NORTH v. SOUTH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 77, 30 March 1912, Page 6

NORTH v. SOUTH.

QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION. [B^ pSLEqfiAPH — SPECIAL TO THE POST.J AUCKLAND, This Day. The Star, whilst it extends a general -approval, to the composition, of the new '■Capinetj indulges in the following criticism t — Ther© is one point, however, — -O&. wbicb.-lwe think exception -can justly be taken. to the constitution 'of the Ministry. Not only has the South Islandthe laTger number of members, but 1 Canterbury alone has as many repre- .' sentatives in the Cabinet as the whole of the North Island put together. This disparity certainly mitigated to some . «xtent by the allotment of the important _ portfolios of Land, Finance, and Public • Works to North Island members. We are aware that Canterbury stood practically 'solid' for Liberalism at the last - election^ 4 but we can't 'blind ourselves . to< the evils that are always likely to result from the over-representation of any orie section of the .country iv the Ministry. The North Island has suffered too severely in jbhe- past from this disparity of political influence to ignore the facts to which we have referred, and jre can only hope that the Premier will £«ep steadily in -view the necessity for attaching due- importance fo the preponderance of population and wealth in the North, and the vast, though andeveloped, potentialities that lie dormant xn this end of the Dominion." Mr. W. A. Veitch, M.P., was present at a 'large meeting of '.he Labour Party ,held at Wanganui on Thursday. Mr. ,Veitch gave an account cf the ieoeut Liberal caucus h*ld to eleot the new, Premier. The following resolution A-as car~xied unanimously ; "That this branch of the Wanganui Labour Party heartily approve© of the presence of our member at the recent Liberal Party's Conference, and expresses i our appreciation of his services and of other Labour members thereat in the cause of Labour."