Conclusion.

To a very large proportion of the electors of the Colony the proposal to substitute personal for local representation will come as a new thing. Though the agitation for the substitution in England has now been persisted in for some years by some of page 31 the ablest public men there, and the public mind is beginning to be formed upon the subject, and though the system itself has been in practical operation in a European State for nearly a quarter of a century, here the idea has not as yet been laid hold of or explained in a popular form. The object of this pamphlet is to assist in laying the foundation of popular acquaintance with the merits of the proposal, in the hope that, ere long, such a demand for reform in the direction here indicated will force the acceptance of the principle involved upon Parliament. The intention is, as has been well stated by Sir John Lubbock, "to secure for voters, not merely the right of recording a vote, but of doing so in such a manner as may give to it all just and reasonable effect. To get Parliament to give effect to a great principle, and thus (through it) secure for the first time a really representative assembly. The system of proportionate representation is to be recommended, because it would give its just political weight to the vote of every elector; it would insure the return of leading and trusted statesmen, as well as of those who are most favourably known in their own districts; it would elevate and purify the whole tone of electoral contests; it would obtain for the minority a fair hearing; and last, not least, because it is the only mode of securing for the majority that preponderance to which, of course, they are justly entitled."

Every Community in the Colony Should at once Initiate a Proportional Representation Society, for the Advocacy of the Principle of Personal Representation.