TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3175, 1 September 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1881.

Thehe is no doubt a good deal of reason in the opposition that is being offered to the Representation Bill. Ever since the abolition of provincialism ; ever Bince the provinces were compelled to abandon self-reliance, and were forced to seek at Wellington, and obtain by fair or foul means everything that they required to further their progress, the powerful and wealthy portions of the colony have prospered greatly, while tbe poor and unmfluential have been Allowed to languish. Mr Hurat echoed the opinions of many when he referred to the manner in which so many districts have suffered under the public works policy of 1872, in the unequal allocation of funds, by which the rich have been made richer, and the poor poorer, through the golden attractions taking population from the latter and adding it to the forcer. The present Representation Bill has been rendered ntcessary, so its supporters say, for the purpose of readjusting the seats owing to the uneven growth of population. Now, if the public works policy had not been initiated, if tbe colony had been allowed to go on in its ordinary course, and the population had increased in one district more than another, the present bill would have been fair and just. But it is neither just nor fair to bring in such a measure at the present time, when its operation will be to increase and intensify the inequalities it proposes to adjust in representation. The loans have been spent; they have been spent in promoting the prosperity of a few districts at the expense of the many, and this unfair distribution of funds for public purposes has been due to tbe influences of representation. If robbery by might is to be recognised as right, and to whom power has been given in tbe past shall still more be added in the future, then there is little hope for an equal progress of prosperity throughout the colony. There is far greater injustice being done to many districts than those which are wealthy and prosperous care to regard, and that is that they are called upon to contribute an equal share to the revenue whether they have derived any benefit or not from that which has rendered taxation necessary. They must pay property tax though they have neither roads nor railways ; they must pay all the taxes to which others are liable though they have no public schools, nor any other advautages that are accepted as a get-off to grievous burdens. The wealthy districts have dipped their hands freely into the public purse, and they now demand increased representation—increased power—in order to dip still deeper into the public funds by right of the growth of their population resulting from that robbery. The large population of the Southern provinces, for which increased representation is asked, grew at the expense of the colony, and is now actually being maintained at tbe cost of the colony, and it is naturally felt that it is not right that I those large centres of population should now ask for more power to secure further sums of public money. Mr Hurst argued that as soon as the year 1882 passes by, and the colony is again in a position to borrow money in the London market, good and sufficient grounds will be discovered for further borrowing. Then, said Mr Hurst, " if in the past we have Buffered disin the allocation of the loans, how much worse may it be concluded shall we suffer in the future at the hands of those who will then be our rulers 1" Mr Gibbs very well illustrated the manner in which population grows in one district at the expense ot another, and how representation is made to adjust the inequalities that are thereby caused. He said:—•" When the goldfields were opened in my district, unfortunately for us the West Coast goldfields started soon after, and took our population away. Then the West Coast districts had members put into this House to represent them. From there the bulk of the population went to Otago, which, on that account, had additional representation given it." And so it will ever go on ; wherever there is an exceptional attraction to there will a migratory population flow, but it does not stand to reason that representation should follow it. It was owing to this principle being

carried out in tbe past that gave Nelson its over-represeutation, and has produced the trouble over the present attempt at redistribution.