THE NEW ELECTORATES.

Evening Star, Issue 11626, 10 July 1902, Page 8

THE NEW ELECTORATES.

SI. KjLDA OBJECTS. A public meeting was held at the St. Hilda Town Hall last evening to cauzide* the boundaries as defined by the Electoral Commissioners. The Mayor of St.‘ Hilda. (Mr G. Hodges) was in the chair, and there was a numerous attendance of ratepayers. Mr Hodges explained the object of the meeting, which, briefly, put, was to protest ufjainst the subdivision of the borough and the inclusion of portion of it in the electorate of Chalmers, a district whh which they had no community of interest, With the present boundaries they-were, in political matters, a house divided against itself. It had been laid down by Act of Parliament that in making such boundaries the Commissioners should consider the question of community of interest. He hoped the meeting would carry motions, strongly condemning the new boundaries. Supposing questions in regard to the Upper and Lower Harbor cropped up, there could be no community of interest between them and Port Chalmers. Their interests were practicalir the same as those of the City. Would it not conserve their interests better to have the Borough of St. Hilda in one electorate! Or Gore, without unnecessary preamble, moved the following series of motions:— “ (1) That this public meeting of electors of the Borough of St. Hilda, convened by His Worship the Mayor, strongly protest against the injustice of this borough being divided and placed in two widely differing electorates ; (2) that this meeting respectfully urge the Commissioners to reconsider the question of our boundaries, as the Representation Act, 1887, provides that l in forming the several districts due consideration shall be given to the present boundaries of electoral districts, to community of interest, facilities of communication, and to topographical features,’ and the meeting submit that in severing the borough and placing part in the Chalmers electorate, with which the borough has no community of interest, every provision above set forth is violated; (3) that this meeting respectfully submit to the Commissioners that it was not necessary to so divide this borough, as the surrounding populated area, of which St. Hilda forms an important and central part, carries a population equal to that necessary to secure a return of a. represents tive in Parliament; (4) that this meeting further submit that the continued increase of population upon the area known as the Flat, commencing at the entrance to Ken-sington,-and continued to the Ocean Beach, warrants the Commissioners and electors in- making every endeavor to conserve the community of interest of this borough.' 1 Cr Marlow, in seconding the first motion, said that the bulk of the electors in Musselburgh would-be practically disfranchised if the proposed new boundaries were finally settled. He pointed out that on the Main road, which might be taken as the. dividing line, there were three licensed houses. All these were in Park Ward, and if this new boundary were created it wou.d mean that the people who used the houses on the Musselburgh side would have no voice in their control. There might be reduction or Prohibition on one side of the road anda different state of things on the other. On that point alone, to his mind, it would be an- unjust thing that the electors of Musselburgh should have no voice in matters affecting their district. The motions were then put one by one and carried unanimously.

Mr J. M. Callaway said there were one or two points that occurred to him. In the first place, when the Act of 1889 was passed a man was entitled, if he had a property in another electorate, to vote in that electorate if he thought his interests were identical. Now this was not so, and he thought a higher duty devolved upon the Commissioners in fixing boundaries. As to community of interest, they had that with Port Chalmers, as they had with any other part of the colony. Their highest community of interest was, however, with South Dunedin and Caversham. So far as lie could see. there had been no public movement in the matter. Nothing, so far as he knew, had been done to set the Commissioners in motion. They seemed to have proposed this alteration of their own sweet will. The Act of 1887 was somewhat of a puzzle as to how the thing was to be worked out. Unless there was some very good reason for alteration, he thought the Commissioners might have left tilings as they were. This did not seem to be the work of the people, and he saw no need for a change. The other dav they were striving to return to Parliament the particular man they wanted for their district, and now, just on the eve of an election, all this was set aside and another electorate was introduced. It was quite impossible at the next election that they could have community of interest with Chalmers. They had not discussed political matters ■with them us they had with Caversham. It seemed to him that if they were going to do anything in this matter they might approach the local representative on the Commission. Mr D. Barron, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, was, lie thought, a member of the Commission, and he was certain that if the meeting were to appoint two or three of its members to wait upon him and discuss the matter with him he would listen to them, and, if they could convince him, help them. He therefore moved that the Mayor and Cr Gore act as suggested. It being pointed out that Mr N. Y. A. Wales was ready the local member of the Commission, it was decided that, be be similarly interviewed, and Mr Callaway's name was added to the list of interviewers. Mr Cohen, in the course of Ids remarks! said that he had authority for saying that Mr S.dey not only knew nothing of the proposal to subdivide the borough, but was airongly opposed to it, and wouid do all in his power to prevent it. Cr ("lore then read the following petition, for which it was proposed to canvass signatures : ' ° " To the Chairman and Members of the South Island It representation. Commission Christchurch. ’ . “ Gentlemen,—Wc, the undersigned resiuents of Musselburgh Ward, subdivision of the Municipality cf St. Hilda, have learned with much concern and deep regret of the decision of your Commission to include so f j the bo , rou ? h .‘" s “es to the eastward c ?! , e road within the electoral district of Chalmers. We respectfully, but at the same time strongly, object to our severance iroin the electorate of Caversham, with which we have been connected in the past, and ask £° U *°,, restore 113 to our original position for tue following, among other, veasoosThat it iS undesirable for obvious reasons to divide a borough and throw one section of the burgesses into one electorate and another section into an adjoining but distant electorate from many points of view. Principal among the latter is the absolute want of 'community of interest ’ as between the Musselburgh Ward of St. Hilda and the Electorate of Chalmers. It needs only to be pointed out that Chalmers is to a large extent an agricultural constituency with a seaport for its centre, while on the other hand the Borough of St. Hilda is wholly urban. Besides, this municipality has many laree works either about to be undertaken or in contemplation in the management and conduct of which this borough has a very deep interest. Some of these matters are the conservation and protection of the Sandhills, the preservation of the Ocean Beach, drainage of the Flat, and tramway management, in respect to Y b i ch tbe Municipality of Sfc. Hilda is entitled to speak as a whole and not as a subdivided borough. In connection with licensing matters, _we would further point out that it is absolutely destructive of ‘ community of interest’ to have one part of the borough forming part of one licensing district and anotner part of the borough tacked on to a distant electorate. The resolutions attached herewith, that were carried at a public meeting held at St. Hilda on July 9 and prandel over by the Mayor of St. Hilda’ emphasise the views of your memorialists on this question. For the reasons set forth above we trust that your Commission win, at the earliest opportunity, include the Borough of Si. Hilda as a whole within the Electorate of Caversham. A discussion arose as to whether the petition should come from Musselburgh wily or from the whole of St. Hilda. Eventually it was decided that the petition retain its prosent form, it being left to the Mayor and Cr Gore to have a further petition from the rest of the borough if necessary, and to invite the co-operation of the Caversham and South Dunedin Boroughs. With 'the customary vote of thanks the meeting then broke up.