Scottish Geographical Magazine

ISSN: 0036-9225 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsgj19

The new parliamentary division of , under the representation of the people act, 1918

Ralph Richardson

To cite this article: Ralph Richardson (1918) The new parliamentary division of Scotland, under the representation of the people act, 1918, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 34:8, 294-298, DOI: 10.1080/14702541808554160

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14702541808554160

Published online: 30 Jan 2008.

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Download by: [University of York] Date: 12 June 2016, At: 05:50 29¢ SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL ~IAGAZINE.

very great attention to the physical training of schoolgirls, and, finally, you must not be suprised to find that our women take an active part in our civil wars. Our army has been thoroughly reorganised on modern lines, and is now equipped with modern weapons. The old type of soldiers wore sandals, and carried bows and arrows; they knew nothing of modern discipline and warfare. Towards the end of the last century the Chinese army was re-equipped. Soldiers were taught to fire rifles. But the establishment of the Republic marked a further advance in the organisation and equipment of our array. The Chinese troops of to-day have been trained on European lines and sometimes by European officers. A word or two on the current political events in China to conclude my lecture. The Revolution in 1912 resulted in the establishment of the Republic. Since then the country has seen much internal disturbance, and the North and the South are now in armed conflict. But the Chinese, according to their traditions, are always ready to compromise in their quarrels, and I have reason to expect that compromise will eventually hold the different parts of the country together. The development of railways will shorten the distance between the different provinces, and will enable the Central Government to exercise a more effective control over them. R~preseutative government has been introduced into China, but unless people arc sufficiently educated to form a real and genuine public opinion, representative government then tends to become a tyranny by ~he representatives. Federation may provide a means to develop the vast country, but centralisation is still more urgent. The future of China lies in her economic development and in her popular education. These problems have already been attacked in a perfunctory manner, but more remains to be done. I conclude my lecture with the hope that disinterested and sympathetic friends of China in Scotland and England will always extend to China a helping hand in her times of difficulty.

Downloaded by [University of York] at 05:50 12 June 2016 THE NEW PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION OF SCOTLAND, UNDER THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT, 1918.

PP~OBABL¥ no revolution was ever effected more quietly than by the passing of the Act of 6th February last, which, it is expected, will increase the Parliamentary Electorate of the United Kingdom from a little over eight to almost sixteen and a half million of voters--six millions of whom will be women. An admirable Report by a specially appointed Boundary Commission for Scotland preceded the passing of the Act, and will be found in the Society's Library. 1 The present notice is based upon its terms.

1 I~eport of the Bou~dary ~em~nissio~n (Scotland}. Presented to Parliament, 1917. Price, with a Map of each Constituellcy, 8s. net. THE NEW PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION OF SCOTLAND. 295

According to the Secretary for Scotland's instructions to the Soot- ~ish Boundary Commissioners, they were to divide the population of Scotland in such a manner as to give one Member of Parliament for each population of 70,000, and for every multiple of 70,000, and an additional member for any remainder which was not less than 50,000. In carrying out these instructions, the Commissioners divided Scot- land into the following separate constituencies; and their Report was agreed to by Parliament with a few unimportant amendments which are given effect to in this summary of its terms :---

ESTIMATED I°OPU - LATION 1914. COUNTY OF AND KINCARDINE. 3 Members. Central Division, . 65,701 Eastern Do., . . G4,751 Kincardine and Western Division, 47,931 Divided 2arliamentary 2urgh of Aberdeen. 2 Members, 163,044 North Division, 78,084 South, Do., 84,960 .COUNTY OF . 1 Member, 64,354 No Parliamentary . ,COUNTY OF AND BUTE. 3 Members. Bute and Northern Division, 73,473 Kilmarnoek Division, 72,124 South Do., 65,754 Ayr Dis~ric[ of ~ur~jhs. 1 Member, . 69,101 (Ayr, , Irvine, , Salteoats, and .) ~COuNTY OF BANFF. 1 Member, 58,453 No Parliamentary Burghs. -COUNTY OF BERWICK AND HADDINGTON. 1 Member, 70,481 No Parliamentary Burghs. 'COUNTY OF AND . 1 Member, 48,739 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF DU)IBARTON. 1 Member, 74,946 Dumbavton District of' ]~'gh.~. 1 Member, 65,100 Downloaded by [University of York] at 05:50 12 June 2016 ( and .) COUNTY OF DU~4FRIES, 1 Member, 69,437 No Parliamentary Burghs. 'COUNTY OV . 2 Members. Eastern Fife Division, 70,211 Western Fife Do., 75,446 Du¢~fermli¢~e District of/gurghs. 1 Member, 58,274 (, , , and Loehgelly.) Kirkcal@ District of Burghs. 1 Member, . . 67,436 (Kirkealdy, Buckhaven, Methil and Inner!even, , Dysart, and Kinghorn.) 4~OUNTY OF . I Member, 47,767 Parliamentary ~urgh of . 2 Member~, . 176,838 296 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

EST[MA TED Popur LAT][ON ]914. ~[ont¢o3e Dis[,rid of B~rj/~s. 1 Member, 51,773 (Montrose, , Breehin, Forfar, anct Kirrie- muir, with in Kincardine County.) CouNTY OF GALLOWAY. 1 Member, 66,489' (Counties of Kirkeudbright and . i CouNTY oF AND ROSS AND . 3 Members. Inverness Division 65,956 Division, 44,330 Western Isles Do., 44,683 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF . 7 Members. Northern Division, 70,241 Coatbridge Do., 67,540 Do., 71,990 Hamilton, Do., 64,592 Bothwell Do., 71,675 Motherwelt Do., 68,596 Lanark, Do., 61,975 Parliamenta,ry of G[asgo,~,. 15 Members, 1,053,926 Bridgeton Division, 77,000 Camlachie Do., 74,500 Cathcart Do., 67,500 Central Do., 66,500 Gorbals Do., 90,500 Govan Do., 68,500 ~ Hillhead Do., 5~ 000 Kelvingrove Do., 76 500 Maryhill Do., 71 000 Patrick Do., 57 000 Pollok Do., 60 000 St. Rollox Do., 77 000 Shettleston Do., 68 500

Downloaded by [University of York] at 05:50 12 June 2016 Springburn Do., 74 000 Tradeston Do., 71,500 COUNTY OF . 1 Member, . 80,344 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF AND PEEBLES. 2 Members. Northern Division, 54,045 Peebles and Southern Diw'ision, 49,892 Pa,rliarne~ary B~lrgh of . 1 Member, . 80,241 Parliamentary Burgh of . 5 Members, 341,057 Central Division, . . . 71,190" (St. Giles', George Square, and St,. Leonard's Wards.) East Division, . 58,495. (Ca ongate Ward, Portibollo, M ss;lbu gh.) THE kNEW PARLIAhIEblTAKY DIVISION OF SCOTLAND. 297

]~STIMATED POPU~ LA~ION I~ 1914. North Division, . . . . 68,750. (Calton, Broughton, St: Stephen's and St. An- drew's Wards.) South Division, . . 67,588 (Newington, Morningside, and Merchiston Wards.) West Division, . . . 75,034 (Gorgie, Haymarket, St. Bernard's, and Dalry Wards.) AND . 1 Member, 49,817 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF AND ZETLAND. 1 Member, 50,501 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF PERTH AND KINROSS. 2 Members. Perth Division, . . 73,238 Kinross and Western Division, 53,225 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF I~EI~FREW. 2 Members. Eastern Division, . 60,099 Western Division, 59,852 U~divicled Parliamentary Burghs : Greenock. 1 Member, 77,642 Paisley. 1 Member, . . 86,593 COUNTY OF I~OXBURGH AND SELKIRK. 1 Member, 68,259 No Parliamentary Burghs. COUNTY OF AND CLACKMANNAN. 2 Members. Clackmannan and Eastern Division, 69,818 Western Division, -- 54,183 Undivided Parliamentary .Burgh : Stirling and District of Burghs. 1 Member, . . . 65,234 (Stirling, Falkirk, and .) By the foregoing statutory division, Scotland was allotted 71 Downloaded by [University of York] at 05:50 12 June 2016 members of Parliament, whereof 38 represented counties and 33 parlia- mentary burghs or districts of burghs. As Scotland was also, under the Act, to have 3 University members (by means of a combined University constituency of the Universities of St. Andrews, , Aberdeen, and Edinburgh), her total representation in Parliament would be 74 members, or two members more than formerly. With regard to the political effect of the above geographical distribution of Scottish members of Parliament, it is plain from the foregoing division that the county of Lanark, with its 7 county and 15 Glasgow members, or 22 in all, will possess a preponderating parlia- mentary influence as compared with that of other counties. As the bulk of the population of the country lies in the Scottish Midlands, we are not surprised to find that the counties and burghs of Lanark, Dumbarton, Ayr, , Midlothian, Linlithgow, and Stirling VOL. XXXIV, Z 298 SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE.

and Claekmannan, with their united 44 members, contain considerably more than one-half of the parliamentary representation of Scotland. At the same time, the d{vision has been so carefully and fairly made by the Commissioners, that the rest of Scotland has no cause to complain, as even its remotest districts have been allotted an adequate number of members. Some attractive novelties in the designation of constituencies (while also refreshing recurrences to ancient designations) have been introduced by the Commissioners, such as applying the term "Western Isles" to ~she new constituency of the Outer Hebrides, and that of "Galloway" to the counties of Wigtown and , besides substituting the term "Moray and Nairn" for the former one of "Elgin and Nairn Shires." They have also avoided the solecism of adding the suffix "shire " to such complete place-names as "Argyll" and "Fife." In such an extremely diffficutt task as to divide Scotland into seventy- one fairly equal constituencies, the Commissioners have shown such skill and judgment that no locality can feel itself aggrieved. Proceeding on the only equitable basis, that of population, the Commissioners allotted constituencies according to the instructions they had received from the Secretary for Scotland. In the process of forming constituencies from populations, the latter occasionally vary considerably, from Ross and Cromarty and the Western Isles, each with a population of a little over 44,000, up to Corbels, Glasgow, with its population of 90,500. But it has always been held that the more remote districts of Scotland should, considering their remoteness, inaccessibility and great extent, have special opportunities of being represented in Parliament; and it may be safely concluded that none of the fifteen members of Glasgow will grudge the two seats awarded to the places mentioned in the far North, although the populations of the latter cannot compare with those of their own constituencies. This notice being confined to the purely geographical distribution of constituencies made by the Commissioners, the legal qualifications of voters are not referred to. As the Registers of Voters under the Act are not to be definitely published till October 1918, we shall not know till then the precise number of men and women who will be qualified to Downloaded by [University of York] at 05:50 12 June 2016 vote in each constituency. RALPtt RICHARDSON.

TRAVEL MEMORIES. 1

By Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. YATE, F.R.G.S., F.R.Hist. Soc. ( ~f~th Illustration, s.)

W~EN I last laid down my pen, five months ago, my brothel" and I were riding into Kumeshah to spend the night of the 9th June 1881 at the telegraph bungalow there. Arrival at dusk and departure at dawn

I Continued from p. 113.