SINGLE ELECTORATES AND THEIR EVILS.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 152, 30 June 1881, Page 3

SINGLE ELECTORATES AND THEIR EVILS.

? TO THE IDITOB OF THE EVENING POST. Sib— No doubt it ia very distasteful to a Ministry to change one cf the fundamental points of a bill they are prepared to lay bpfore tho Legislature. Nevertheless, I hope they will be induced to do so in the case of the coming Representation Bill, and, instead of having 1 single electorates all over the colony, make the electorates dual, wherever practicable ; and in the case of boroughs entitled to three members, let them be triple. A great deal has been said lately about the repretentation of minorities. The only hope minorities have of being represented at present lies in having double and treble electorates—certainly none in single electorates. If tho Ministry persist in forcing tho single principle upon the coantry it will only need one election to show the manifold evils it will entail, and enforce its abandonment afterwards. For instance, it will narrow down the choice of electors by 2 to 1, it will entail a double expense of election on the taxpayer, it will preclude tha representation of minorities entirely, and it will make any number of pocket boroughs. No doubt it is some consideration of this kind that has been powerful in the Ministerial mind to lead them to bring forward such an anomaly. It cannot possibly stand the test of use, and it is to be hoped that all thinking and working members on both sides of the House will unite to obtain dual electorates wherever practicable. — I am, Ac, Tbavelleb.