AUTOMATIC REDISTRIBUTIQN.
(To TUE EDITOR OP THE "SPEOTATOR.9 §13r4 have read with deep interest and appreciation your able statement in the Spectator of January 25th of the cue and plea for redistribution throughout the United Kingdoin upon an automatic system, based principally upon the returns of the decennial Census. For years it has seemed to me that this question of redistribution is one of fundamental and of vital importance to the Empire, and that until representation has been readjusted upon the broad basis of equality through- out Great Britain and Ireland the wheels of legislation must remain at the mercy of many ruts and of many chances to which they would not otherwise be exposed. May I venture to remind you that we have within the Empire—viz., in the Dominion of Canada—the system of automatic redistribu- tion based upon the Census already in operation, and ap- parently working well, and without strain or disturbance to the Dominion? The principle which should, I think, be adopted: is already embodied in the Statute Law of the Canadian Consti- tution, and is as follows. At each recurring Census the repre- sentation throughout the Dominion is automatically revised in accordance with a standard fixed for all time (if I am not mistaken) as it would apply to the State of Quebec. This principle should be established upon a standard of numerical representation which would prevail throughout the United Kingdom, and which would be independent of any speCial claims which may from time to time be urged by England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. It may reasonably be objected that time is necessary for the carrying out of proposals such as these; my answer to such an objection is that the time between now and the next Census in 1911 is neither too long nor too short for discussion and decision upon so momentous a question as that of redistribution.—
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