False impressions of public opinion, unstable legislation, the weakening
of the House of Commons, both in authority and in personnel, the
degradation of party warfare, the undue exaltation of party machinery,
the heightening of racial differences and of sectional interests, these
are the fruits of that rough and ready system of Parliamentary elections
with which hitherto we have been content. The electoral methods in force
both in County Council and in Municipal elections are based on the same
false principle, and in these spheres of corporate activity results
almost equally disastrous are produced. The London County Council
elections of 1907 presented most of the features which characterized the
Parliamentary elections of 1906. Such catastrophic changes in the
personnel of the County Council as took place in 1907 involves serious
consequences to London ratepayers. In this election two ex-chairmen of
the Council, the vice-chairman and several chairmen of committees, lost
their seats. These were men who had been chosen by their colleagues
because of their special fitness for their positions, and this wholesale
dismissal as a result of a temporary wave of public feeling may make it
more difficult to secure as candidates those who are prepared to devote
the necessary time to the study of London's problems, for it is
generally admitted that the position of a London County Councillor is no
sinecure. The effective discharge of his duties demands unremitting
attention to details. The new Council was remarkable for the number of
members who had yet to win their spurs in public work, and London was
the poorer for the loss of those able administrators whom thousands of
voters desired as their representatives. A true electoral system would
not only secure the adequate representation of all parties, but the
presence in the Council of the most competent exponents of
different policies.