EXTRA PARLIAMENTARY SEAT IN CHRISTCHURCH

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31378, 25 May 1967, Page 1

EXTRA PARLIAMENTARY SEAT IN CHRISTCHURCH

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 24. The Auckland metropolitan area will gain two electorates, and Wellington and Christchurch one each, under revised electoral boundaries provisionally determined by the Representation Commission, the chairman (Mr L. G. H. Sinclair, S.M.) announced today.

In future, the South Island will have 25 European electorates instead of the present 24, and the North Island will have 55 instead of 52. Explaining the commission’s reasons for allocating extra seats to the three cities, Mr Sinclair said that increases in population were largely in the urban areas and many electorates were bounded by the coasts. Legislation passed in 1965 provided that the South Island should have 25 electoral districts, and that the number of seats for the North Island should be determined by the quota or number of persons in each electorate for the South Island.

“The Department of Lands and Survey now has the task of preparing descriptions of the new boundaries for publication in the Gazette, and maps to illustrate the new

boundaries,” Mr Sinclair said. “It is expected that this task will be completed and the provisional boundaries of the new electorates advertised for objections about mid-June. “One month from the date of advertising is given for the lodging ot objections to

the proposed boundaries, and any person has the right to object.” After each national census, the Representation Commission is required by the Electoral Act to divide New Zealand into electoral districts. During the last few days the commission has been meeting to determine the provisional boundaries of European electorates, the populations of which on 1966 Census figures will be 30,226 (plus or minus 1511) in the South Island and 30,424 (plus or minus 1521) in the North Island. The commission will meet again in August to determine the objections, after which it will report the names and boundaries of the electoral districts to the GovernorGeneral.

Other members of the representation commission are the Surveyor-General (Mr R. P. Gough), the Government Statistician (Mr J. V. T. Baker), the Director-General

of the Post Office (Mr G. Searle), the chief electoral officer (Mr J. L. Wright), one representative of the Government, Mr R. C. Reid, and one representative of the Opposition, Mr A. J. McDonald.