The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1884. SINGLE ELECTORATES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1623, 1 March 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1884. SINGLE ELECTORATES.

The Wellington Post has made another protest against the "Representation Act" of 1881, on the' ground; that it split up large cities into trumpery little districts.. - Our contemporary takes up the. question somewhat from a city point of view, and while talking of colonial interestsi apparently ' labors' under the impression that New Zealand is tho.Empire City, and that Wellington is the;colony.' 'The. Post intimates that an effort .is-about to oej wadp to remedy tho evil co.mpkined of i and to effect this a Representation Act Amendment Bill will -be;, necessary, and believes that the advisableness of iniroduoing : bucli ; a measure;' Js, or shortly will 'bej- under 'the consideration pf the Cabinet. "It has," «rites our '.contemporary,: "been rumored lately that the Bill might possibly' be brought in by a private .member and accepted by the Government,;but we believe the probabilities at present are in favor., of its, introduction as • a ; Ministferial'measui;e,' : ' It is said that a draft Bi)l,is now in course.of;pfeparation'fei Bubmi»to' tie "Cabinet,; If

tins ho so, we heartily hope it will be adopted, both by the Government and the Parliament, so that the existing anomaly may bo done away with. There appears to be no doubt at all as to the feeling of Wellington and Dunedin against the present plan, but it .does not seem quite certain whether Ohristchurch and Auckland hold equally decided views." The Post is usually well-informed as to the intentions of the Government, and we may almost regard the intimation which it conveys as semi-official, We regret, however, that snch a question should be regarded as a point to be decided by Wellington, Auckland, Ohristchurch, andDunedin. The Single Electorate Act affect country as well as town constituencies, but apparently the former are not deemed to be of sufficient importance to be taken into consideration. We would gladly see the Act of 1881 repealed altogether, because the apparent result of it was to replace a number of the ablest politicians in the colony by untried and incapable men. The broader the basis of an electorate the better, as a rule, will bo its representation. The Act of 1881, by narrowing the electorates deteriorated the character of the representation. 'We are very willing to abolish single electorates in towns, but we desire a corresponding change in counties. The repeal of the act of 1881 as far as it relates to citieß, would strengthen the representation of the centres of population in the Legislature, but it would be manifestly Uh: fair to improve the character of the city electorates and leave the country constituencies in statu quo.