The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1901. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 127, 30 May 1901, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1901. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

For ths cause that laoka au&tanoe, Tot Uii wrong tiiat nesda resistance, for the future in ths distance, jM the ffood that wo can da

The announcement that the Hon. , John McKenzie ha,s been appointed to a seat in the Legislative Council will be received with feelings of pleasure by a majority of the electors, because it affords evidence of the re-establish-ment of the hon. member's health so far as to enable him to take some part in the future legislation of the colony. His long and eminent services as a member of the House of Representatives and as Minister of Lands- give him an undeniable claim to the position that has been conferred upon him, and no one will be disposed to question the propriety of the course pursued by the Government in his ease. At the same time his nomination affords an opportune time for reviewing- the question of appointments to the Legislative Council, and we do not hesitate to say that the Government would find it extremely difficult to justify some of their nominations either on the ground of representation according to population or area, or even^ on the broad lines of equity and justice, and the welfare of the colony as a whole, We~ have on previous occasions protested against making the Legislative Council a refuge for the destitute, or a secure haven of rest for politicians who have been rejected at the. ballotbox by the electors, virtually stultifyingl the popular vote! From a partypoint of view, the ele/ration of a large number of members to the Legislative Council for political services irrespective of the part of the colony from which the Councillor comes has a detrimental effect on other portions of the colony, for it is as impossible to eradicate the local political bias as it is to get rid of the party bias.. The Auckland Provincial District comes very badly off in its representation in the Council, in the face of the fact that the increase of population since the last census of 1896 amounts to some 22,000, which, on a population basis of 9500 per M.H.K., should give us two moreXmembers of the popular Chamber, at the next triennial election, when the larger population of the North Island will entitle it for the first time in the history of the colony to one more member than the number returned for the South Island. Moreover, this majority must increase with every redistribution of the electorates. In the Legislative Council, on the other hand, we find that of 46 members 28 are called from the South i Island, and only 18 from the North Island. No one with any common sense would deny; that this state of

affairs must militate against the legitimate influence wielded by our uiai jority in the Lower House, and will jtend to hamper any legislative efforts j for the benefit of the northern portion of (he colony. It will, in fact, leave this part of the colony, although largely in the majority in population and in representation in the Lower House, at the mercy of a Southern majority, with strong and 'united partisan feeling, in the Upper I House. This state of affairs, which [is aggravated by the existence of fi j South Island majority in the Minis- ' try. ought to be strenuously opposed, ! and a demand made for a reconstitu ! tion of the Legislative Council on i j population basis. i Taking roughly the estimated |>opuNatioH for the year ended 1899, and 'adding a few hundreds for the year 1900, and dividing the population roughly by the number of members of the Legislative Council, we have the following astounding results, so far as this part of the coiony is con- ; cerned: XOBTH ISLAND. Auckland, 7 members, or 1 in 28,000 persons. Wellington, 5 members, or 1 in 27,000 persons. Taranaki, 2 members, or 1 in 17,500 persons. j Hawke's Bay, 4 members, or 1 in 9300 persons. SOUTH ISLAND. ; Canterbury. S members, or 1 in 13,200 persons. Otago. 13 members, or 1 in 13,500 persons. Nelson. 3 members, or 1 in 13,000 persons. Westland, 3 members, or I in TjOO persons. Marlborough, '2 members, or 1 in 6500 persons. The vast dilt'erence in the number iof the population represented by each member of the Legislative Council should never exist in a democratic community wjth true Parliamentary representation, and when jwo notice that Otago has nearly j twice as many councillors as Aucki land with its larger population, and j neaxly three times the number of . | Welliugto ) ■councillors, and only five less than ' the total number uf . councillors for the. North Island, and ; more than one-fourth of the number of councillors for the whole colony, we begin to wonder at the political j apathy of the people hi the North which has made a condition of affairs , so fiagrantlj' at variance with every democratic principle possible. In forming the Commonwealth of Australia one of the foundation stones of the constitution was equal representation oX the States in the Senate. In the original constitution of New Zealand as drawn by Sir George Grey, the Legislative Councillors were made elective by the Provincial Councils; but the sweeping away of the Provincial boundaries has been followed by a policy which ignores the legislative rights of the most populous division of the colony. -Sot only should an end be put to this scandalous state of things, but steps ought to be taken to prevent its recurrence by ( de£Lniug constituencies ' for the Council as well as the House of Representatives, unless the Council be made elective on a popular franchise from two large constituencies, divided by Cook Strait, which might perhaps be the most satisfactory remedy for other anomalies which now exi.«t hi connection with that body. a