Little known architecture of electoral boundaries

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 43

Little known architecture of electoral boundaries

Who decides where constituency boundaries should be drawn and how decisions are made in the process has been a mystery for many New Zealand voters. New Zealand, a world leader in many areas, has the probably little known distinction of being the first country to establish an independent body to draw up electoral boundaries.

The Representation Com- . mission has the politically sensitive job of dividing New Zealand into constituencies of equal voter proportion based on the results of each census. This Justice Department feature, one of a series examining aspects of the terms of reference the Royal Commission on the Electoral System, looks at the Representation Commission, its history, and how it works. Sections 15 to 22 of the Electoral Act, 1956, provide for the composition and working of the commission. Section 15 says the commission is to consist of eight members, five official members, two unofficial members, and the chairman. The official members are the Surveyor-General, the Government Statistician, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Director-General of the Post Office, and the chairman of the Local Government Commission. The two unofficial members, appointed by the Gov-ernor-General on the nomination of the House of Representatives, represent the Government and the Opposition. They and the chairman, who is nominated by the members, may not be public servants directly concerned with the administration of the Electoral Act or a member of the General Assembly. Section 41 of the New Zealand Constitution Act, 1852, conferred power on the Governor to proclaim “convenient electoral districts” for the election of members of Parliament.

An 1853 proclamation

provided for 24 electorates, but they did not geographically cover the entire country until 1860. In 1858 electoral districts were reorganised and expanded to 28 by the Electoral Districts Act of the year. Between 1858 and 1887 electoral boundaries were reorganised by Parliament seven times.

It is probably true to say regular and long debates in Parliament on the redistribution of electoral boundaries drove the nineteenth century politicians to seek a mechanism so electoral boundaries were regularly revised on a fair and impartial basis, without the need for parliamentary discussion and decision.

The Representation Act, 1887, created the first representation commission in New Zealand and in the world. There were five in the first comission of whom the Property Tax Commis-

sioner and the SurveyorGeneral were the two official members, with the remaining three nominated by the House. The commission was required to divide the colony into electoral districts within one month of the passing of the 1887 act and thereafter within three months of the results of any periodical census. The census was already on a five-yearly basis by 1887. The 1887 act identified what were known as special districts which were country and remote areas. A nominal addition of 18 per cent (the “country quota”) was required to be made to the number of the population of these districts.

The total population of the colony, with these additions made, was then to be divided by the number of members to obtain the. necessary quota. The population in each electoral dis-

trict was not to be more or less of the quota than 750. The Representation Amendment Act, 1889, provided that the 18 per cent nominal addition for remote areas should be increased to 28 per cent for any of the population not contained in any city, borough or town district with a population of over 2000. The tolerance was retained at plus or minus 750 for rural areas, but reduced to plus or minus 100 for urban areas. In 1896 the commission was split in two, one for the North Island and one for the “Middle Island.” There were three offical members of each commission and two unofficial members appointed by the House of Representatives. The two commissions had to sit as a joint commission to fix the number of electoral districts for each island, but thereafter acted

separately to draw the actual boundaries. In 1900 the tolerance of plus or minus 750 for rural areas was changed to a tolerance of plus or minus 1250, then reduced to plus or minus 550 in 1902. -

The special nominal loading of 28 per cent on any population not contained in a city or borough with a population of over 2000 was amended to provide that this addition should not be made to the population contained in any area within five miles of the chief post office of the four main cities.

In 1913 the tolerance in respect of urban electorates was increased from plus or minus 100 to plus or minus 250. The tolerance for the rural electorates stayed at 550 until 1920 when it was increased to 1250. Urban electorate tolerance remained at 250.