PROBABLE RE-ASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 716, 27 September 1870, Page 2

PROBABLE RE-ASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.

It is stated by Wellington telegraphic correspondents to the Westland papers that Parliament will have to re-assemble almost immediately, as the New Representation Act has been found utterly unworkable. One statement is that the descriptions of the boundaries of some districts have been taken from the old Act, prior to IS6O, so that the districts overlap in all directions. The Cheviot District, for instance, includes portions of twelve other districts, taking in nearly the whole County of Westlaud, and a number of the Canterbury constituencies. It is added, more by way of insinuation than information, perhaps, that Messrs Harrison and Kynnersley assisted to prepare the schedule. Some serious omissions, it is said, have been made in other Acts passed. One of these is the Lands Transfer Act, from which provision for surveys has been omitted; and the Gold Duties Act has been so framed that the Government dare not allow it to stand on the statute-book in its present form. The Gold Duties Act Amendment Act, as it is called, repeals the old Act from the Ist October, but does not come into force itself until the Ist January, leaving a blank of a quarter of the year, during which, if the blunder is not remedied, it is a question whether any gold duty can be collected. Should these statements be correct, Parliament will have at once to re-assemble. But it is possible the Law Officers of the Crown may have something to say in defence of themselves and in explanation of the circumstances.