Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1911. REPRESENTATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 8452, 21 August 1911, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1911. REPRESENTATION.

Although,, discussion of the report of the Representation Commissioners has in the meantime been ruled put of order in the House of Representatives, the talk that took place on the subject on Friday afternoon served to show that members are disposed to criticise unsparingly the work done by the Commissioners. Full opportunity was promised for debate; and in due course, after the Commissioners have heard and disposed of objections to their decisions, we shall have a lot of crying; over spilt milk. If we may be pardoned the paradox, it would have been much better *r> have cried over the milk before it was spilt. , jNo useful purpose can be served by criticising the work of the Representation Commissioners after their decisions have been irrevocably fixed, unless a flow of electioneering talk through the medium of " Hansard " can be called iiseful. Parliament ought to have looked into this question- of representation n year or two ago arid amended the law so as to prevent the mangling process which--everyone is: now lamenting./ ,'rHaving failed to * do this, members will have to make the best of the electoral boun-r daries, for there is hardly any hope that the ■■., Commissioners will consent to any suggested alterations, since to do so would practically involve their doing the whole work over again. In the course of the. brief preliminary talk in Parliament one idea was. thrown out that members would do well to, carefully consider. This was contained in the remark of the ; Hon. George Fowlds, in reply to complaints of the unsatisfactory nature of the new electoral boundaries, that " there was only one way to get over the difficulty,; and that was to divide the Dominion into areas and group them." The statement, as reported, is not particularly lucid, and it _is at best a hint, with no details to guide one; but it seems to contain the germ of a solution that would not only dispose of the quinquennial disturbance of electoral boundaries, but would at the same time solve s6me other political problems. -We. take it that Mr Fowlds meant to indicate that he favours a plan of large electorates —the "areas" to which he referred containing each a "group" of the existing;- electorates. It seems to us that such an idea is well worth entertaining, since by such means we should be certain of maintaining "community of interest" and at the same time of preventing the; '■' arbitrary enforcement of no-license at the will of the Representation Commissioners

ers. .■''.'/ Suppose it were decided that each island should have forty members, thei•'eighty seats could be apportioned- between -ten. districts, each returning a "group" of eight members. Roughly speaking, the old provincial district boundaries could be preserved intact. In. the North Island the. five districts would be apportioned thus: Two to Auckland^ two to Wellington and Taranaki, one to Hawke's'Bay and Poverty Bay. - Similarly, the South Ti-' hind's five districts would cofrii'»nse: Two to Otago, one:,to Canterbury, one to. Southland, a!nd one to Nelsony i Marlborough and Westland. Modifications would of course be necessary; for example, part of "South Canterbury might have to go to Qtago, or part of Worth Canterbury to the north-western district; but these adjustments could be made without creating a tenth part of the anomalies that constantly arise under the existing system. An essential part of this plan would he the abolition,'.of single electorates and' the..introduction of: a system of proportional representation. The electors ii?. each

"area," reluming eight niemhers, would vote as one constituency, each voter having eight first preference votes, or as many votes as there were candidates to spread preference over. The advantages of such a system of electing members of Parliament" would he many and farreaching. The most palpable advantage to' the elector would be that his- influence would be multiplied by eight; he would have eight members instead of one to .represent him. Assuming the homogeneousness of the districts and their community of interest, -a united phalanx of eight repre- , sentalives would have much greater influence than if tliey were returned by sectional parts of the district. Under the existing system, each little electorate has its own special interests, and the members, while keen to look after these, often fail to unite in support of more important proposals affecting the wider area of the provincial district. If the electorates were grouped, as suggested, the eight members would mutually support each other ;in local matters; and when it came to the larger concerns they would of course act unitedly, each being responsible to the electors of the whole group of seats comprised in the area. Under this system, politics; would be lifted out of the parochial rut, a broader public spirit would be engendered, Parliament would be dignified, and the whole political life of the country would be improved. There are, on the surface, ob T je.ctions, to this grouping of constituencies, but they are such as can be shown on examination to have no real weight. For example, it will be said that men of moderate means would be .severely handicapped in contesting large electorates and „ therefore' the tendency would be to hand over representation to the wealthier classes. To meet this there would have "to be a strict limitation pf election costs,- andA..'ri.f necessary State payment ■ of' the travelling expenses of candidates, this might in turn necessitate some restriction upon the number of candidates, which could easily | be provided for. There/would be no necessity to' resort to the clumsy expedient of the second ballot to ascertain the real will 6f j the people, for the preferential; voting would settle the : matter' once for all. In various ways the advantages of grouping seats are so obvious that the ■: objections may well be brushed aside.; It is to be hoped that the question of representation reform on. ftese lines will be made a , prominent one during the coming election campaign and that a majority of members pledged to. such ja change will be returned to next Parliament, ;