THE ELECTORATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 8

THE ELECTORATES.

CHANGES MAY FOLLOW CENSUS SOUTII'S POLITICAL LOSSES. •By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. A gain in population of 40.000 over the South I=land. which is what the preliminary census figures disclose, points to the North Island securing yet another electorate at least at the expense of the South. Xew Zealand's representation system is based strictly on population, and after each census— at intervals of five years —a commission has to be set up to look into the distribution of the people, and allocate them Parliamentary representation on a quota basis, which means dividing the total by 70, the number of seats for European members. Once again the North Island shows a much bijrjer gain in numbers, and in due course tbe Representation Commission must get to work, and changes will occur. .South Island constituencies are getting larger and fewer, while the North Island seats grow in number and in compactness.

Until the census of 1901 was taken, the South Island had the larger population, but this particular enumeration disclosed a balance of over 8000 in favour of the North, a difference which has been rapidly accentuated. It had political effect in 1911, when the North Island gained a seat from the South, making the representation:—North Island. 42 seats: South Island, 34.

After the 191b' census, when the electoral quota was fixed at 17, US inhabitants per constituency, three new North Island seats came into being:—Roskill (Auckland), Rotorua, and Manawaiu (near Wellington). Then the representation stood:—North Island, 4o : South Island, 31.

The 1921 census provided a more moderate redistribution of seats. Only one was taken from the South Island, the gainer being the Waikato, which obtained a new electorate of that name, while the borough of Hamilton became a separate constituency. The electoral quota had now.reached 15,131 per constituency. The North Island now sends 4G members to Parliament, and the South Island is represented by 30. Call a Halt? South Island politicians have not been content to quietly watch this growing political preponderance of the North. An effort was made in 190S to save the three doomed seats of Waikouaiti, Tuapeka and Courtenay, the suggestion being that the South Island should continue to hold its seats, and that the North Island increases in population should be met by the creation of additional constituencies. Sir Joseph Ward, the Prime Minister, announced that he was quite willing to do something if the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Massey) would agree, but the latter declared that it was the Government's duty to submit proposals to Parliament, and then he would give an opinion, but not before. The subject was dropped until .1911, when the further loss of three Southern seats prompted Mr. James Allen (now Sir James) to revive tiie proposal to maintain Southern boundaries, his strongest point bein" that the constituencies were already too unwieldy to work, and things were becoming worse. The South got out of that situation with the loss of one seat, but since Si r James made his proposals it has 10.-t another four seats, and some of the South Island constituencies are far too large in area to be adequately covered by candidates durin" the election campaign. Sir James Aflen subsequently became a Minister of the Crown, but he does not seem to have u?ed his heightened influence to secure any change in the electoral system. Unless Parliament deals with the matter early in the coming session, the recommendations of the Electoral Commission will automatically come into force.