DWINDLING QUOTA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 156, 3 July 1937, Page 20

DWINDLING QUOTA.

SOUTH ISLAND M.P'S.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION. COUNTRY SEAT IX DOUBT. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") "WELLINGTON, this day. South Island representation in the House of Representatives, it is expected, will dwindle still further as the result of the deliberations of the Electoral Commission which is to meet in Wellington on July C, it is expected here.

It is considered certain that the South Island will lose one country 6eat; thefate of a second seat remains doubtful until the whole of the available data has been scanned by the commission. It is possible that one of the lost South Island seats will come to Wellington, which has shown remarkable growth in some directions, particularly in the area for which the Minister of Finance (Hon. Walter Nash) now sits in the House of Representatives. It is thought likely that the Hutt Valley will be divided into two seats.

The members or the commission were appointed last April and the Surveyor-General (Mr. H. E. Walshe), Ave commissioners of Crown lands, Mr. K. M. Graham (Auckland), Mr. A. F. Waters (Taranaki), Mr. N. C. Kensington (Canterbury), Mr. F. H. Waters (Otago) and Mr. B. King (Westland), together with two unofficial members for the North Island, Messrs. J. Payne (Napier) and A. Rosscr (Auckland) and two for the South Island, Messrs Harman Reeves (Dunedinj and John Rigg (Christchurch). The official members are upon the revising body by virtue of the positions they hold, the unofficial members are appointed for life, and onlyone of them (Mr. Harman Reeves) has acted before. All the unofficial members who acted with him when last the boundaries were revised have since died.

The last revision took place ten years a;ro and the same procedure will be followed this time. That is to say, the commission will meet, lix the quota for a seat and then allot the seats to the two islands in proportion to population. The commission then splits up and adjusts the boundaries of the various electorates, the maps showing these adjustments later being prepared and published and one month allowed for objections. It is expected that this work will take the commission at least two months.

Domination of Opinion. The manner in which the weight of North Island opinion is coming to dominate the House of Representatives lias long cained discussion in the South Island. To-day there are 7(i European seats in the House and 47 of them are in the North Island. With the changes about to be made it is likely that North Island representation in the House will be two to one. The commission's work, of course, is greatly complicated in certain areas by the necessity of preserving the no-license districts with some relationship to the areas which originally voted to go "dry," but this, while affording an extra problem, does not affect the main work.

The manner in which the South Island is losing its representatives has been much discussed here, and for some time it was thought there might be intervention to set a minimum of seats for South Islanders. Advocates of this action have pointed out that though the seats are awarded on a population basis the relative importance of the North to the South Island economically is not as two to one. It is held by some that it would .be more desirable for the number of members in the Chamber to be increased, for, as South Island members know to their cost, each reduction in the number of electorates in the South means that every member has to represent a big area.

This makes campaigning extremelyarduous work and some of the electorates, especially in the southernmost portion of the country are now so large that it is simply impossible for a member to cover them properly in a campaign. In addition the growth in southern electorates makes travelling about the constituency much more difficult between elections.

M«ve for Minimum Number. However, it appears that up to the present the move for a minimum number of seats for the South has not been given sufficient impetus, for the commission's work will hi under way in a few days now and unless the Government intends to undo much of that work or has a cut-aud-dried scheme yet unrevealed it wid he too late to move.

It should be obvious, also, that the commission will work on the old linas as far as the country quota is concerned. It has long been thought that Labour in office would repeal this provision, but before the last election Labour leaders examined the quota and came to the conclusion that to-day it does not greatly affect the position as between country and town. The growth of the urbnn areas has in large part upset the operation of the quota, it is stated.