Vote Values in the Old Country.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 13, 26 March 1913, Page 8

Vote Values in the Old Country.

A White Paper just issued discloses a state of affairs in connection with the Parliamentary representation of the people of the United Kingdom which is not only supremely ridiculous, but positively scandalous. It may be, probably is, quite impossible to frame any scheme of representation which will give the electors of every constituency equal representation in the House of Commons, but there surely can be no adequate reason for the continuance of a state of affairs which only gives, an electorate containing over 40,000 people

entitled to vote the same voting power in Parliament as a constituency in which there are less than 2,000 vot<-r» on the register.

There is no exaggeration in these figures, for a reference to the White Paper shows that whilst Romford in Essex has 57,882 voters on the register, that constituency only returns one member to Parliament, just the same as Kilkenny in Ireland, where the voters’ roll contains only 1,676 names. In other words, some 34 voters in Romford have no more weight in the House of Commons than one in the Irish constituency. This is not an isolated case, as the following comparative table of onemember constituencies will show. It; could be extended a great deal, but though brief, will serve to bring into strong light the glaring difference in th® Parliamentary value of votes in different areas of the United Kingdom:—

Here, in the year of grace 1913, we have about 28,000 voters exercising as much influence in Home and Imperial affairs as about 378,000, for each of the constituencies tabled returns only ai single member. Surely only in “dear old England” could sueh things be! And any extension of the franchise without redistribution would, it seems, merely aggravate matters in most eases, for the percentage of voters to population is now generally greater in the smaller constituencies.

Electorate. Voters. Electorate. Voters. Romford 57,882 Newry 1,177 Walthamstow 43,601 Galway 2,999 Harrow 43,412 Hurbam .... 2,378 Wandsworth 39,911 B. St. Edmunds 2,889 Wimbledon 32,411 Whitehaven . 3,008 Enfleld .... . 39,911 Wick 33»6 Tottenham < . 81,573 Windsor 3,281 Handsworth 31,159 Winchester .. 3,270 Stretford . 30,707 St. George’s--Cardiff . 30,003 in-the-East 3,278 Kilkenny .... 1,678