BELFAST RIOTS From Sir Knox Cunningham, MP SIR,—Mr. Quinn takes
a strange view of Ulster and shows a certain prejudice in his suggestions. He wants university representation abolished in the Parliament of Northern Ireland and, of course, one may or may not agree with this view. But to infer that democracy is lacking because Queen's Uni- versity sends one Independent, one Liberal and two Unionist Members to Stormont is carrying 'one man one vote' a little far. Did Britain first become a democracy in 1950? That was the first election to be held without university representation at Westminster.
Again, Mr. Quinn suggests a curb on the 'gerrymander prevalent in Northern Ireland.' These are the facts. The twelve Ulster parliamentary constituencies are fixed by a statute of the United Kingdom. Their Members are elected by universal adult suffrage. At the general election each con- stituency returned a Unionist. The highest majority was 35,000 and the lowest 6,000. The total votes cast were as follows: 401,897 Unionist, 102,767 Socialist, 101,628 Republican, 17,354 Liberal, 14,678 others. Is this a gerrymander? This overwhelming Unionist vote showed the determination of the people. It was democracy at work.
House of Commons, SW! KNOX CUNNINGHAM
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