ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1214, 24 August 1911, Page 4

ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES.

COMMUNITY OF INTEREST.'

The much-discussed report of tho Ueprosentation Commissioners was mentioned' once again in Parliament yesterday, when! Sir W. J. Steward asked whether the Government would introduce n Bill to extend tho margin of difference as to the population quota, so as to ennblo the commissioners to amend their proposals and adjust the boundaries so us to preserve, as' far as possible, community of interest. Tho official reply was a brief statement that it was not proposed to introduce any legislation this year. Sir W. Steward explained that he did not desire to interfere in any way with tho discretion of tlio commissioners. What lie wanted, was that they should be given greater discretionary powers. If they wore asked to preserve community of interest in fixing tho boundaries, the com* mis«ioncr» would reply that they could not do it because tha Act required that they should placo tho same amount of population in each electorate save for a margin of 550. . That margin was not largo enough. If the House passed a Bill, before tho commissioners met next month, increasing the margin to 1500, Iho commissioners would be enabled to deal intelligently with tho. matter, and most of tho objections lodged would ba satisfactorily disposed of. Tho Hon. T. Mackenzie: A\ hat about "sir'W. Stetvaid staled that in his own electorate 10G0 people, actual residents in. the town of Wniniak-, had been thrown into Geraldino and would havei no voice in elecHog n : member for the district or. which Waimate formed a part. Even the Mayor of Waimatc, who resided m the centra of the town, found himself thrown, (for electoral purposes) into Gcraldmc. The Hon T. Mackenzie afterwards referred briefly" to. the matter in a more or less jocular vein. Even had the quota b >en laiW, )>° < louMprl ,vl J ethcr ? Qy "T 9 inlcllßonce would have been shown br he commissioners. He failed to see thnt thev had shown any mtolhgnica at all in Din? with the district ho had the henour to represent. It conld have been jnst a" well shattered by an enormous dynamite charge as by these commissioners.