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THE CENSUS AND REPRESENTATION.

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THE CENSUS AND REPRESENTA- TION. ARTICLE III. To resume my tale, I proceed lastly to institute a comparison between the Celtic and the manufacturing districts. First, I find that Cornwall with a population of 322,589, which is decreasing, has seven members, one of whom sits for a borough made up somewhat after the fashion of grouping which finds so much favour in Liberal eyes, while Northumberland, which has a population of 506,096, au increase of upwards of 70,000, has only eight, and Durham, with a population of 1,016,449 has only 15, or just over double that of Cornwall, though the population is more than three times the amount, and instead of decreasing, has increased by nearly 140 000' Next I take all Wales, excluding Glamorgan, and I find that the aggregate popu- lation of the 11 counties is 831,767, with 20 mem- bers, whereas Warickshire which has risen from 737,339 to 805,070, has only 14. To agravate matters nine out of the 11 Welsh counties show a decrease, and though there is an increase in the other two yet the whole 11 taken together has decreased nearly 20,000- We will examine a little further. The great increase in Waricksbire is due to Birmingham and Aston Manor, and this is what we find. In Birmingham the Edgbas- ton Division has a population of 67,682 the West, 69,508; the Central, 59,099 North, 62,948 East, 65,683; Bordsley, 82,863; South, 70,334. It will be observed that each returns one member. Reversing the Welsh process, where, though two counties have gained, the 11, taken as a whole have lost. I find that though two of these divisions have lost, yet that the whole has risen from 436,971 to 478,117. Finally, Aston Manor has risen from 53,842 to 68,639. In Wales, Angelsey, with a population of 50,079, has one member; Brecknock, with 57,031, has the same and so has Cardigan with 62,596 but Carmarthen, with 130,574, hait three members, or about 44,000 to each member; and so has Carnarvon with 118,225, and Denbigh with 117,958. My list closes with Merioneth, with one member for 49,204 and Flint with two, with 77,189 so that the aggregate of 662,848, which is decreasing, boasts of 15 members, as against the eight ever- increasing Birmingham. I have taken the counties alphabetically in order to compare them with the eight Birmingham Divisions, but the three remaining counties Montgomery, Pembroke, Radnor, would have proved equally serviceable, because they numher togother 168,919 inhabitants, a decrease of 12,143. and have four members. But then there is this essential difference, Bir- mingham is a great stronghold of the Liberal Unionist Party, while Wales is the citadel of the Sectarian Separatists, and Birmingham may rest well assured that she will never obtain a recognition of her undoubted rights so long as it is possible to bolster up a Separatist Govern- ment by artificial means. And now we turn to Ireland. In the first place we find that Leinster, with a population of 1,195,718, a decrease since the last Census of 83'371, has 28 M.P.'s, while Lancashire, with a population of 3,926,798, an increase of 472,360, has 57, so that, with more than three times the population, she has only double the members and the West Riding with a population of 2,441,164, an increase of 265,873, has 37, so that with more than double the population, she has only one-third more representants. Similarly, Munster with 1,163,994, a decrease of 162,121, has 25 members, so that the two together with a population of 2,364,712, have 53 members, which is 16 more than the West Riding with a larger and ever-increasing population. Again, Ulster, Munster, and Leinster have together 3,982,589 inhabitants who are represented by 86 members, 26 more than Lancashire, which has almost an exactly equal population. The cases of Ulster and Connaught taken together are not 80 glaring. We will now descent a little more into detail. But first I would remark that it is evidently true that the mental condition of the Englishman and the Irishman are, as has often been said, essentially, different, because the Englishman, as we have been told on high authority, does not require an adequate representa- tion if he reside near the seat of Government. But with the Irishman it appears to be exactly the reverse. This would seem to be proved, because in the county divisions of Middlesex the average population is 53,000 per member, in Surrey 57,000, and in Kent, nearly P3,000. In Leinster it is 43,000, and even this average, low as it is, is due in a great measure to Dublin and Wexford with their 150,215 and 111,536 respectively. Dublin is the great stronghold of the loyal minority outside Ulster, and moreover is the only county which shows an increase, i.e., 4,587. If these were omitted we should find the average as low as 33,000 per member. The proper everage for each constituency is 56,000 for each member, so that every man calculate for himself. It is, of course, impossible to maintain mathematical accuracy, but it is possible to avoid grotesque anomaly, glaring incon- latency, gross and flagrant injustice. I find that Carlow, with one member, has 40,899 in- habitants. Kildare, with two divisions, each with a member, has 69,988. Kilkenny, with a total population of 87,154, has three members, one for each of the two divisions and one for the decaying borough of Kilkenny, whose population amounts to 13,323 (I do not suppose that anything 80 monstrous exists in our representation, save Galway and Newry), so that Kilkenny, with three members, has an aggregate population of 87,154, whereas she should have 100,000 moie. Next we have King's County, two divisions, 65,408 Queen's County, two divisions, 64,636; Weatmeath, two divisions, 64,028 Wicklow, two divisions, 61,934. These 19 divisions, including the borough, have an aggregate population of 641,748, with 20 members, their proper number being 11 and they have decreased 70,000 in the last decade. In Munster, not to go too much into detail, Waterford has two divisions for a. population 70,507; also one member for Waterford Town, which has .only 27,623 inhabitants. But it is very obvious that Waterford Town and County together fall far short of the fair proportion for two members. Coming to Ulster, we have Fermanagh with two divisions for 74,037, and in Monaghan we have the same for 86,089. Also in Leitrim there are two divisions for 78,379, and Galway has four divisions for 197,254; seeing that this is much below the proper average, it is also a decrepit borough with a population of 16,g42 and a decrease of 2,229, so that the two combined would not at the present moment furnish the full quota for four members, which is 224,000. It may be observed that Galway itself has decreased 25,520, without including the borough. These are the most flagrant instances, but Many a little makes a mickle," and out of 87 divisions onlv 29 attain an average of 50,000, while only i5 reach the required standard of 56,000. Compare the county divisions of Lancashire. North Lancashire has 4 divisions, but the average population to each is 64,000 (so that the representation of many parts of Ireland as compared with Lancashire is exactly double) South-East has eight divisions, and here the average is 73,000 South-West has seven, and the average is almost exactly 70,000. The total population (excluding of course, the boroughs) is 1,644,494, and the members are 23, whereas they ought to be 29, Here, again, the truth of the proverb, Many a little, is mani- fested. It will be observed that the Leinster population, even including Dublin and Wexford, with exactly the same number of members, has only 903,499 inhabitants, Dublin City being omitted. This is a strong reversal of justice: Again, in the West Riding there are in the Northerii part" five divisions .with an average of 60,000 individuals to each elector. In the Southern eight divisions, with an average of 70,000, ilud in the Eastern part six divisions, with an average of 56,000. If we take the boroughs the case is the same. Sheffield has five divisions with an average of 65,000, Salford three with an average of 66,000, and Manchester with six with an average of 75,000. Why did Manchester a declare herself T(,ry ? So in Leeds there is an average of over 70,000 for each of her five members. and in Liverpool there is an average of 65,000, While Oldham has two members for 183,871, the combined representation of Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, and Newry with 183,365 inhabitants, consists of five ™e™bevs. And it cannot be too often insisted upon that in the long and dreamy monotony of Irish decay there are only four poiuts of relief—Dublin City, Dublin County, Londonderry, Belfast, the latter alone being striking, while in the English instances the reverse is everywhere the CHse save occasion- ally in the Central Districts, where the loss consequent on the substitution of warehouses and other purely business premises for dwelling is more than compensat(:- for by the suburban increase, and is, in fact, indicative of increasing prosperity. I am well aware that in a thoroughly adequate reconstruction mure than one district in England, even in the heart of those communities which are most flourishing, would be deprived of its representation* nor am I ignorant that the change would not always conduce to the immediate benefit of my Party. But I would scorn to assist at a game of beggar my neighbour, having my country for stake. There are two races in the British Islands utterly distinct in origin, interest, and aims from the dominant people, races which have always been distinct, from the remortest ages, and always will be distinct, races which may be absorbed but which can never be conciliated. We face a very serieus crisis, a time when no man seems to have any fixed opinions, when every- thing is doubted, everything is to be changed, and nothing considered stable. Hence arises a party which baa no fixed views, no determinate policy, not even the most ordinary business capacity, but who seek, each one, their individual ends or crotchets. To do this, being utterly reck- less of the future provided that they can air their own nostrums, they appeal to the passions of the ignorant by the most extravagant exaggeration. I will not go further. Devoid of the most ordinary statesmanship of the most elementary ideas of government, their sole object is to obtain a majority at any cost, to endeavour (because they seldom succeed to carry out the crotchets which each considers infallible. At their head (one can- not call him lender) is a man who without a tittle of statesmanlike ability (it is one of the evil omens of the day that he is called the '■ greatest living Englishman" and the"greatest statesman of the 19th century") is marked out by the nature of things for his position. No greater danger could possibly befall this country. The whole of the last 25 years shows that, while capable in the highest degree of exciting, he is utterly incapable of governing, and that the result of bis accession to power would be, as before, anarchy at home and ruin abroad. Under his foreign policy the peace, the hononr, the safety even, of the Empire is not safe, from week to week. But such is the nature of ignorance that all his countless blunders, blunders infatuate and sublime, are powerless to undeceive his dopes, or rather, in fact, as fast as they are undeceived, another horde of the ignorant are discovered by those whose business it is to support him as leader for the furtherance of their own ends. But the great centres of industry and population are beginning to understand things aright, are beginning to see the absolute necessity of a businesslike and orderly Administration as against the wild theories of vain and selfish crotchet-mongers. Farther, they are beginning to see, at present perhaps dimly, that our safety in the not very distant future lies in the consolidation of our Empire before the war of tariffs and the war of races, pressing upon one another for the liberty of expansion, begins, and will refuse to play from the very commencement into the hands of their rivals at the bidding of effete and expiring nationalities.—Yours, &c., C. G. COLLETON RENNIE.

SOCIETY AND PERSONAL.

ICARMARTHEN. -----------------------------

LLANDYSSUL JOTTINGS.

NEUADDFAWR FOXHOUNDS.

\THEATRICAL FIRE.

WAUNIFOR, LLANDYSSUL.

MYNACHLOGDDU.

PONTARDL- LAIS,

WHITLAND.

EGLWYS CUMMIN.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC.

- HUNTING APPOINTMENTS. :

Family Notices

.NEW YEAR'S GIFTS.