THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1871, 4 August 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1874.

There is to be no readjustment of the representation of the Colony this session, the "previous question " having been carried on the motion of Mr Yogel, when Mr Sheehan, of Auckland, moved in the matter a few (fays ago. What Mr Sheehan wanted, and which the House refused him by three votes* only, is what is wanted by a large number of districts in the Colony, which have in the matter of representation in proportion to population been for many years ignored. He proposed a motion to the effect that a readjustment of the representation was necessary ; that it should take effect at the next general elections ; and that the Government should, during the recess, take the matter into consideration, with a view to the preparation of a perfectly-matured measure to be submitted to the House next session. The hon. gentleman thought there were quite a sufficient number of members in the House. He did not propose to increase the number of members but considered that a redistribution of seats was absolutely necessary. It was possible that, through such a redistribucion, Auckland might obtain an increase of voting powers, while it was notorious that the South Island was not adequately represented. Hawke's Bay, he also thought ,was. UDder represented, while Taranaki and Wellington were over represented. He also noticed that In the Province of Auckland thure were. 25,000 Natives, who were represented in the House by one member only. Mr Yogel, in reply, remarked 1 that there were other considerations beyond those of population only to be considered. Even on that ground, however,, Auckland might suffer froma redistributiop of representation. For example, when the representation was last ad justed' the population of Aucklandwas 62,000, and now it was not more than #9,000. t n Taranaki the population 1 was 4,Boo,' and? now it was 5500. In Wellington, in 18.7,0 it «ras 25,000, and now it ; wa5 31,455. ' Hawke's Bay then had (3000, and n0w ,9700. Nelson then had a population" of 24,000, but it i n,pw had only 22,000 j while Marlborough Had gro wn from 4700 to 6200, Weatland had increased from 13,600 to 14,900, but Qanterbury had grown enormously, her population in 1870 having been only 40,000, while now it . w^s 61,000. .... In the Bame time Qbwo and Southland had grown

from 70,000 to 88,000. While replying upon the question, the hon. the Premier stated some very interesting statistical facts as to the representation of various portions of the,,Cpjpny, ; and pointed out that .the anoiriiiies in the representation to which Mr Sheehan had referred were not new, and it was impossible in this Colony, with a population flowing in, as it was, to be bound down by any hold-fast rules on such an important subject as the proper representation of the people. . For example, there was the case of the City of Wellington having two members, while the City of Dunedin had only two, and Auckland City three, while Dunedin was certainly the largest City in the Colony. As to whether or not it was desirable to have a re-distribution of the electoral districts before the next Parliament met, members might have opposite opinions. Mr Yogel said that for his own part, looking at the difficulty there was in settling the question before, and to the fact that he did not consider it was a sufficient ground for the House to deprive any part of the Colony of its representatives because it might not have progressed so much as other portions, he saw no object to be gained. With respect to a great fact of the increased population which arose from the number of new arrivals in the Colony, although it was very desirable for the Colony to be at the expense of bringing out immigrants to settle the country, to take advantage of its laws, and to aid in prompting the prosperity of the Colony, he did not think we required to import people for the purpose of governing the country. It was not desirable to give immigrants an immedfate opportunity of taking part in the Government of the country before they became aware of its conditions. The subject was an exceedingly popular one. It was easy for members, to suggest that their district or neighborhood should receive a larger amount of representation, but the only difficulty the Government had in dealing with the matter was that to them attached the responsibility of recommending such a step, and not to private members. As we said before the motion was lost, and there is no likelihood of any readjustment of the representation this session. There was some talk lately of an application for an additional member foe the Grey district, but this can be set at rest for the next year.