NEW ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES

Evening Star, Issue 14634, 2 August 1911, Page 8

NEW ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES

AND THE COMMISSIONERS. ME MACKENZIE TREATS OF INSINUATIONS. During t-he course of a- social at Green I .si and last evening, the Hon. T. Mackenzie dealt at some length with the nature of the task now before the TiepreI senta.tion Commissioners, and with the j statement from Wellington (published in j that night's ' Star ') containing an insinuation that Ministers had been obtaining information from the Commissioners, and were using it for elcc- ! tioneering purposes. He gave a most eni- | pha.tic denial of the statement, and entered | upon an account of the difficulties besetj ting .such a Commission. " I can give j this statement a most, emphatic denial." said Mr Mackenzie, indignantly. " The Commissioners are honorable men, and even if they themselves at this stage know what the alterations are to be, which is not likely, they would not. disclose the information ; and, to far as Ministers are concerned. I do not know of any Minister who has had any communication on that subject with the representatives taking part' in the deliberations. This problem of the alteration and adjustment of bound- j rtries i« so intricate th«t the results' roust j | depend upon circumstance*! which will take an enormous amount of calculation j to adjust. I myself have received what every member of the House has received—namely, a. statement of the- population in cities, towns, boroughs, counties, ridings, etc. From the particulars contained in thai statement we find that certain districts are deficient; others again have a superabundance; and wo can ourselves conclude what, is required to make up constituencies. Ministers have not, so far as j I know, a. knowledge even of what the quota, will exactly be. The first glance shows that one seat would almost inevitI ably go —that its the. one with the. leapt j population, which is surrounded by half ' a dozen a!! deficient in population. Th-ere-I fore, if Otago stood alone, a feat would ! disappear : but one mutt consider that i Clirist.chu.rch is short, and that Kllesme.re I and Westland are also short, and that that I shortage must, be forced southward. Southland as a district could .stand by j itself on a minimum of population ha/us, j but if a maximum is decided upon by the j Oonimiwdoners. then Wakntipu would re- ■ quire to extend to some .seal beyond in a ] northerly or easterly direction. Bruce i must be short bv about 1.700: Tuapeka. iis short by about 2.000: Taieri *s ! it. stands i,s short by about 500: ! ar:d I'hinedin is likewise below what , ( is inquired by between 3,000 an<l 4.000. i The Boundary Commissioners have something worse than a Chinese pu/./,le lxM'ore [ them to adjust matters, and at the present i moment any one of two seats, or of even ! throe seats, might disappear. It all d-e- ---| pendr. on how the Commissioners work mat- : ters out. It is no use suggcjstiiVT to the I Commissioners wlctt they should do. even \ if any person were so far to forget himself ias to at-toriiTjt to do such a thiricr. One ; would require to show the Commi.s- ---! sioners not only how the suggested oha.nue ; would affect, the two districts immediately 1 concerned. Imt. also the suggestions bear- ! ing upon all the other seats. Speaking on 'the genera! question of the readjustment. i I say it is nothing short of an abominable • and expensive nuisance to the whole of ! the Dominion. Under present, conditions ! it is next to impossible for the Commisi sioners to give any hoed fo what should be i a. dominant factor -namely, community of | interest. And what lias been the. result jof all this readjustment ? To lake the | census and then to make the necessary I readjustment must cost anvthing from j £50.000 to £70,000. Von are <-ontinuallv j throwing public men together to fiVht. cadi I other, and this means excluding tried men ! from Parliament when the countrv desires jto see them there. T;ike the history of one or two recent electorates. First in Waihemo. John M'Kenzie and Buckland were thrown together, then Scobie Mao- ! kenzie and Vincent Pyke. Scobie and .John ! M'Kensac survived, only to bo later thrown ! against each other, and I believe the strain i of that <A)nf/?st laid the foundation of the j diseases which carried off both these eniij nent statesmen. Ten years ago T followed I Sir John M'Kenzie at Waihemo. and almost shortly afterwards the seat was wiped out. I then stood for Waikouuiti. and again that seat went. Now it would seem that the one 1 now represent is among those that are threatened either with extinction or distortion. As is well known, i four years p.«?,0 1 endeavored t«> have mat- ' ters adjusted, and had a majority of the | I mcmkrs of the House in favor of the j j scheme : but it did not meet with the ap- i j pi'ovai of some members, and as the Be- : j presentation Act is a most difficult, one to j | deal with the matter was not taken up. j Last time a measure of this nature was be- j fore, the- House there was a stonewall ! which lasted six days and six nights, and | I was then only ended by a. compromise ■ being aereed to. I think we must soon j realise the necssitv for a change in the J present state of things. But it is a pity that, even ip the" readjristme.nt of elector- ; ates, political • reflections should, be in-J dulled in, especially when t-he. charges j made are absolutely groundless. That this is eo was made perfectly clear in Dun- : edjn a month ot two ago. when both Mr j Reeves and Mr Barron indignantly denied | the sugeestjon that they hud been .influenced bv anyone. They stated that no Minister or anyone else had approached them either directly or indirectly on the subject. * "■•■■■,-.