Part 7 (1/2)

In the debates of the Federal Convention I was naturally retted s against, and years of la, theas a matter of course the crude and haphazardso dear to the heart of the ”uer

I believe Mr Glynn alone raised his voice in favour of proportional representation, in the Convention, as he has done consistently in every representative asse to it that the foundations of the Commonwealth were ”broad based upon the people's will” by the adoption of effective voting, and thusthe necessary connection between the representative and the represented, these thinkers for the people at the very outset of federation sowed the seeds of future discontent and Federal apathy

Faced with disfranchise as the present syste remains--it is unreasonable to expect from the people as a whole that interest in the national well-being which alone can lead to the safety of a progressive nation

Proportional representation was for long talked of as a device for representing minorities It is only in recent years that the real scope of the refornised By no other le transferable vote can the rule of the majority obtain

The fundamental principle of proportional representation is that majorities must rule, but that ent ht and influence Its voice can be heard It can fully and truly express the views of the voters it represents It can watch the hts of the minority are denied by the use of the multiple vote It has also been asked--Can a Governanized Ministerial party and the recognised Opposition--there er number of independent members than at present who may vote either way?

It is quite possible for a Governerous in Australia, where there are so overnment undertaken and ad on a islature

To maintain this ascendancy concessions are made to the personal interests of members or to local or class interests of their constituencies at the cost of the whole country

When introducing proportional representation into the Belgian Chamber the Prime Minister (M Bernhaert) spoke well and forcibly on the subject of a strong Govern to you to-day in the naest ium, owe it to truth to say that our opinions have not a corresponding preponderance in the country; and I believe that, if that ain in stability e th Gentles the Governs to some two or three thousand electors, who assuredly are neither the best nor the ent, who turn the scale at each of our scrutin de liste elections I see to the right and to the left two large armies--Catholics and Liberals--of force al would tempt to desert their standard, who serve it with devotion and froreat armies do not count, or scarcely count On the day of battle it is as if they do not exist What counts, what decides, what triu body too often swayed by their passions, by their prejudices; or, worse still, by their interests These are our ht to left, or froes, and its history takes a new direction Gentlemen, is it well that it should be so? Is it well that this country should be at the mercy of such conteed to see a Prehts of patriotisht It is the party Government that is essentially the weak Governe or offend any one who commands votes It is said that every pro perpetually tempted and tormented by his friends not to be honest, and perpetually assailed by his enemies in order to be made to appear to be dishonest The Opposition is prepared to trip up the Ministry at every step It exaggerates mistakes, misrepresents ood, if these are brought forward by its opponents It bullies in public and undermines in secret It is always ready to step into the shoes of the Ministry, to undergo sith which is supposed to be iislature In the present state of the world, especially in the Australian States, where the functions of govern, it is of the first importance that the administration should be watched from all sides, and not merely from the point of view of those ish to sit on the Treasury benches The right function of the Opposition is to see that the Government does the work of the country well The actual practice of the Opposition is to try to prevent it froovernent, and economical, it needs helpful criticism rather than unqualified opposition; and this criticism may be expected froislative body which truly represents all the people Party discipline, which is alle for ascendancy or defeat, is the ency in the world It is rather by liberating all votes and allowing theovernment of the people by the people can be secured When I look back on the intention of the framers of the Comhts House I am amazed at the remoteness of the intention from the achievement The Senate is as , perhaps, describes the position better than the epigrammatic if soo ”The Senate was supposed to be a place where the radical legislation of the Lower Chamber could be cooled off, but they had found that the saucer was hotter than the cup”

The long illness and death of ave toitself Just as 40 years earlier Mrs Hood and her brothers had been left inuardianshi+p of her three orphan children Verging as they were on the threshold of manhood and womanhood, they scarcely needed the care and attention due to smaller children, but I realized I think to the full, what so many parents have realized--that the responsibilities for the training of children of an older growth are greater and more burdensos were gathered in frolobe to which they had been scattered on an a family life in Kent Town Soon after we had settled, the e of the Hon D M Charleston in favour of the adoption of proportional representation for Federal elections was carried to a successful issue in the Legislative Council The Hon A A Kirkpatrick suggested the advisableness of preparing a Bill at this stage Aa principle, he said, was not likely to carry the cause much further, as it left the question of the application of the principle too ht, should have so definite to put before candidates, so that a definite answer could be obtained froan, a well-known solicitor, had also introduced into the House of Representatives during 1898 a Bill for the adoption of effective voting Unfortunately le electorates, and when a change waswhich has for long been discredited on the Continent In France, it was stated in the debates on electoral reform in 1909, for 20 years, under second ballots, only once had a majority outside been represented by a e representation for the two decades had a to e Fowlds (Minister of Education), who has long supported effective voting, said, ”The only result of the second ballot systethen the movement in favour of proportional representation” And Mr Paul, a Labourevery effort to have effective voting included in the platforeium adopted the principle of proportional representation in 1898

The closing year of the century found the Effective Voting League in the thick of its first election ca a political refor to note how many candidates ca at Parliament House for members just about that time An opponent of the refor our in punctually under the present system,” he remarked ”Yes,” some one replied, ”but ays finish so badly” ”Oh, I always finish well enough,” was the pert rejoinder; ”I generally co of the electors” But the doubter did not come out on top at a subsequent election, and his defeat was probably thedefects in the old system that no nu From the two or three members who had supported Mr Glynn in the previous Parlia the ca the electors, and their approval of the reform was reflected in thethat year the series of citizens' s convened by the Mayors of the city and suburbs, which has been so successful a feature of our long can for electoral justice, and at the present time very few of the mayoral chairs are occupied by

The Hon Theodore Bruce's connection with the refor in the Adelaide Town Hall during the temporary absence of the Mayor A consistent supporter of effective voting from that time, it was only natural that when in May, 1909, the candidature of Mr Bruce (as then and is now a Vice-President of the league) for a seat in the Legislative Council, gave us an opportunity for working for his return, against a candidate who had stated that he was not satisfied with the working of the syste, we availed ourselves of it So much has been written and said about the attitude of the league with regard to Parliaht to take this opportunity of stating our reasons for that attitude Fronise parties in a contest at all Its sole concern has been, and must be to support effective voters, to whatever party theyTo secure the just representation of the whole electorate of whatever size, is the work of the Effective Voting League, and, whatever the individual opinions of the members may be, as an official body they cannot help any candidate who opposes the refor at a political eneral election a lady whostonian But the party had failed to find a position for her son in the Civil Service, although their own sons were in that way satisfactorily provided for So she had thrown in her lot with the other side, which at the tiain a few seats, and the lady was quite sure that her influence had won the day for her for forward to whisper as if her next re near, she said, ”Do you know, I don't believe the Preht most people held the same belief To my amusement and astonishment she then asked quite seriously, ”Do you think that is why he stoops soback bone had reference to the physical and not to the entleman in question

CHAPTER XXII

A VISIT TO NEW SOUTH WALES

Early in the year 1900 the Hon B R Wise, then Attorney-General of New South Wales, suggested a ca in thethe people, so that effective voting ht be applied for the first Federal elections Mrs

Young and I left Adelaide on May 10 of that year to inaugurate thethe few hours spent in Melbourne Professor Nanson, the Victorian leader of the reform, with another earnest worker (Mr Bowditch), called on us, and we had a pleasant talk over the proposed cae had already been felt, when, at the convention election, the 10 successful candidates were nominees of that paper, and at that time it was a sturdy opponent of proportional representation The Argus, on the other hand, had done yeoman service in the advocacy of the reform from the time that Tasmania had so successfully experih to Sydney, ere able only to suggest arrangen on our return Our Sydney visit lasted eight weeks, during which tis Our welcome to the harbour city was , held in the Protestant Hall, on the Wednesday after our arrival, with the Attorney-General in the chair, was packed

The greatest interest was shown in the counting of the 387 votes taken at theMiss Rose Scott, however, had paved the way for the successful publicby a reception at her house on the previous Monday, at which we met Mr Wise, Sir William McMillan, Mr (afterwards Sr Walker), Mr (now Sir A J) Gould, Mr Bruce Smith, Mr W Holman, and several other prominent citizens The reforentlemen Sir Williaue, which was for the first week of our visit we dined with Dr and Mrs Garran, ith their son (Mr Robert Garran, CMG, afterwards the collaborateur of Sir John Quick in the compilation of the ”Annotated Constitution of the Australian Co the host of well-known people who cae Reid, e had an interesting talk over the much-discussed ”Yes-No” Policy We had both opposed the Bill on its first appeal to the people, and seized the occasion to thank Mr Reid for his share in delaying the measure ”You think the Bill as amended an i, ”but as I didn't think the iainst it both times” But I had not done so, and my vote on the second occasion was in favour of the Bill

But, as Mr Reid admitted, the dislike of h, for it was only to be expected that ”refore, unwieldy mass” to be moved before they could be won And experience has proved the correctness of the view expressed Anything in the nature of a real refor ti about I am convinced that had not South Australia already adopted the principle of the all-round land tax, the progressive forested or heard of from either party Politicians are so apt to take the line of least resistance, and when thousands of votes of sh the advocacy of an exemption, exe, it seeh, as a matter of expediency, sometimes from conviction,felt that taxation should not be i to benefits received fro too es, but experience teaches us that, as with hu is responsible to a great extent for right or wrong developest hopes for the future of Australia, but the people ilance, as in the past, must still in the future be the price we must pay for our liberty Later, Mr Reid presided at our Parlia, and afterwards entertained us at afternoon tea But one of our pleasantest reat freetrader and Mrs Reid at their Strathfield holad when the opportunity arose on the occasion of a no-confidence debate But he was by no means at his best, and it was not until I heard him in his famous freetrade speech on his first visit to Adelaide that I realized how great an orator he was At the close of the no-confidence debate the triumphant remark of an admirer that ”Adelaide couldn't produce a speaker like that” showed me that a prophet sometimes hath honour, even in his own country

Mr Wise was a brilliant speaker, and a htful talker Of Mrs Parkes, then President of the Woue, I saw much She was a fine speaker, and a very clear-headed thinker Her organizing faculty was reo was a distinct loss to her party Her ho example of the fallacy of the old idea that a wolect her family Mrs Barbara Baynton was a woman of a quite different type, clever and emotional, as one would expect the author of the brilliant but tragic ”Bush Studies”

to be She was strongly opposed to Federation, as, indeed were large numbers of clever people in New South Wales Frank Fox (afterwards connected with The Lone Hand), Bertrae Backhouse (as probably the only Socialist Judge on the Australian Bench), were frequent visitors at Miss Scott's, and were all interesting people An afternoon ed at the Sydney University, I think, by Dr

Anderson Stuart We were char the visitors that afternoon was Mrs David, a char an expedition to Funafuti, is delightful We afterwards dined with her and Professor David, and spent a pleasant hour with thelectful of other reforn, and found time to interest myself in the State children's hich my friend, Mrs Garran, was so intimately connected We went to Liverpool one day to visit the benevolent institution for e building reminiscent of the early convict days If not the whole, parts of it had been built by the convicts, and the ested to our minds the horrors of convict settlement I have always resented the injury done to this new country by the foundation of penal settleh which Botany Bay lost its natural connotation as a habitat for wonderful flora, and became known only as a place where convicts were sent for three-quarters of a century Barrington's couplet, written as a prologue at the opening of the Playhouse, Sydney, in 1796, to a play given by convicts--

True patriots we, for be it understood We left our country for our country's good--

was clever, but untrue All experience proves that while it is a terrible injury to a new country to be settled by convicts, it is a real injury also to the people froht all their failures, and neither try to lessen their numbers nor to reclaim them to orderly civil life It was not till Australia refused any longer to receive convicts, as Virginia had previously done, that serious efforts were land, or to use refor and afterwards with older offenders Another pleasant trip was one we took to Parramatta The Government launch was courteously placed at our disposal to visit the Parramatta Home for Women, where also we found some comfortable homes for old couples The separation of old people ould prefer to spend the last years of their life together is I consider, an outrage on society One of my chief desires has been to establish such homes for destitute couples in South Australia, and to every woman who may be appointed as a member of the Destitute Board in future I appeal to do her utard to old couples, so that to the curse of poverty may not be added the cruelty of enforced separation Wo for the franchise at that ti s they had in Sydney! People there seereater interest in politics than here, and crowded attendances were frequent at political s, even when there was no election to stir the Limerick in my honour:--

There was a Grand Dame of Australia Who proved the block systeht creatures in coats What to do with their votes, This Effective Grand Dame of Australia!