ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 220, 10 June 1908, Page 7

ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.

POPULATION AND REPRESENTATION. SUGGESTIONS BY Ml!. W. W. TANNER, M.P. Mr. W. W. Tanner, M.P., has a vigorous letter in the Lyttelton '"limes," regarding the redistribution of seats. Tho present system of arranging and altering the limits of electoral" districts lis declares to be a reproach to any civilised community. He criticises in this connection the frequent taking of tlio census. "Probably," ho remarks, "a short-dated ccnsus is an advantage to a new country, for there is a feverish anxiety in a young community to take stock often, and boast of its records with satisfaction. Nevertheless, n five-year period is unknown in any other pnrt of the British Empire, for the Homeland, the Indian Empire, and the Australian Commonwealth, aro all satisfied with a ten-year-period. So also aro Canada and tlio. United States, where, if anywhere, a live-year period- might bo justified to record their rapid advanco in, population. There lias been no such justification for it' in New Zealand. Our electoral law provides that after every ccnsus the electoral districts shall bo- delineated afresh, so that some oyuality -of population shall prevail throughout tho Dominion. Taken altogether tho provision of a iive-yoar census period, with consequent rearrangement of boundaries and a triennial Parliamentary period, havo been tho-cause of n\oro annoyance, and difficulty to electors and unnecessary worry to candidates and members than any other of tho New Zealand statutes."

Mr. Tanner, points out that in tlio last 20 years thero havo been fiyo rearrangements of electoral boundaries, and he arguc3 that as time goes on tlio North Island will continuo to increase its population much faster than tho &outh Island. , ' "What," ho aslts, "may wo not expect from tho freeing of Native, lands hitherto unused, tho development of tho Piako country now, .being drained by tho Government, the increaso of. the timber industry, which, has received such a stimulus, of lato'years, and tho possible settlement, of the iron industry'in Taranaki. It all means more and more population to tlio North. Land settlement takes placo in both Islands, but whilst titfiployoes on purchased estates can; select blocks of' 1100 acres in area, that sort of land settlement- will not give lis increased population, figures." Mr, Tanner nrge3 that there is "little reason for tlicso perpetual rearrangements, and that, tho five-year census should bo abolished, and a decennial period substituted, which .Would bring us into lino with all other parts of tho Empiro and most civilised States. : ;,"Why should■ wo bo so anxious to add ovory Slavonian who arrives on the gumfields, every infant porn, and every hive of bees to. our census sbhcdulco, .when tho position ol' tho Dominion gives such facilities for registering arrivals and departures and tho tally of births and deaths is so accurate that tho Registrar-General can givo the total population to within a few thousands either way before tho census is taken. Then fix by law absolutely tlio number of members for, tho-Island, showing the smallest increase, of population, vis., the South, and keep to 'that number irrespective of any variation for at least a generation. Rearrangements for equalising purposes must tike placo at census times, but they would bo slight, and disturb tho Island representation very littlo. Then let tlio North Island membership,- always in proportion to population, bo increased as its -population developed ■By adding when necessary t6 tlio-number of members in. tho . Lower Iloitso. Doubtless thero aro those who will regard this as 4 fantastic and unprecedented bclimikj andboiidemn it without knowing that it is tho basis on which the Dominion Parliament of Canada is founded. In 1867, when tho Dominion was founded, thoWold 1 province of Quebec, knowing that Ontario had tho great- north-' \Vest ■ behind «iier and would reproduce herself in tho valleys of tho Saskatchewan, Red, and Peaco Rivers, stipulated that sho (Queheo)- should always send-sixty-livo members to the Dominion Parliament, and that other provinces should bo .represented in tho same proportion that sixty-live boro to., the population of Quebec. ' . '