THE ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11352, 15 August 1902, Page 5

THE ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES.

ALTERATIONS AGREED TO. '~ c '.- .'- (-PZCXAX, TO '"THE PI—SS.") U .* n , ... . The Representation Commisaioners report that the actual population of the North Island is 390,571, equivalent to a nominal population of 455,695. The actual population of the South Island is 381,933, equivalent to a nominal population of 449,987. The nominal population is obtained by adding the 28 per cent/ quota to the'rural population. The total rural population was 475,635. THE CANTERBURY DISTRICT. The following suggestions were agreed •to: — Courtenay and Riccarton—That a threecornered block of land, bounded by Springs road, South road, Sout'bbridge railway line, and Halswell Junction road, be retained in the Riocarton-electorate. Agreed to. Kaiapoi—That Oxford be not included in Kaiapoi. Agreed to. Riccarton—A protest was received from certain of the present Riccarton electorate (Messrs Simon McDonald and thirty-seven others) against "being included in the new electorate of (""oiirbeaiay, and suggesting that the Riccarton boundaries should follow along the Kaiapoi Junction road, as at present, to Coringa road, thence along Sinclair's road to the Waimakariri river. Agreed to. Hurunui—A protest from Mr Meredith, M.H.R., against the extension of the Hurunui electoral district from the Clarence river to Cape Campbell, forty-five miles by the shortest available road, was partly agreed to. CRITICISM OF THE REPORT. In the. 'House this afternoon there waa some very severe criticism of the work done by the Electoral Boundaries Commissioners. Mr Jackson Palmer went so far as to accuse them of inoompi;tence§) and he even said one membar had been guilty of bias. Mr McNab sadd that what had been done in the Southland district -was evidence of striking incapacity. There had been a sufficient increase of population to warrant the creation of a new electorate there. Instead of doing this they appeared to have taken remarkable steps to prevent this. . Thsy had gone to the utmost- limit in packing populations in the South!and electorates, while they had gone in the other direction in regard to the adjoining Otago constituencies. Mr Sidey mentioned' that in the case of St. Kilda borough community ot interest had been sacrificed. Mr Tanner advocated the taking of ths census every ten instead of every five years. The costs of the census to the colony was £120,000, and a considerable saving would; be effected were the period exr_xted. Mr Thos. Mackenzie agreed with this, and advocated the extension of Parliaments to five years. This would also effect a saving and would be beneficial in other ways. He deprecated the statements made that the Commissioners had been biassed. On b3balf of the South Island Commissioners, he oould assert that they were the wrong people to allow anything of that sort of thing to influence them. (Hear, hear.)