South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2623, 17 August 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1881.

SECOND EDITION

The second reading of the Representation Bill was carried last night in the House by an immense majority. The division list, including pairs, shows fifty-eight in favor of the Bill and twenty-five against. Only four members abstained from voting on the measure. There are few stray sheep to be whipped up to prevent the passage of the Bill. All the Canterbury members voted for the measure. It will be remembered that on Mr Hall introducing the Representation Bill, a section of the Otago members made an effort to delay its progress, which, if they had been successful, would probably have shelved the measure for the remainder of the session. Owing to the firm attitude of the Government they did not succeed in their attempt. There are a number of members who do not wish for any disturbance in the existing order of things. An alteration in the electoral boundaries might endanger their chances of re-election. No system in their eyes could be better than the one which returned them to Parliament, Of course, the bulk of those gentlemen, especially if

they wore Liberals, always expressed themselves in favor of a redistribution of seats, but their courage was very apt to fail them when it came to the sticking point. However, the division bell when it rang last night had the effect of bringing the wavering representatives to a sense of their duties, A general election is close at hand, and if they did not vote for the measure,they knew lull well they would have to face indignant constituents. We are glad to see that all the Otago members who voted on the question were in favor of the Ministerial Bill. No representative of an Otago constituency paired against the measure, and Sir Sheehan and Mr Gisborne were the only two prominent politicians who voted with the noos. Mr Gisborne represents Totara, hut as under the re-distribution of seats scheme, that constituency is to he merged in the Hokitika electorate, his occupation will most probably be gone after the dissolution of the present Parliament. So Air Gisborne has a deep personal interest in the matter, and those who know that gentleman and his political history will give him the full credit of doing the best for himself. If the Representation Bill clears the Parliament of Mr Gisborne it will do some good. It would be well if the colony could get rid of his ill-gotten pension at the same time. The Member for Totara possesses considerable ability, but he is of the most objectionable stamp of politicians. Nobody has believed in him for years, yet up to the present he has succeeded in securing a seat in the House. A cablegram received this morning states that the Gladstone Ministry intend to introduce a measure, to disfranchise seven boroughs in England for bribery. The constituency which would return Mr Gisborne to Parliament after the recent disclosures in relation ’to the pension list, would richly deserve to he treated in a similar manner. Consistency is not a characteristic of Mr John Sheehan. Had lie been consistent he would have voted for the Representation Bill. Luring the debate on the Bill he stated that the credit of the measure was due to his own party—that it was Sir George Grey .and his followers who had ripened public opinion on the subject, and compelled Ministers to take it up. Everyone who has read the ” Great Pro-Consul’s speeches should readily call to mind that he was eloquent in urging that every man in the. country should have an equal voice in its government ; hut one looks in ruin in the public records for any indication that the Grey Ministry took an active step in Unit direction during the two years they were in power. There is no doubt that Sir George Grey has done much to direct the attention of colonists to public affairs, but lie and Ids party always halted at the threshold of performance. It is sheer dishonesty for (he members of that party to take credit for the welldevised...scheme of representation now before Parliament. Under the existing state of tilings the richest and most prosperous districts of the colony arc disfranchised. It would be intolerable that such a condition of affairs should he allowed to continue. Public opinion was not so strong as it might have been on the subject, or else the inequalities would have been removed ere this. As it is, without any great pressure from outside, the Ministry have framed a measure eminently calculated to meet the circumstances of the country, and they deserve a full measure of credit for the Bill. We have not given a general support to Ministers, but wc feel hound to give honor where honor is duo. The Representation Bill is not a party measure, and we arc glad to notice that it has not been treated as such in the House. Sir George Grey gave a surly support to the measure. He could not afford to be so inconsistent as Air John Sheehan. The latter gentleman professed a great concern for his Alaori friends. He thought they should have been included in the population basis. The Alaoris at present return four members to the House, and so long as they retain their special representation, they must be left out of the genera] reckoning. As it is, a considerable number of the native race have two votes to the one possessed by Europeans. The Alaori, besides having a voice in electing a member of his own,race, can, with a slight electoral qualification, vote in the same booth with his pakeha neighbor. In the session of 1878, the then Ministry made- an attempt to give all the members of the native race a dual vote, but the country was dead against so unfair and impolitic an arrangement as allowing’ the least intelligent section of the community a double voting power. A strong effort will be made in Committee to have the Alaoris included in the population basis of representation. It will be a move in the same direction as the effort of 1878, and no doubt it will be equally unsuccessful. Surely none but. a Pakeha Alaori will have the indecency to vote for such a one-sided distribution of power.