ELECTORAL CHANGES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 244, 12 October 1917, Page 2

ELECTORAL CHANGES.

MEMBERS' BOUNDARY TROUBLES. UNFAIR PENALTY ON HOTELS. <_J- Telegrapl,.—Pari lairloiitury Reporter.! WELLINGTON, Thursday. 1 The big changes in electoral boundaries ' pave members a good opportunity of .lis- ' i it-. in-i tile system of redistribution when Mr. Ilojusbv moved the lirst rea.ling of ' the ill--t..i ill Boundaries I -ill for the . ; purpose of criticising the present system. : The member for Wa intra pa quoted a. ' number of instances where constituencies , 'were split up without regard to commit- I nity of intereot. but simply on a basis of numbers. He favoured the settliii" of j boundaries permanently. h | This propo-a! was ridiculed by Mr., Ell. who pointed out that it meant re- ! verting to the system in vogue in the dark ages of electoral affairs. lie believed that live more members were re- j quired to keep pace with the population. | j Mr. Anstey stated that it 11% a serious' defect in the present system that the I Electoral Commission had a margin of Jonlv -300 population to work on in readjusting the electorates on the basis of j pi>l tlation. Ther,' appeared to be a fctidi j over numbers. Uliat oii'.'ht to be studied !«:i- conun'inity of interest alone. | ! Mr. Forbes expressed the opinion that the time had arrived when the remuneration of private members who represented ' ! wide constituencies should be increased, contending that the people of the country i did not want members to put their hands I into their pockets to such an evt -nt Ilia. inothing was left to them except the privilege of representing th" electors. He. J ial-o considered that travelling expenses . I should be provided for members repre-j senting Aide country districts, and that! | the whole system upon which electoral boundaries and representation were I , based should be reorganised. [ I Mr. Parr severely criticised the system ' of returning .Mauri members to the '. llFouse, pointing oat that there were no ro!U for Maori electorates, and that the 1 ■op-ortutiitv was casv and rife for imner- i [ munition .in.l double voting. He con-: tended that the whole question of Maori ' representation needed readjusting, and. I";,- :i matter which the llovcrnment should attend to when considering the possibility uf revising oar electoral! system. I i 'Mr. Mefalhim jocularly eluded tho-e . who complained of new boundaries that ' ' they hud evidently led a bad political life, , mi. 1 I'-iii-ed political Lath. The worst anomaly was unfairness to the hotels j in im!.-.'. in the no-license areas by the, . Commissioners. Mr. Massi-i ■ ("an you sugscst any way out of the difficulty? Mr. McCalluni: There munt he some •way —perhaps by running two electorates \ toe-ether Tiie I'remier credited the Commissioners with having done their best under . very difficult circumstances. There had been a great change of feeling among members in regard to th" injustice to hotels, lie asked Parliament to put this . matter right. Three years ago, v.hen a . section was put into the Act providing that when it is practicable to keep hotels in what was called a "dry" diist.-ict it .hoiild be done, but apparently it was lot I possible to (lo so in every case. He did not know what more could be done. If 10.-al option was knocked out it would ' get ver the ' difficulty,' but Parliament ■ was not likely to make that alteration. He agreed with Mr. Parr that there was ' nn anomaly in regard to Maori representation. He would riot say it ought to 1 be done nwav with, but they .were faced

with the difficulty that the Southern M.,.r>ri member had only SOO votes cast . for him. while in tin- Western Maori elect -on the votes totalled between 5000 and 6000. Possibly part of tbe southern part of tbe North Island mijrbt be amalgamated with the South Island. This point could be taken into account next session, when an Klcctoral Bill would be introduced to deal with a number of anomalies. The objections to the new bo-.indiiries would lie received until Oth November. The Hon. D. Btlddo reminded the 'House that when out of consideration for the community interest the population margin was made large this principle Mas worked to death. He favoured boundary changes every ten years. "1 represent an electorate which has hecn -wiped out," remarked Mr. Dickie iSelwyn). "But you are not wiped out," interjected a member amid laughter. Mr. Dickie went on to say that from what he saw on the map Selwyn had absorbed Ashbtirton. (Laughter.) It would Im- better had the name Selwyn remained. Answering urpent requests from members who wished to know which constituency he would contest. Mr. Dickie said that while the National llovcrnment existed it was not right to say nvhat he -would do. Mr. llornsby, replying, said that be would cordially support any movement for grouping two or three electorates under a system of proportional rcprei sentation. I =