929

REPORT

ADOPTED BY THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

ON THE ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.

THE Select Committee appointed to inquire into, and report on, the relative proportions of electors in the several Electoral Districts proposed by the Provincial Council Enlargement Bill, humbly lay before the House the following tabular view of the constituency in the respective districts, and of the proportion of members to population in each of the districts:—

(Which it is proposed to divide into—)

| Invercargill | 16 | 1 | „ 16 |
| Oreti East | — | 1 | „ thereby 48 or |
| Oreti West | — | 1 | „ thereby 58 or |

Although not strictly embraced within the terms of the remit to them, the Committee beg leave to recommend—

1. That the Electoral Rolls should be taken as the basis for calculating the number of representatives of the various districts.

2. That exceptions to the above rule may be made where there is reason to believe that a large proportion of the population is unregistered.

3. That special interests, such as those of inhabitants of towns and occupiers of pastoral country, ought to be represented without strict regard to the rule or the exception.

On these principles the Committee beg further to report,

That it is advisable to adopt the alterations proposed by the Bill, and also to constitute out of the Central and Northern Districts a new district, as prayed for by a petition before the House.

That this other new district, which it is proposed to call the Maniototo District, will contain a population of sixty, of whom twenty or thirty are registered electors, and that if constituted, the Central and Northern Districts, out of which it will be formed, will thereby suffer each a reduction of ten from their respective constituencies.

That the Oreti East and West Districts should not include any part of the Clutha or Tokomairiro Districts.

That the number of members for each of the Districts should be as follows:—

For the Town of Dunedin District—five members.

For the Town of Port Chalmers District—one member.

For the Town of Invercargill—one member.

For the Eastern District—three members.

For the Western District—three members.

For the Central District—three members.

For the Tokomairiro District—two members.

For the Clutha District—two members.

For the Oreti East District—one member.

For the Oreti West District—one member.

For the Northern District—two members.

For the Maniototo District—one member.

REPORT

ADOPTED BY THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

ON THE BOUNDARY QUESTION.

THE Committee having fully considered the subject, recommend to the House the adoption of the following resolutions:—

1. That the definition of the boundaries of the two Provinces, in Sir George Grey’s proclamation of 28th February 1853, is clear and explicit; and its unambiguous and obvious meaning ought not, and cannot, be explained away by any conjectural interpretation, or by reference to Sir George Grey’s other proclamation, defining the electoral districts of the two provinces.

Sir George Grey was delegated by Parliament to define the boundaries of the Provinces by proclamation. When he had done so, the proclaimed definition became a part of the Constitution Act, as much so to all intents and purposes as if the boundaries had been defined in the body of the Act itself; and Sir George Grey having performed the duty assigned to him, became functus officio, and had no more power than any private individual to alter the boundaries, or, by a second proclamation, to put a construction on the meaning of his first proclamation different from its clear and obvious meaning.

2. That, as this Council is advised, it is a fixed rule of construction of any statute—and the reason of the rule applies equally to any proclamation in pursuance of a statute—that the principle of equitable construction is not to be carried beyond the words and obvious meaning, if these be not inconsistent with the intent and object; and, consequently, that the Commissioner is not at liberty, in favour of a supposed intention, to disregard the express letter and unequivocal meaning of the proclamation.

3. That in the opinion of this Council it would appear that the boundary fixed by the proclamation of Sir George Grey,