Alike in the British empire and the United States, in contrast to European countries, popular opinion is against the innovation of proportional representation. Queensland and certain western provinces of Canada as also the western States of the U.S.A. have shown a definite preference for the, "referendum." This device, i.e., the reference of bills passed by a representative legislature to a plebiscite of the whole electorate, is, of course, not an extension of the representative principle, as expressed in schemes of "pro portional representation," but a direct contradiction to it, as it implies that the "representative" legislators, even when elected on the principle of "proportional representation," are not suffi ciently "representative" of the will of the people to make their action in the legislature binding on the latter. Yet the fact that the very countries or some of them, such as Germany and Switzerland, which have adopted "proportional representation," have also adopted or retained the "referendum" seems to indicate doubt as to the perfectibility of proportional representation.
BIBLioGRAPinc.—The best discussion of the various methods for securing adequate representation is now to be found in the Report (1910) of the British Royal Commission on Systems of Election (Parliamentary Paper, Cd. 5,163). It is chiefly valuable for its descrip tion of the devices in use in different countries and for its weighty criticism of the proposals for minority representation. Among other authorities may be mentioned the following: J. H. Humphreys, Proportional Representation (191 ; Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Party System (Iwo) ; Beard and Schultz, Documents on the Initiative, Referendum and Recall (1912) ; Gierke, Political Theories of the Middle Age (Maitland's translation, 1900) ; J. H. Humphreys, Practical Aspects of Electoral Reform (1923) ; Sir J. Fischer Williams, The Reform of Political Representation (1918) ; C. C. Hoog and G. H.
Hollett, Proportional Representation (1926). (H. C.; X.)