ABSTRACT
The councils were the prime movers in the formation of a Labour Party independent of the Liberals. The short-lived United Labour Party, formed in 1912, included proportional representation (PR) using the Single Transferable Vote among its policies in addition to the initiative, referendum and recall. Once Labour was established as one of the two major parties in a two party system, the attractiveness of PR as a means of electoral representation further receded. Party self-interest dictated allegiance to the First-past-the-post system. Throughout much of the post-war period the Labour Party had displayed scant interest in constitutional or electoral reform. Labour’s Electoral Law caucus committee members supported the idea of a referendum from which it would have been too embarrassing to try to escape. Speaking at the Labour Party’s regional conference at Timaru, he said that although he regretted the government’s decision against debating PR, he accepted the decision and would not make waves.
