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Wrember~*Nort"of Dutterm _ are count tituencies.: in . Gre? 59 05". with a total population of; | 00 " Bm Average of 19,683 for} . 20 _ Constituency. Under the pl&D,| | d owing the idere<©of Old Country| | 'b llbenls. the two counties would be | ulked, the single transferable vote : ggblied. and three members return-- | a 'e""h representing, on an aver-- elgec't 24,772 population. Each| TOt or in the two counties would | e for three men, and the suc-- :gsstul candidates would represent e whole territory, instead of an| individual pertion. | For the most part, the interests f of these counties are identical. Just l' now four U.F.O. members are re-- turned, but it is difficult to figure| what political advantage would | accrue to any party under such a | scheme. Already the voice of Duf-- ferin has been heard: that it must retain its membership of one, and that county lines must remain in--| violate. It would seem that or-- dinary election justice demands| some change there, and it is argued that the wrench of abandoning iso-- lation would be much less felt under P.R. than if the old--time system were applied. Along the St. Lawrence. Then, along the St. Lawrence 'sever,al constituencies present diffi-- | culties similar to Dufferin, if county | boundaries are not to be disturbed. Dundas, Grenville, Leeds and Brockville each have one member, |though in the case of none of these | constituencies does the population |reach twenty thousand. The 1921 |census figures are: Dundas, 17,309; -- Grenville, 18,644; Leeds, 17,048, and Brockville, 17,861. The total population for the four is 70,861, | which, if the constituencies were bulked and the single transferable vote applied, would give an aver-- ageo of 23,620 for each of three members. But what a kick there would be from Conservatives, who are beginning to think this terri-- tory is more or less their own || stamping ground. k Another possible rural grouping suitable for the single transferable | vote would be the two Victorias, | the two© Durhams and the two Northumberlands. Not one of these ' ridings now has 20,000 people, : ' while the total for the six is 87,602. With four mentbers selected by P.R. .each would represent an average of 21,900, which is low, even when two members are discarded. Not Shattering Geography. From these three examples it is . seen bhow the problem of represen-- tation by population for rurah On:-- j tario may be solved without a shat: tering of geography, which neces-- sarily must take place if the past -- ideas of redistribution are retained, _ ~ At once objection will be taken that | such changes would entail a | checker--board system of elections, and on this ground alone a strong and perhaps convincing argument may be built up. The special Legis-- lature committee of 1920 investi-- | gating P.R. did not go as far as the ideas here outlined, but the mem-- bers of that committee were with-- |\ out the very necessary information %provided by the 1921 census statis-- tics. That committee thought that grouping in urban and rural centres was not desirable, and accordingly confined its recommendations to Hamilton and Ottawa. Share Election Expenses. j If any consideration is given the| regrouping arrangements as Cx--| plained, another objection will be| voiced, to the effect that the rid--) . ; 'ings are altogether too large in °& _ area. The claim will be advanced i in behalf of the candidates that it As _ would be impossible to cover such , territories during a campaign, but, w in these days of Mr. Biggs'* good| [% roads such difficulties are more or ' less minimized. The argument is "*~~ / als0o heard that such bulking of 1 rural ridings would tend to reduce o s excessive election expenses, because' =© -- |'ne candidates of each party would _ _\ stand a8 joint candidates, and a,l.i _.. | most every l'lml,_n.lt:: _ _expense| [ 8 s 45 2