Mr. Kimber contributes to Wednesday's Times a very long letter
dealing with that most important topic, "One vote, one value." England, it may be remembered, has thirty- three Members too few, Wales one too many, Scotland four too many, and Ireland twenty-nine too many. But though, as our readers are well aware, we consider the introduction of a juster scheme of representation of the very utmost import- ance, we cannot agree with all Mr. Kimber's practical proposals for reform. We hold that the best plan would be for Parlia- ment to agree upon some automatic principle of adjustment. After a proper apportionment between the three kingdoms, the existing constituencies should be, as far as possible, levelled up and down—with due reference, of course, to his- toric considerations—and then it should be enacted that whenever in future it was shown by the Census that a con- stituency had fallen below a certain population or risen above it, a readjustment should be made by a non-party Commis- sion. For example, if fifty thousand were taken as the normal constituency, it might be enacted that whenever the population bad risen above eighty thousand it should be divided into two, and if ever a constituency fell below twenty-five thousand it should be thrown into an adjacent constituency. If that raised the neighbouring constituency above the eighty thousand level, then, of course, a new divi- sion would be required. Again, though we bold most strongly that the matter should be dealt with by this Parliament, we cannot help feeling that the spring of 1901 would be the best moment, as by that time the general results of the Census will be known, and we shall therefore have firm ground to work on. That, too, will be the last Session of this Parliament, and so the right moment for a Redistribution Bill.
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