BOUNDARIES OF ELECTORATES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27639, 21 April 1955, Page 14

BOUNDARIES OF ELECTORATES

COMMISSION’S WORK DEFENDED MR R, G. GERARD SPEAKS IN DEBATE (From Oar Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, April 20. Besides voting no confidence in the Government, the Opposition was voting

no confidence in the Representation Commission, said Mr R. G. Gerard (Government, Ashburton), speaking in the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives this evening. Mr Gerard devoted the early part of his speech to points raised by Opposition speakers, and said he wondered whether the Opposition was going to

turn to Communist China instead of I the United States. • After saying that he did not know the political affiliations of the four men appointed as non-official members of the Representation Commission, Mr Gerard said he knew one was a National Party supporter, and at one time he thought another was, and at another time that he was not. The official members were the Sur-veyor-General and the Commissioners of Crown Lands for Wellington and Canterbury He could not believe that those three civil servants would agree to gerrymandering. no matter how many political appointees were on the commission. “I think that at ihe back of the attack is the idea of making people think that something is wrong, said Mr Gerard. “I think that the Opposition at the back of their minds believe that the Boundaries Commission did its job. as other commissions have don% in the best interests of the electorate.’’ If, as Mr J. Mathison said, the boundaries were fixed in two hours, the Surveyor-General must have drawn the boundarv maps, said Mr Gerard. Throughout the country the Government h~d lost in the revision as badly as the Or position.