29 JUNE 1901, Page 16

IRISH REPRESENTATION.

(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATORM SIR,—Assuming the expediency (which may be questioned), as well as the justice (which I do not doubt), of correcting the over-representation of Ireland, it might be done without all the complication of a general Redistribution Bill. The House of Commons is far too large already. It would be a gain in itself to leave the representation of England and Scotland untouched, and to reduce that of Ireland to the same proportion. A scheme of periodic, and in some sense automatic, redistribution such as you suggest is excellent in itself, but would involve almost as much discussion, and as many incompatible theories, as proportional representation