and a Mayor ; the Cotnmon Council to be chosen by rate-payers, the Aldermen by the Council, and the Mayor by the Aldermen. The mode of election is thus described- " When the number of which the Common Council may consist is deter- mined, and the number of electors ascertained, then the electors shall, by volun- tary classification, form themselves into as many equal electoral sections or quorums as there are members to be elected ; and each of these equal quorums shall, provided they can agree upon a unanimous vote, return one member to the Common Council. By this mode of election, parties will bear the same proportion to each other in the Council which they may bear in the elective body : and the minority will be secure of being fairly and fully represented. Whatever might be the number of Common Councilmen to lie chosen, 15 or 20 or 30, a minority consisting of a 15th, 20th, or 30th of the whole electoral body, might form themselves into tm electoral quorum, and return a member of their own party. A minority sufficient to form two of the equal quorums into which the electors might be divisible, would be able to return two members to advocate their principles ; and so on. And we would further recommend, that the Aldermen be elected by the Council in the same manner that the Council is elected by the rate-payers ; that the election of Councillors, Aldermen, and Mayor, shall take place once in three years ; and that the Mayor and Aldermen shall be ex edlicio Magistrates within the municipality."
We learn that instructions have been sent to Governor GAWLER to put this plan into operation at Adelaide. It will then be seen how it works ; and if successfully, it will afford a practical solution of what has hitherto been regarded as a puzzling problem in politics. At the moment, no objection occurs to us, which might not be easily obviated. In communities trained from their youth to the prescribed mode of exercising the franchise, there would be no difficulty ; and when it is seen how the majority of each party follows its leaders in this country, the process of forming the voters into quorums, consisting of several hundreds, as would be the case in large towns, might be effected without touch trouble. It might happen that, after the quorums were formed, a portion of each party, insufficient to make a quorum, would be left, to be " virtually" re- presented by their friends in the other quorums.
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