Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

THE REPRESENTATION BILL.

The fact that the Representation Bill was allowed to pass its second reading on Friday sub silentio is not to be taken - ar. an indication that its proposals will readily be accepted by the House; but merely as an affirmation of the necessity of legislating upon the question this session. There will, no doubt, be a protracted debate on the motion for committal, which will be the prelude to a very severe ordeal m Committee. For the matter is not by any means so simple as many persons may unthinkingly have supposed. It may look a very easy thing to take the gross population of the Colony as per the last census returns and, after adding thereto the per-centage addition proposed m the case of sparsely settled districts, to divide the gross total by 91 and then to map out as many electorates ; but the moment the mapping-out process is entered upon difficulties begin to be encountered. For m order to get the required quota, existing boundaries must be altogether ignored, and- it will happen m practice that districts must here and there be thrown into an electorate with which they have no community of interest, and perhaps little or no means of communication. Again, under the proposals of the Bill the country electorates are disadvantaged as compared with their present position. Taking the city constituencies and their population, and representation under the existing law, and comparing these with the population and representation of the country constituencies, it will be found that the latter have a larger proportional representation by about 25 per cent, while under the Bill the advantage of the country constituencies m this respect will be reduced to a fraction over 3 per cent. This the country members generally consider a distinctly retrograde step, and issue will be joined with the Government as to the proposal. Unfortunately the Government has elected to make this the crucial question of the whole Bill, and if they get beaten upon it a very awkward state of things must ensue. For it would seem from the Premier's speech that m that event Ministers will appeal to the country, and if so they will go to the electors upon an exceedingly narrow issue instead of upon those broad issues of general policy upon which the elections ought to turn. The Bill is not m any sense of the term a party measure, and it is, theretore, very much to be regretted that this matter of proportional representation as between urban and rural population has not been left as entirely an open question as that of the number of members of which the new House is to consist. Ministers have made a grave mistake m allowing no latitude m this respect, and it is not impossible that it may prove a fatal one, m the sense that it may bring about a premature dissolution necessitating a second session. This would be a result greatly to be deplored, as it would mean an expenditure which the Colony is ill able to afford

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18870503.2.24

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1548, 3 May 1887, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
511

THE REPRESENTATION BILL. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1548, 3 May 1887, Page 3

THE REPRESENTATION BILL. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1548, 3 May 1887, Page 3

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert