CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.
[To THZ EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In commenting upon Mr. Churchill's pronouncement on Federalism, you state that "the real solution of our present troubles lies in the adoption, first, of proportional representa- tion." May I support your contention by pointing out that the Grand Committees, to which you suggest that measures of limited application should be referred, will not give satis- faction unless the Committee to which a measure is referred is fully representative of that part of the United Kingdom to which it is to apply. For example, the Scottish Grand Com- mittee, to which all Scottish Bills are referred, should consist of none but Scottish members. But our present method of election leaves the Scottish Unionist minority grossly under- represented. The full quota of Unionist representation is made up by the appointment of a number of English Con- servatives who are often not specially interested in the details of Scottish questions.
Further, not only are Scottish Unionists under-represented, but, as was the case after the General Election of 1906, in which both the Scottish Law Officers of Mr. Balfour's admini- stration were defeated, they are sometimes deprived of that expert advice of which they stand in need when examining the Bills referred to the Committee. Proportional repre- sentation is obviously the way by which both defects can be remedied. It would give Scottish Unionists their fair share of representation on the Committee, and it would enable these Unionists to be represented by the best exponents of their case. So important is the question of a true method of election in any scheme of constitutional reconstruction that I shall be glad, if I may be allowed, through your columns, to state that I will willingly send pamphlets explanatory of the proportional system to any reader who cares to apply.—I am, Sir, &e., . JOHN H. HUMPHREYS, Secretary, the Proportional Representation Society. 179 St. Stephen's House, Westminster, S. W.
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