THE COUNTRY QUOTA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 51, 30 June 1915, Page 4

THE COUNTRY QUOTA.

A Wellington correspondent writes: There is a story told concerning a certain candidate of Parliamentary honors who was asked in one of his meetings : “Are yon in favour of the conntry quota being retained?” His answer to the question was “Yes.” it was followed hy another: “What is the country quota f” He thought for a moment, and then candidly replied, to the amusement of the audience: “I don’t know.” But it is very questionable whether half the people who talk about the country quota, and urge its abolition, could answer the question which proved a stumbling block to the candidate. Under our Electoral law, the Dominion is divided into seventy-six districts, each returning one member to Parliament. The districts are subject to readjustment every live years upon a population basis, each electoral district having, as nearly as possible, the same number of inhabitants. But, in computing the population for electoral purposes, and with the idea of safeguarding the interests of the rural constituencies, an additional 128 per cent, is

added on to the country population (the term including all persons living outside towns of 20(J(J inhabitants and over), ami with the addition thus made, the total population is divided hy the number of members to be returned, the quotient thus obtained forming the quota, and the districts being arranged accordingly. If it is to secure the advantage of the 28 per cent, additional voting power, accorded it Ijy law, the country constituency must, almost of necessity, return its member by a smaller vote than is required by the town representative; although, in some instances, the country member polls equally well, and secures quite as big a vote as the city man.