WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 June 1921, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

ELECTORAL REFORM. THE COUNTRY QI OTA, (Special Correspondent.) ‘‘New Zealand boasts of having the most democratic Parliamentary franchise in the world, and yet, as a matter of fact, it has one oi the least democratic among progressive nations. It gives the resident in the country 28 per cent, inure voting power than t-iitf resident in the towns, and so entrenches the least intelligent and observant section of the community behind a rampart of privilege.” So said a "sane” member of the Labor Party to-day in making excuses for the extravagant language of some of his less temperate fellows. "How can you expect the workers in the towns,” he asked, "to accept Parliament as a truly representative institution, when it is deliberately stuffed in order to give an advantage to a minority over a majority?” He was referring, of course, to what is popularly known as the "country quota,”, the provision of the electoral law which gives to 72 residents in a rural district the same Parliamentary representation as is enjoyed by 100 in an urban district. ITS GENESIS. This anomaly in the electoral law of the Dominion is nearly half a century old. In one shape or another it has existed since the early seventies, and was saddled on to the country in its present form by the Stout-Vogel Government forty years ago. Then it was regarded as a temporary expedient to give the sparsely settled country districts a greater voice in the direction of the a.fI fairs of the young colony than they would have exercised'had representation been placed upon a purely population basis. Sir Robert Stout himself' said at the time the concession to the country constituencies was illogical and undemorcratic, and Sir James Allen, who I then represented a city constituency, dei nounced it as unfair and. irrational. But i the country districts, having obtained i the privilege, have since jealously guard!ed it, and no political leader yet has I arisen with sufficient /courage to propose its abolition. Ey&n Labor has tolerated it without a serious protest.

NOMINAL VOTERS. The effect of the provision for the "country quota” is shown by the distribution of Parliamentary representation after the last census. The actual population of the Dominion at that time (1916) was 1,142,081, exclusive of Maprid. consisting of 574,677 urban residents and 567,404 rural residents. Twentyeight per cent, was added to the number of the rural ’ residents, bringing the “nominal” population up to 1,300,954, and the quota, the number of residents, actual and nominal, required to return • a member to the House of Represeutai fives was ascertained by dividing th» "nominal” poulation by seventy-six, the number of scats to b/ filled. This gave forty-two members to the North Island and thirty-four to the South. Of course the system operates quite fairly as between the two islands, they being placed on exactly the same footing in this re*spect. and it. is interesting to note that in 1916 the numbers of purely rural and pm dy urban constituencies in the North i Island were twelve and seven respectively, and in the South nine and seven respectively. THE EFFECt. It is significant, however, that at the last general election, of the twenty-one purely rural constituencies eighteen returned supporters of the Reform Government and only three .supporters of the Liberal Party. Of the fourteen purely urban constituencies, six returned Laborites, three Liberals, three Reformers, and two Independents. This reflects very plainly the sharp differences of political opinion, judged in bulk, between the country and the town. The country, speaking generally, is conservative in its tendencies, and the town progressive, using the terms in their non-party sense. But though this may or may not be good for the Dominion as a whole, it obviously is out of harmony with its democratic professions. New Zealand, by adopting a franchise unknown in any part of the world, has placed a brake upon the registration of popular opinion, which, in the judgment of the authority quoted, very seriously impairs the representative character of Parliament. IMMIGRATION AND IMMIGRANTS. Reports from some of the country district are to the effect that a proportion qf the immigrants brought from Home are of poor physique and unlikely to adapt themselves quickly to New Zealand conditions. The matter was mentioned at the Palmerston North Hospital Boai’a last week and inquiries that have been made since suggest that same of the recent arrivals, particularly the women and children, are considerably below the physical standard maintained in this country. The responsible Minister, on the other hand, is confident from his own personal observation and from the reports furnished to his office, that the great majority of the immigrants are of a good type and likely to make useful and successful settlers. There may be families, he says, in which the whole of the members are not equally robust, but differences of this sort are met with everywhere, and British born people are not being excluded from New Zealand merely because they are not so strong as the seasoned “‘backblocker.”