Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1880. THE REPRESENTATION BILL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 101, 13 August 1880, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1880. THE REPRESENTATION BILL.

"We Lave received from the Government Printer a copy of the Representation Bill which has been read a first time in P.aiiiament. Briefly, the principle of the Bill is that of small districts with one member to each, the one exception made being in favor of Wanganui, which is to have two representatives. The House of Representatives is to consist of 90 European members, and the Colony is to be divided into 89 electoral districts. Section 6 provides that within a month after the Act comes into operation, the Registrars for the various electoral districts are to form new electoral rolls, upon the basis of those now in existence. No names are to be placed on the electoral rolls of the Colony after- the Act comes into operation until a general election has taken place, and section 9 says " Writs for the election of members of the House of Representatives in the ensuing Parliament shall be issued for all the electoral districts constituted under this Act, as soon as conveniently may be after the fact ot the formation of new rolls has been pubh'shed as hereinbefore provided." Of the 89 electoral districts, 10 remain unaltered, the boundaries being the same as hitherto. The whole «f the rest are altered districts. Subjoined are the boundaries of the Manaw,atu, Rangitikei, and Wellington Country Electoral Districts : — Raxgitikei, One Memdee. This district is bounded towards the Worth by the East Coast Electoral District ; towards the East and Soutb, and again towards the East and North, by the Hawke's Bay Electoral District to the Ran gitikei River, where it is orossod by a line drawn between Trig. Stations Nos. 30 and 32 ; towards tho South-east by the Rangitikei River ; towards the South-west by the sea ; and towards the North-west by the Wanganui Electoral District. Manawatu, One Member. This district is bounded towards the North-east by the Hawke's Bay Eleccoral District ; towards the East by the Waipawa Electoral District to the Manawatu Gorge, thence by the summit of the Tararua Range to a point due east of the souroe of the Ohau River ; thence towards the South by a line due west to the source of the said river, and thence by said river to the sea ; thence towards the West by the sea ; and towards the North-west by the Rangitikei Electoral District to the Hawke's Bay Electoral District. Wellington Country, One Member. This district is bounded towards the North by the Manawatu Electoral Distriot ; towards the TSast by the summit of the Tararua Range, and by right Jines from peak to peak along the summit of the watershed between Porirua Harbour and Port Nicholson to the source of the Korokoro Stream; thence by that stream to Port Nioholson, and thence by Port Nicholson to the sea ; towards the South and West by the sea to the mouth of the Ohau

.River; together with the Inlands of \lanaaud Kapiti, and excluding the City of Wellington. From the quotations given it v.ill be seen that Manawatu is t^ have only one member, and that r.!I the district south of the Ohan River is to be taken from Manawatu aud handed over to the Wellington Country District. It is hardly necessary to say that by this arrangement Otaki, Waikanae, and Paikakariki will be lost to Manawatu. After looking carefully into the matter, we cannot see anything but the most complete bungling in the proposed readjustment. Neither population, progress, nor position appear to have entered into the calculations of the Government as recognised bases upon which to readjust the representation. For instance, the three Taranaki constituencies ai*e unaltered, except that Gtey and Bell is altered in name to Waitara. Now for their population : Electors on Population. May 31, 1880. New Plymouth 2,680 427 Waitara 3.508 777 Egmont 2.962 895 9,450 2,099

Against the above we may pit Manawatu, which, with a population of between 7,000 and 8,000 (it was nearly 6,000 over two years ago) has at present nearly 2,250 electors. Yet Tarauaki is to receive three members, while Manawatu gets one ! Upon what basis has this been arrived at ? The large number of electors in Manawatu is a significant fact. In the town of New Plymouth over onehalf of the population are females, but in Manawatu there are three males to every two females. This proves that this district is more progressive, and must contribute more to the revenue of the country than such a district as New Plymouth, where the gentler sex preponderate. It will be seen, therefore, that to compare the Town of New Plymouth with Manawatu — the former has about onethird the population of this County, and one-fifth the number of electors. Yet the Representation Bill gives to New Plymouth equal representation with Mauawatu. Another unaltered district is Lytteltou, which possesses a population of 3,400, and an electorate of 475. That returns one member, while Totam, with a population 2,622 and an electorate of 472, has an equal privilege. We might proceed to pile up proofs of the unfairness of theproposedreadjustment, but they are unnecessary. Considering that the. census will be taken early in next year, we think it would be in every way fairer if the Representation Bill were postponed until next session, when the results of that census will be known. We do not expect, however, the Bill will pass this session. " Honorable members " are not particularly anxious to bo put to the trouble and expense of another election contest during the next few months, and the Hon. Mr Hall spoke in a very half-hearted way of the Bill a few days ago, as will be seen by the extract from, the proceedings in Parliament in another column under the heading of " The Slaughter of the Innocents." If the Bill is pushed through we trust Mr Johnston, our member, Avill use his whole influence to obtain justice to Manawatu, either by securing the division of the district into North and South, and one member for each, or, what would be still better, by obtaining two members for the district as it now exists. If in this matter Mr Johnston makes no stir, and does nothing to secure the just right of the constituency which has returned him, he will find that those who supported him most strongly at last election will be amongst the first to sign a requisition calling upon him to resign.