CHAP. VI] THE LOWER HOUSES 513
the prescribed quota of electors, after taking into considera-
tion the margin of allowance of one-fifth, that, in the opinion
of the Governor in Council, it has become necessary to reduce
or increase, as the case may be, the number of such electors,
30 as to approximate the same to the said quota, the Governor
in Council may appoint three electoral commissioners with
power to alter the boundaries of the electoral district.
Provision is made that the commissioners shall consider any
objections made to the proposed alterations, and for the
making by the principal electoral registrar of new rules to
suit the altered circumstances.
It is important to note that no discretion is given to the
Governor in Council to vary the report of the commissioners,
and that therefore their award shall be final. But redis-
tribution is not automatic.
In the other states there is no provision for automatic
redistribution. Tasmania has adopted the proportional
system of representation with large divisions returning six
members, and in 1910 Western Australia redistributed the
seats on a basis attacked by the Labour party as concerned
solely in the interests of the Government! In Victoria and
South Australia also the electorates are fixed by Act. So
also in Newfoundland and in. the Provinces of Canada.
In Canada, in the Dominion, redistribution is compulsory,
but not automatic, under the British North America Act and
4 & 5 Edw. VII. cc. 3 and 42, as the result of each quinquen-
nial census. Accordingly the House was last redistributed in
1903 and 1907, when very considerable changes were made, the
basis being the sixty-five members of Quebec.2 The creation
of the new provinces in 1905 in Saskatchewan and Alberts
led to very bitter accusations of gerrymandering? A new
redistribution falls due as the result of the census of 1911,
t See Parliamentary Debates, 1910-1, pp. 1499 seq. and passim; Act
No. 6 of 1911.
* Cf. Canadian Annual Review, 1903, pp. 46 seq., and see the cases, in
re Representation of Certain Provinces in the House of Commons, 33 S. C. R,
175, and in re Representation of Prince Edward Island in the House of
Jommons, 33 8. C. R. 594, and [1905] A. C. 37. For 1907, see 6 & 7 Edw.
VII c. 41. % See Canadian Annual Review, 1905, p. 104,
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