508 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINTONS [PART 111 
Act No. 18 of 1910 in the case of New South Wales.! Under 
it also a candidate would require to receive an absolute 
majority of votes; if no such absolute majority were re- 
corded a second ballot was taken between the candidate who 
had received the highest number and the candidate who had 
received the next highest number ; in most districts the 
second ballot was taken on the seventh day after the close 
of the first poll ; in others not less than fourteen and more 
than twenty-one days after the close of the poll. No candi- 
date could withdraw from the second ballot, The Act was 
put in force at the general election of 1910, but only in three 
cases was a second ballot necessary, and in those it appeared 
satisfactorily to perform its purpose of preventing split votes 
defeating the purposes of the majority of the electors. 
In the case of Tasmania 2 there is in force a most elaborate 
scheme for proportional voting. This scheme, which was put 
in force in its full form at the last general election in 1909, 
has been considered locally to be quite satisfactory, as it 
secures the more accurate representation of the parties in 
the state. On the other hand, it must be admitted that 
Tasmania presents—whether as a result of the principle, or 
not—the spectacle of constant instability of government, 
but that would almost be inevitable in any case, because of 
the fact that the Lower House is so small, consisting only 
of thirty members, that it is impossible to have an effective 
party system. It formerly tried the system in 1896, but 
abandoned it again in 1901, 
In the case of Queensland the principle of the contingent 
vote is in operation. The following provisions are laid down 
with regard to it in ss. 20-6 of the Act of 1892. No. 7.3 
* Tt was adopted despite protests from the Labour party to avoid the 
weakening of the governmental party by solit votes: see Parliamentary 
Debates, 1910, pp. 1790, 1875. 
? Seo the Electoral Act, 1907; Parl. Pap. Cd. 5168, pp. 54-63; Dr. 
MeCall in Cd. 5352, pp. 188-91; cf. Commonwealth Parl. Pap., 1901-2, 
No. 46; Reeves, State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand, i. 
180-91 ; Western Australia Parliamentary Debates, 1910-1, p- 2477. Its 
based on the Hare system modified by Mr. Justice Clark’s advice, 
* Consolidated in 1905 ; see Parl, Pap., Cd. 3919, pp. 202, 203. In 1910