WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 August 1917, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

P tPJ.TAMENTARY REPRESENTATION.

THE TWO ISLANDS.

(Our Special Correspondent)

WELLINGTON, Aug. 1"- i Mr. McCall uni’s proposal that tho } readjustment of parliamentary srepresentatidn made necessary by the census of last year, should* proceed along the lines of leaving tiie South Island ,eloc- ] torates undisturbed and giving the , North Island the additional'members ; to which it is entitled by its increased population, has not yet received much serious public attention. I 1 Members of the,House, howcvci, ai<-, recallin'*- the fact that a similar proposal "was carried out by Mr. Seddon when tin* “drift northward” had materially affected the relative voting strength of the two islands and those hailing from this side of the Straits arc professing to be a little nervous lest Mr. Massey should ho persuaded to follow the example of lus great predecessor. Mr. McCollum himself, who is by no means parochial in lus outlook upon public life, declares he is not sock-1 ing to deprive the North Island of any ad vantage it should enjoy by reason > of its increased population, hut is only anxious to lessen the inconvenience. occasoned to electors. and-their repres- 1 entatives by. constant alterations. I THE POSITION. , I The position may he simply explained. At the census of 1011 the actual population of the North Island 563,720 find the nominal population, the population, that is, after adding the “couii-j trv quota” of 28 per cent, 643,673. The, figures of the Smith Island were 444,477 ( and 509,091 respectively. The adch-, tions to the actual population for electoral purposes on account of th« “country quota” were, therefore, (9,-j 944 in the North Island and .63,614 <>n; -Me South Island, and the “quota” for the constitution of an electorate wns.ln-j 180.

The census of last year has shown the population of the North Island at the time was taken to he 641,9(0, an increase of- 78,241, and the population of the South Island 418,158, an. increase of 3,681. Assuming that the “country quota” will he distributed in about the. same proportion as it was five years ago the nominal population of the North Island now will be roughly 744,090 and of the South Island 513,000, while the “quota” for the constitution of an electorate will he, again roughly, 16,000. THE NEW REPRESENTATION. On the face of these figures it looks as if under the provisions of the existinfg tho electoral law the North Island will be entitled to three additional members and the South Island to three fewer. This change would give the North forty-five European members in place'of forty-two and leave the South with thirty-one in place of thirty-four. If Mr. MoCallum’fi proposal were ac-„ copied, which would meaning leaving tii.; “quota” required for the constituof an electorate at 15,180, the North would have forty-eight members a.. 3 die South thirty-four, an increase jf s : N in the number of members,-while the northern majority, fourteen would remain just- the same under either arrangement.

The obvious objections to the pr»* p o sn! are that it would impose upon the country the additional cost of six liiomhers probably not' less than £SOO per |io'ad per year, and would establish a precedent for the increase of representation after every census. THE DRIFT.

The really serious asnect of the whole from the southern point of view is Lite 'continuation and the acceleration of the drift northward '. The meie question of parliamentary representation will become of less and less consequence at all when a really equitable and effective system of local government is evolved by some future statesman. But Lifts movement of population from the South to the North must mean there is something radically wrong in the settlement''conditions of the rich provinces of Canterbury, Otago and Southland. During the last five years the increase of population in the North oi Auckland district, practically a terra incognita to .the rest of tho Dominion a decade ago has greater than tho increases in the whole of the South Island. Bather than calling outrfor more juggling with the representation question southern members of Parliament should ho finding out what is the matter with their districts.