The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 455, 3 September 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1879.

Side by side, in importance, with the Triennial Bill, stands the Redistribution of Seats Bill. It is as necessary to the fostering of popular institutions to determine justly and wisely where members of Parliament shall be elected, as to determine when they shall be elected. We deem it advisable to treat of the matter while the election is pending, in order to bring it fairly before this end of the Egraont District, and the nearer end of the Wanganui District, and if possible to lead the electors to some expression of opinion before the, members elect go to Wellington. We approach this subject with diffidence, and at the same time with some prepossession. Our diffidence arises from the fact that the question under consideration is one that has tried, and will try, the skill ot the most experienced and far sighted politicians in the colony, and indeed in the world. Our prepossession is, that the long stretch of country between New Plymouth and Wanganui should have a member, who should not be politically connected with either of those towns. We would hardly go so far as to advocate the giving of a member to the Patea County ; we would set aside all imaginary boundaries, and endeavor to form an electoral district with some bond of common interest. The interest of large towns always differs from the interest of a rural population, and the effect of splitting this fine country (lying between the two towns already named) in two, and tacking half to one, and half to the other, is a gentle way of depriving both halves of political power. The country lying between Opunake and Stratford on the one hand, and Waitotara,Maxwelltown, or Kai Iwi on the other, would surely make a constituency that any man might be proud to represent. Why, then, should' this splendid country, with a common interest, be tom in two, and divided between its powerful neighbours 7 Okato could be added to the Grey and Bell without destroying the balance of power in the world ; while Waverley, Waitotara, and Maxwelltown wonld make this District quite as worthy of a member as it now is. We do not make this proposal out of envy of Wanganui and New Plymouth, much less as reflecting on the gentlemen

v.lio has represented Egmont of late yeais, Wo simply object to having half, or less than iialf, a representative, and to our neighbors of Waverley and Waitotara having about the tenth part of two members; while the other half, or more than half, of our member, and the other nine-tenths of our neighbors’ two members belong to electors whoseinterest differs materially from our neighbours’ interests and ours. The basis for the redistribution of seats, that occurs first to most minds, is the basis of population. It is evident, however, that such a principle could only be adhered to by redistributing the seats every year; for the population in some parts of the colony increases much faster than in others. If the redistribution took place on that basis, the balance of power in the colony would be greatly disturbed. The North Island would have thirty-two members out of the eighty-eight that make up the House of Representatives, and the South Island would have a majority of tv.e-nty-iour. The Provincial District of Taranaki, that now has throe members, would then have one and four-fifths, while Wanganui would have to tight hard to get one representative. At the same time, there would be seven members' within five miles of the Christchurch post-office, and seven or eight more within five miles of Dunedin University. We do not think that such a change would meet the views of the bone and sinew of tbe North Island in general, and of this County in particular. While we heartily disapprove of pocket boroughs, and of rotten boroughs, we do not think that population is the measure of right to representation. Great masses of people are often more indicative of poverty and crime, than of prosperity and political intelligence. Towns build up rotten theories of protection, and virtually tax the country to support their factories. Towns are the hot-beds of unions and strikes. Towns even now have a tendency to grow faster than is good for the country, and, if they get large additional power, they will exact such privileges as will accelerate their growth, and the end will be that the productive power of the country will be crippled, exotic industries will be fostered, and society will be thrown out of gear every now and then by gigantic strikes. Even if there were no objections to the principle of distributing representation on the basis of population, it is obviously impossible to lay down hard and fast rules that shall apply to all Districts alike; for the circumstances of some Districts are peculiar. This District, for example, has had an exceptional history, and has exceptional dangers to its prosperity, and checks to its development at this hour. In it, millions may be lost or saved almost by a word. It nnn/ic U.,* « llhla Ir. molroif nnu of the richest and most populous Districts in New Zealand.

If we were asked to suggest an alternative basis to that ot population, we should, while still insisting that no hard and fast rule could be laid down, suggest that capacity to pay taxes be the basis of representation. If the present system, in which the poor contribute almost as much to the revenue as the rich, be continued, then no. doubt population must be the basis of redistribution. But if things advance, as they are doing, in the direction of making the wealth of the country pay for the protection it enjoys, and of making wealth, of every sort, contribute its fair proportion, then there is a chance of escaping mobocracy, and of letting those who pay the taxes determine how they shall be spent. We do not mean that a man of large property should have several votes, but that a district which should be able to pay, and under an improved system of taxation did pay, a certain proportion of the revenue of the colony, should be entitled to a member, irrespective of what the population might be. It appears to us only logical and just, that as We come nearer and nearer to taxation in proportion to wealth, so must we come nearer and nearer to representation in proportion to taxation. This principle willalways secure to the country districts, wherein lies the real and solid wealth of the colony, that preponderance of parliamentary power which is required to obviate the evils that follow in the wake of government in the interest of cities. If, however, the wisdom of Parliament should find that a member cannot be given, as we have advocated, to this District, and to many other districts of acknowledged importance, which could not claim one on the basis of population or of wealth, there is still a third course open. Wo are not aware that any of the essential laws of the universe would be violated, if there were more than eighty-eight members in the House of Representatives. There are many peculiarly situated, almost isolated districts in this country, which neither on the ground of wealth, nor on the ground of population, can claim to be ah eighty-eighthpart of the colony, but which might claim to be a hundreth, or a hundred and twentieth of the colony. It would be inconvenient to satisfy districts like these by giving them members with two-thirds of a vote in the House, but it would he a very simple matter to reduce the value of each vote, by increasing the number of members, until the smallest dealer might get his change. We were once on a diggings where no coin below sixpence was current, and no change for a less amount was taken or given. This would not be endured in a more civilised place for a moment. Yet it is a fair illustration of the change in use in matters of representation j we are inclined to think-

the change is not small enough. We do not wish 'to defraud those who have a claim to a sixpence, we would give them two three-penny bits.; But when wp see the shopkeeper' and the digger, the townsman and the countryman, making a vain attempt to-divide the sixpence, and know full well-that one of them will get all, and the other none, we say—- ‘ Give us smaller change, give us threepences, give us pence, give ns farthings, but give the poor their due.’