REPRESENTATION OF THE PROVINCE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3041, 3 September 1870, Page 10

REPRESENTATION OF THE PROVINCE.

The question of the distribution of the nine members allotted to Wellington having been referred to a select com mittee, the City of Wellington lms been weighed in the balance and said to be found wanting, and one of the three members she has so long returned to the i Legislature is to be taken away and given to one of the country districts. As the growth of the country outside increases, it is an inevitable necessity that changes . should take place in the distribution of the representation in the different electoral districts. Wellington may, however, fairly complain that by taking away one member from the city this district will in • proportion to its population be worse represented than any other part of the pvoi vince. As we understand the distribution i proposed in the committee (which it is said will be adopted according to a tacit i understanding by the House), Wellington i City and the Hutt will each lose a member, : one of whom will be given to the Waira- ; rapa, and the other to the West Coast districts. Of the justice of reducing the Mutt representation there can be no doubt. . Neither in the increase of population nor in material progress has the Hutt kept : pace with the rest of the country ; in fact, the tendency has been to an exodus from that original settlement to the larger fields of profitable occupation on the East and West Coasts. Nor will there be as reasonable objection to a recognition of the claims of the "West Coast districts for another member. Even by the census of 1807 those districts contained within v few hundred of one-third of tlis total population of the province, and the immigration into that part of the country, as well as the natural increase of ihe population, has been greater than that of any other division. i Looking forward, too, over the interval ! i which will elapse bofore another distribu- | tion of the representation takes place, we ; may fairly contemplate an enormous addition to the population in those favored districts, which, until nn inland railway connects them with Wellington, will make I PVanganui the head-quarters of their trade. Wellington and the Wairarapa shew the great disproportion under the new scheme of distribution. The former, according to ihe only reliable statistics we have to go by, will have only one member for 3050 inhabitants, while in the Wairarapa there will be a representative for each Id 34, Believing, as we do, that property

' has a fair chum to be represented as well us population, we should be always inclined to give to the country population a larger proportionatereprcsentationthanthetowns, but we aye not prepared to advocate the disfra-nchisenient of so large a section of the city population as will be effected by* thus lessening the number of its members. We cannot but think, however, that the loss of the city is in a great degree due to the want of that energy which is displayed by our country cousins when seeking to push their private or political interests.; It is, perhaps, unfortunate for the city in one respect that the General Assembly is! held within its precincts, for it is proverbial that members resident at the seat of Government are always less assiduous in the discharge of their political duties than those who, being taken away from their ordinary avocations, are enabled to devote their whole time to look after the interests of their constituents ; and it is notably the fact that Wellington has on several occas'ons suffered by the carelessness of her representatives. It may not, however, yet be too late for the people of Wellington to assert their claim ; and they may rely upon it that in the struggle, which is imminent, to preserve her position as the political and commercial capital of the colony, she will need the exercise of every power which she is able to exert on her own behalf. It is not a happy omen for the future that she should yield without a struggle the political privileges to which her position, as we'll as her population, justly entitle her.

Table shewing tho population of the different districts of the province of Wellington, and nlso the present and proposed distribution of tho representatives.

J sis -s| . "S *£ "a §j« C "3 g § §•« .2 CM Ph o W Wellington City 7,301 3 2 Porirua 2,748 1 1 Hulfc 2,207 2 1 Wairnrapa 3,068 1 2 Wangunui Town and "^ country districts ... 3,906 1 > 3 Rangitikoi 2,511 l) Total 21,541 9 9