THE REPRESENTATION QUESTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1277, 1 July 1886, Page 3

THE REPRESENTATION QUESTION.

[From ihe Mail ] The Wellington morning journal is, we see, persistently hammering away on the subject of a readjustment of the representation, on the basis of the results ascertained by the recent census. But, notwithstanding all f his clamor, it appears to us that it would be a very ill-advised step on the part of the Government to proceed with any scheme of the sort during the present session, for this matter is not by any means a simple one, but the contrary. It would be impossible to take three members from the South and give them to the North without an entire re-casting of the boundaries of electorates, a work of immense difficulty, if the grouping together of diverse interests is to be, as it must be, avoided ; and that difficulty will be intensified if it be proposed to materially reduce the number of electoral districts, we are free to admit that wc think this could be done to some extent with advantage. Certain it is that the appearance of such a Bill would be the precursor of a perfect holocaust of “ innocents,” as the absorbing interest of a struggle for existence would inevitably put an end to the work of the House. This in itself would be matter for great regret, as, at the present time, there is a prospect of more genuinely useful legislative work being accomplished than in any one session for many years past. We cannot, therefore, believe that Ministers will be so unwise as to attempt to pass a Representation Bill this year. That there is some measure of the kind in preparation, there is however every reason to think, and hints from inspired quarters have already enabled us to form some idea of its proposals. These are, it appears, that the total number of members of the House should be fixed at eighty instead of ninety five as at present, or, deducting the tour Maori at seventy-six instead of ninety-one ; that the city constituencies are to be grouped instead of divided into single consti'uencies as at present ; and that the division of the country into the required ■ is to be made by Bupor. fixed principles, d work out somewhat ding the total popula'ncipal cities would be :rof members to which each was sliownlo be-entilled, and, this h-u-in" been done, the country districts (including m these the smaller towns) would be divided into electorates containing the requisite quota of population to entitle each to a member, a similar process being repeated at each succeeding quinquennial period upon ascertainment of the results of the census. We do not think that this automatic plan can by any possibility give satisfaction, for dividing in this 3 way, hy one hard and fast rule, it must " qf necessity follow that all considera- ’ tions of homogeneity of interests and t sentiment must be ignored. Again, a e quinquennial distribution will not always work in well with a triennial Parliament, a§ it might easily happen that a redistribution would have to be made a few months after a general election, thus necessitating the dissolution of a newly elected Parliament. Nor do we think that Parliament will agree to abnegate its own functions and entrust them to an independent and irresponsible Board, the more especially that, after the experience which has been j gained in connection with the Government Assurance Association, Boards of any sort are not now the most popular of institutions. But, as we have said, it does appear probable that some proposal of the sort will be made, though we do not believe that it will be attempted to pass a Bill this session. What is likely to happen, is, we think, that a draft Bill will be formally read a first time with a view to its being distributed and discussed during the recess, or that the whole matter may be exhaustively considered, and that members may be in a position next year decisively to represent the wishes of the country with regard to this most important question. This, at any rate, would obviously be the wisest course which could be taken, and it is that which we fully expect the Govern- | ment will adopt.