THE ELECTORATES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6088, 21 December 1906, Page 8

THE ELECTORATES

MORE ABOUT THE BOUNDARIES. SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTH ISLAND. THE CITY AND SUBURBS. 'the new electoral maps', winch are now available, show more clearly than tho descriptions tho boundaries of tho electorates. Wellington North, which includes Kelburne. is cat off from the rest of tho city by Woolcombe, Dixon, and Lower Cuba streets. Vv ellington Central takes in a large block of tho To. -ro flat, on tho cuy side of Tory street, Webb street and Happy Valley road, and includes Aro street and -Vi Ached town, Wellington East extends eastward irom Tory and Tasman streets io Evans Bay, being bounded on tlio south by itevuus and Iliadirorcl streets, tv ellington South comprises tho- remainder of the city as iar south as Vvanpori and Lawrence streets, inciuumg vogeitown. The new Suburbs electorate iukcs in Miramar, ixiibirme, jjity, iutren. Unsiow, ana Jonn--ouvilie. Uf tii'-.-.c -uiramar, ivnb.rnic, iuKt isuinu Jjay, as well as amcueii-tov.-n and itoseneatli, were formerly in iho Atewtowii electorate. IN THE COUNTRY.

On the western side of tho Rango tnerti ha* not oeon a great deal oi change. The boundaries of Palmerston and Manawiuu are both contracted, ana -ur Tieid receives as part ot Jus •cnargo in iho Otaki electorate the whole of the country on tins side ot

.no Aicinawatu nror extending from Shannon (inclusive) uj) to Lougburn. iins niece* was aimosi all m the Mana- ; watii electorate, tuougn it was gene-' rauy recognised that the settlers had more community of interest with Otaki, auu on several occasions the Government was asned to mako the Manawatu river the boundary. Needless to say, tho Government had no authority in such a matter, but the Keprcsentation Commissioners havo evidently taken tho same view. Instead ofi coining right down tho coast to Tcrawhiti, tho utnki electorate, now stops short between Porirua and Tawa Emt, tlio balance being absorbed in the new electorate of Wellington suburbs. THE CENTR.iL PLATEAU. Mr Remington is rather pleased than otherwise at tho pruning off, of _ tho excrescences of his domain., Xiangitikei. Ho and Mr Jennings vied; with each other In tho matter of election travelling, -each having a very wide district to traverse. The Rangiukei electorate under tho old conditions measured about eighty miles each way, and. included practically tho basins *of 'tho \\ anganui and tho Hautapu (a tributary of tho B.angitikei). The. population of tho-electorate at tho last adjustment was only 8460, but settlement has progressed so rapidly that although tho area has been reduced to less than one-half, and such centres as Raetihi and Ohakune have been eliminated* tho population of tho remaining moiety is 10.051. 'Commenting on this fact, Mr Remington remarked upon tho astonishing expansion of settlement- in this part of tho North Island since tho Seddon administration commenced. In tho early nineties there was only a coast strip of settlement all round the West Coast .ml Taranaki. His own doctorate was not then in existence, for Huntcrville was tho end of the world. Since then what hsv* jinnp" dp The Raniritikoi doctorate was formed with its nearest boundary dors© to ilmiterville. It has developed with great rapidity until it lias how exceeded the limit of .population, an-d yet another electorate has been formed beyond, it. linking n~ the bnckblocks of Taranaki with those of ;:ho central plateau. Mr Major’s old electorate of Hawera has had the town of Hawera outright* out and is now called Egmont, a nazne that was formely domiciled away - in North Taranaki. There is just, a chance that this may cause Mr Major to transfer his attentions to the Patca electorate, which now includes his urban stronghold. On tho other hand the member for Patca, Mr Symes, now finds himself saddled with half a dozen villages and the borough of Hawera, and he may consider it, advisable to stand for the new electorate of Stratford, which includes tho large centres .of Stratford and Toko and the backblocks population of tho Ohura, which is a strong constituency for him. Mr E. M. Smith’s electorate of Taranaki, which includes the town of New Plymouth, has suffered little alteration and will probably look just'tho same to him at the next eleuuon.’ I

Although Inglewood has been torn away and donated to the electorate of Stratford, there is little doubt that Air Jennings, to whom the,Afount Messenger mud and the trials ofAlahoenui are very‘dear, will remain true to the district which stretches away up the const from the Sugar Loaves to Kawhia. If he .does so there will be no further rivalry 'between him and Air Remington on tho score of, travelling, since the new Taumarnuni electorate extends a hundred' and twenty miles from north to south and about eighty from east to west. Its boundaries coincide generally with those, of the King Country. Tho chief centres are Raetihi, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti, Otovohnnga, Kawhia, Mohan, Urenui, and Waitara. There are now seven electorates w”st of the "Wanganui and Waikato containing 75,115 people, as compared with six containing . 59,780 at the last adjustment. IN AUCKLAND PROVINCE.

The adjoining electorate of Waikato, the constituency of Mr Greenslade, also shows signs of a healthy increase of population. Although Cambridge has been taken ont and - the boundaries have receded considerably upon Hamilton and To Awamntu, the electorate has still thirteen hundred more people than before. The encroachments of the new electorate of Tauranga upon the confines of Ohmeinuri still leave that district with two thousand more people than before. It loses To Aroha, but gains Warm. Tauranga seizes a huge slice of the plentiful Bay of Plenty electorate, which is recouped by depredations to the eastward upon the preserves of the Hon. Mr Carroll. All the East Coast district up to the East Capo has been transferred from Waiapu to Bay of Plenty, and Gisborne recoups itself at the expense of some of the outlying country of the Hawke’s Bay electorate in the basins of the Mohaka and the Wairoa. To make good this plunder Mr Dillon reaches out towards the Taupo country and takes possession of the Kaiinanawa ranges and Moawhango. EAST COAST AND WAIRARAPA. Ths Waipawa electorate surrenders thet otrtrsliip of that name to Hawke’s Bay, and Wallingford and Pnrhngahu to Sir Hogg takes for his Masterton district the township of Kaitawa from Pahiatua, hut gives up the whole of his East Coast belt, sur-

rendering Tinui and Castlopoint to Mr Hornsby (Wairarapa). WEST COAST CHANGES. The increase of population on the West Coast of the South Island has caused a considerable alteration of the electoral boundaries. Air Seddoii’s electorate of Westland will now take iu (from Air Guinness’s district) tho localities known as Nelson Creek, Dimganville, Red Jacks. Marsden, and Toluina. The Westland river now extends up to the Arnold river. Air Colvin’s electorate of Duller has lost tho cpntre of Keefton, which is now included in Grey, hut it receives in return ‘‘the lost tribes” of Alurchison. The Hon. C. H. Mills, the member for Wuirau, loses the Sounds, an important part of his district, which has been tucked on to Nelson.