hypothesis that if each voter could have given one vote to each of three
candidates, each of the parties would have nominated three candidates,
and that as the electors would for the most part have voted on party
lines, the larger body would have secured all three seats. In Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorsetshire, Hertfordshire,
Oxfordshire, Liverpool and London, the Liberal minorities each obtained
a representative, whilst the Conservative minorities in Herefordshire,
Leeds, and Manchester also obtained representatives. There were only two
constituencies--Birmingham and Glasgow--where the minority failed to
obtain representation, and this was due to the fact that the minorities
in these particular constituencies were comparatively small.

A consideration in detail of the election in Birmingham in 1880 will
show why the minority sometimes failed to obtain representation, and
will, at the same time, direct attention to the defects of the system.
The figures of this election were as follows:--

H. Muntz (Liberal) 22,969
John Bright (Liberal) 20,079
Joseph Chamberlain (Liberal) 19,544

62,592

Major F. Burnaby (Con.) 15,735
Hon. A. C. G. Calthorpe (Con.) 14,208

29,943

It will be seen that the Liberals obtained 62,592 votes and the
Conservatives 29,943 votes, and that the latter therefore numbered