WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 January 1917, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

Census fcevdlaUons. The Drift Northward. (Oar Special Correspondent.)

Wellington, J m 15 The figures given in thin mlatnn on the eve of ths coc*Qß anticina'iDg the disclosure of a very tx?eti:stve “ drift northward ” were so widely quoted at the time that few newspaper readers can have bean greatly surprised by the official returns published on Saturday.

The,’3 show that the increase of population in ths North Island dorfrg the the and a half years between April 19LI and October 1916, exclusive of taea in the military samps, was 78,824, and in the South island 3,829. The increases daring the fire years between April 1906 and April 1911 were 87,057 in the North and 32,832 in the Sontb, bat it has to be remembered that daring the two ye rs preceding the last census very large drafts were made upon the male population for military purposes. In addition to the men already sent away there were in October last 8,678 men in camp not inoladed in the above figures, so that the normal increase between the quinquennial stocktakings since 1901, about 14 per cent, seems to haye been wtll maintained. irFECT OH PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION When it was annonooed on Saturday that the population of the North Inland, as shown by the census, had increased by 78,824 and the population of the con to Island by only 3 329 ihtro /.ere many speculations as to the effect the “drift northward” would have upon tbs Parliamentary representation of tha two islands. The general opinion appeared to be that the North wonld gain at least four seats m the House and that the representation ot,the South would be reduced to thirty members or a minority of sixteen in the elected chamber. But the position is not quite so bad as this from the southern point of view-

It is expected that by adding the “country quota.” wbiob is believed to be about equally distributed between the two inland’ to the actual population of 1,090,617 a nominal population tP 1,2 I3 ; 30 l w 1 ■;* i re’mb --"! and tbut this wi-'i nive aa “sector,*! quota” of about 16,360, which would work out at forty-four members for the North Island and thirty-two tic South. THE CONSTITUENCIES. When the figures very closely estimating the extent of the drift northward ware published it was predicted that Olntha and Motneka wonld be the two constituencies to be extinguished. Tnie, of course, was a pure speculation, resting on such data as could be obtained from the figures of the last general election, but nothing baa transpired since to m.- ko it less probable than it appeared to ba then, lo <he North assuming that the number of names oa the electoral roil represented 56 per cent of the people residing in the elec orate, practically every coustitneucy showed an increase of papulation. The exceptions were one or two constituencies in the Taranaki emd Wellington rural districts, the total decrease reaching no more than 3,916. In the South Island, however, there were large decrease?, the most notable being oa the West Coast, in North Canterbury, in the Otago rural districts and in Southland, the total amounting to 11,023. Taking the figures as a whole and having regard to the method 3 the ‘Representation Commissioners bad followed —en previous occasions it seemed likely that Ciutbe, where there was apparently a large decline in the population, would be pushed out by the declines in the adjoining districts and that Motneka, suffering in the same way 1 way, would experience the same fate. WHAT IT ALL MEANS. At tire census of 1891 when the population of the North Island was

281,745 and of the South Island 344.913, the North had thirty members in the Hou.-e and the South forty. It was not till fourteen years later that the method of representation was definitely placed upon a population basis aud since then the North bad gradually crept ahead. The explanation, is of course, that its development had been largely retarded first by the Maori wars and then by the difficulties ot communication aud that when its wide expanse of good country at last became acce--sible it attracted not only people from over sobs, but also many people from the oldsr settled districts in the Sooth,

It does not moan that the South is less fertile or leaa agreeable as a place of residence—on these points there always will be differences of opinion —but it means that daring the last tea or fifteen years the North has presented wide opportunities to the investor and the homs seeker and that the barrier of parochialism and prejudice that onoo separated the islands has been demolished.