THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1881.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6150, 3 August 1881, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1881.

If there be no conditions antagonistic to a system of Parliamentary representation based upon numbers, though but a rough method of allotting members, it may be necessary to adopt it. If there be serious objections, the rude ■principle ought to yield to those objections. Statesmanship consists in the adaptation of means to ends,' in a clear perception of the whole of the circum-

stances requiring attention, but." foo. frequently a principle is applied in "a/ -wooden tray which takes little or noregard of the end to,be achieved.-pin; i" case .in which: Parliament hias/.noj material advantages to confer, as in; England, or where there is no marked; divergence. of interests,;•. no practical evils may result 7 froin numerical re-j presentation, but when, as in this Parliament votes large sums'of money' for local objects, and when there is a great disparity of interests' a minority cannot be expected to accept a:system of numerical representation .. which would give the more numerous the power of..helping .themselves. to the plunder of the Treasury, and leave to the weaker section of the community the picking, of • the bones. • It is extremely easy, and extremely highsounding to talk fine sentiment, but with regard to representation in a colony it is entirely out of place. The principle of numerical representation cannot safely be applied in New Zeailand unless there first be swept away the reasonable obstacles to its adoption which present themselves. If justice were the directing principle of our Parliament, if there ' was no log-rolling, no pressure brought to bear upon Ministers, to which they have to yield, this district might submit.to a representation based upon population. But this has not been the case in the past, there is no assurance of it in the future, and so its members are bound to oppose any readjustment of representation which would reduce its Parliamentary power, already too weak to secure its rights.:" . 'J . Mr. Hall has said so much to the Otago deputation which waited upon him on Monday as to show that the South, which has always taken care of itself, is to. have such an increase of members'as will increase its opportunities ; whilst the North, which has always " been wrqnged, : may have a diminished power. of -protecting its large and varied interests. It is true that the Premier has -not. stated that the North Island is to lose.mem r bers by the-measure for the re-distribu-tion of representation which has been submitted to Parliament, but he has intimated that the South Island is to have a large increase/and as even if the North were to be left as at increased preponderance, .of numbers would be . given;"to::.the South, the North would be placed at a greater disadvantage than at present—a disadvantage which has already entailed upon it the grossest injustice. -There would be no prospect of the' injustice of the past being redeemed, but there would be a most alarming prospect of an addition to the long catalogue , of wrongs. No Government, no legislature, is entitled to treat this colony as one whole,' so far as interests are concerned, but as composed, as it- is, ,of two islands whose conflicting interests must be reconciled if disruption is not to occur. Ministries and Parliaments have had their warning in the cry for insular separation. If the Redistribution of Seats Bill is to render bad worse, is to render the South more potent and the North more powerless, the necessity for insular separation will be again brought under the attention of the North with increased force, because to the.wrongs of the past will be added the perils of the future. It would be, idle to-say that comments like these evince no spirit of patriotism. ' The South has given us no example of patriotism, but of insatiable and successful greed. The North cannot be expected to subscribe to a spirit of patriotism which in theSouth has taken the form of the robbery of the Northern neighbour of whom it requires it. Representation in New Zealand is not a question of patriotism, of principle, or of the maintenance of union, but of self-preservation, and it is the South which has rendered it so. ; If the leopard could change its spots, if the South could give a guarantee that its greed would cease, a positive assurance that the benefits which the State has to confer should be based on right and not on the preponderance of numbers, then, and then only, if at ail, could the North assent to a redistribution of representation in which the potency of numbers would cease to be an obnoxious and dangerous force. If the South should - ask whether the soundness of representation based upon population can be denied, it can be answered by another question, whether those who have suffered by the system can be expected to assent to its extension with the bestowal of increased power on those who have already abused that which they possessed. Parliament confers railways, grants for public works, and many other local boons. That island which has the more numerous representation has used that representation selfishly and with increased representation could be still more selfish. The North, therefore, would be mad if it were to assent to an increase of the power already so shamefully abused. "With the divergent interests of North and South, and the North's experience of the past, representation. is not a matter of high-flown sentiment, or of abstract principle, but of business, interests, rights, and, as we have already said, self-preservation. Let the two islands be given representation on the basis of population aiid the control of Parliament would be given to the South, and: the North would become little better than an impotent onlooker. Ministries, would be the Ministries of the South, or exist only by reason of its occasional disunion or on sufferance. Representation based ' on ; population presumes a community of interests, and

if. that. does, not exist, the principle fails." As between North -and "■ Southfit does not' exists/and ! the principle; is? therefore inapplicable. Especially has this district suffered from this; form of representation, and if an tempt be made to force on it a "further instalment it must look to a liament of its own as the only remedy' for an evil which it has not created; If the Ministry be wise, they- will recognise that the' North, -which has felt the. heel of the South, will not assent without an effort to any change which would make it either heavier or sharper. ■ ..