THE REPRESENTATION BILL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5914, 28 April 1887, Page 4

THE REPRESENTATION BILL.

Pall Text of ttie Measure.

[Bt Telegraph.] ttbom oub special correspondent, j WELLINGTON, Apbii. 27. The following is the text of the Representation Bill : — A Bill, intituled an Act, to provide for the periodical re-adjustment of the representation of the people of New Zealand in the House of Representatives thereof: Be it enacted by the General Assembly Of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows : — 1. The short title of this Act is the Representation Act, 1887. 2. The Governor in Council shall, not later than twenty-one days after the passing of this Act, appoint a permanent Commission of five members for the purpose of this Act, of whom the Controller and Auditor-General and the Surveyor-General shall be two official members, and the remaining three shall be such persons, not being members of the Civil Service, as the House of Representatives shall from time to time nominate, who shall be the unofficial members of the Commission. (1.) Such Commission shall be called the Bepresentation Commission (herein referred to as the Commission), and any three of the members thereof shall form a quorum, and may exercise all the functions vested in the Commission. (2 ) The Commission may make such rules for the conduct of its business as it thinks fit, but not inconsistently with the provisions of this Act. (3.) Any unofficial member of the Commission may, resign his appointment by writing under hie hand to the Governor, in which case or in case of any such member becoming insolvent or bankrupt within the meaning of any law for the time beirig in force relating to bankruptcy, or being convicted of any indictable offence, or of his refusing to act, or of his death, mental or physical incapacity, or absence from the Colony when his services are required, the Governor-in-Council may, if the House of Representatives is not in session at the time, appoint another person in his stead, and every appointment so made shall be notified to the House of Representatives as early as possible after the making thereof. No unofficial member of the Commission shall, within two years after he ceases to be such member, be capable of being appointed or elected a member of either HouEe of the General Assembly within three months after the end of the present session of the General Assembly, and thereafter within three months after the results of any periodical census are ascertained and re- j ported to the Commission, which the Begistrar-General is hereby required to do as early as possible, it shall be the daty ' of the Commission aforesaid to divide the Colony into electoral districts, for the apportionment of the representation of the people of New Zealand in the House of Representatives, according to the following basis, that ia to aay :— The number of members shall be exclusive of the number of members to be I elected under the Maori Representation Act, 1867, or any Act amending the same ; the following portions of the Colony are hereby constituted' special districts, that is to say : — (a.) Koad districts, town districts, and outlying districts, severally within every riding of a County, in cases where any road districts exist in such riding. (b.) Ridings of Counties in cases where no road districts exist in such ridings ; and (c) The Counties of Kawhia, West Taupo, East Taupo, Sounds, Fiord, and Stewart Island. The population of the Colony (other than Maoris) shall have nominally the following additions made to it in the aforesaid special districts respectively, that is to say : — (a) Where the population by the last census returns does not exceed five inhabitants (other than Maoris) to the thousand acres, 20 per cent, and (b) where the population by the last census returns exceeds five inhabitants, but does not exceed ten inhabitants (other than Maoris) to the thousand acres, 15 per cent. The total population of the Colony (other than Maoris), with the aforesaid additions, shall be divided by the number of members, and the quotient thus obtained shall be the quota. The extent of the several districts shall respectively be such that, excepting as hereinafter mentioned, not more than one member shall be assigned to each district, and that in no case whatever at the time of making any such division shall the population as aforesaid, or any district, exceed or fall short of the quota by more than 500. In forming the several districts, the first consideration shall be to confine the boundaries of each district as far as possible within the same Provincial district. In estimating the population within the several districts, each special district shall be estimated to contain a population equal to its census population, with the aforesaid nominal additions. The Commission shall amalgamate the several electoral districts fixed under the preceding subsection for the several cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dnnedin, with their immediate -vicinities, into one electoral district for each one of such cities, which Bhall respectively be represented collectively by a number of members, which shall be equal to the total number of members assigned to the several electoral districts so amalgamated. The Commission shall also at any future time amalgamate as aforesaid the several electoral districts which may hereafter be fixed for a city, town, or place, which together with ite immediate vicinity Bhall become sufficiently populous as to comprise more than one electoral district within its limits, but not more than iowr separate electoral districts ahall in any case be amalgamated under the authority of this subsection. The proof of the general results of the census last taken before the Commission makes any such division shall be sufficient evidence as to the population of the Colony, or of any district ; but the Commission may, in allowing the margin of five hundred hereinbefore mentioned, taking into consideration (a) the proportion which the number of male-inhabitants of the district other than Maoris, of or above the age of 21 years, bears to the entire population other than Maoris of the district ; and (b) the locality of the district, and the facility or otherwise of access thereto. The Coawaiasiou shall ia erer,? case report the

boundaries of electoral districts fixed by them to the Governor, who shall proclaim the same in the Gazette, and suoh Commission shall in every case report the boundaries of electoral districts fixed by them to the Governor, who shall proclaim the same in the Gazette. \ Such reports shall have the force of law from the date of such proclamation, but shall not come into effect until the expiry of the then existing Parliament. A copy of every such report shall be presented by the Governor to the House of Repreapntatives within ten days of the receipt thereof, if in session, and if not within ten days after the commencement of its next meeting. Upon the taking effect of any report ae aforesaid, the electoral districts therein set forth and the boundaries thereof respectively shall be the electoral districts of the Colony for the purpose of the election of the members of the House of Representatives, after the dissolution or expiration of the then existing Parliament, and shall so continue until the succeeding report of the Commission take effect, or the General Assembly otherwise enact. The Colonial Secretary shall forthwith, after every report of the Commission is proclaimed, cause to be deposited in the office of the Clerk of the said House, properly authenticated maps of the electoral districts fixed by such report. (7.) Within thirty days after the coming into effect of any report of Commission the Registrar appointed under The Registration of Electors Act, 1879, for each electoral district existing in the Colony at such time shall form a new electoral roll for such district in the manner provided by the said Act. (1.) The electoral roll in force on the day when the aforesaid report takes effect shall be the rolls from which the new rolls to be formed under this Act shall be formed. (2.) Every electoral district constituted under any report of the Commission shall, for the purposes of The Registration of Electors Act, 1879, and The Qualification of Electors Act, 1879, be deemed to have been constituted six months prior to the date when such report takes effect. Where the boundaries of any electoral district as described in any report as aforeaaid are the same as existing immediately prior to such report taking effect, the electoral roll then in force for such districts shall be deemed to have been formed under this Act. (8.) Upon such new electoral rolls being so formed, every such Registrar as aforesaid shall give notice thereof to the Colonial Secretary, who shall publish the fact in the Gazette, and from and after the day of gazetting of such notice the electoral | rolls so formed for each district shall be the electoral roll for such district for all purposes. (9.) Snbject to the provisions of this Act, such rolls, when formed, may be added to, as provided in The Registration of Electors Act, 1879. (10.) All electoral districts existing and all electoral rolls in force at the time of any division of the Colony into electoral districts under this Act, shall continue in existence in force respectectively until the dissolution or expiration of the Parliament being at the time when such division is made. (11.) Nothing in this Act contained shall interfere with, or in any way affect, the special representation provided for by The Maori Representation Act, 18G7, or perpetuating the same.