But the Opposition, having abandoned their resistance to the grant of responsible government, now contend that on no account must the basis of the Lyttelton Constitution be departed from.  I am not convinced by that argument.  The Government are to pursue a new purpose, but to adhere to the old framework.  We are to cut off the head of the Lyttelton Constitution, but are to preserve the old trunk and graft a new head on it.  I do not believe that any Government, approaching this question from a new point of view, uncompromised and unfettered, would be bound by the framework and details of the Lyttelton Constitution.  It may be that that Constitution contains many excellent principles, but the Government have a right to consider things from the beginning, freshly and freely, to make their own plans in accordance with their own ideas, and to present those plans for the acceptance of the House.

The noble lord the Member for South Birmingham spoke of the principle of “one vote, one value,” which was embodied in the Lyttelton Constitution.  The principle of “one vote, one value” is in itself an orthodox and unimpeachable principle of democracy.  It is a logical, numerical principle.  If the attempt be made to discriminate between man and man because one has more children and lives in the country, it would be arguable that we should discriminate because another man has more brains or more money, or lives in the town, or for any other of the many reasons that differentiate one human being from another.  The only safe principle, I think, is that for electoral purposes all men are equal, and that voting power, as far as possible, should be evenly distributed among them.

In the Transvaal the principle of “one vote, one value” can be made operative only upon a basis of voters.  In nearly every other country in the world, population is the usual basis of distribution, for population is the same as electorate and electorate the same as population.  On both bases the distribution of the constituencies would be the same.  There is, for instance, no part of this country which is more married, or more celibate, or more prolific than any other part.  It is only in the Transvaal, this country of afflicting dualities and of curious contradictions, where everything is twisted, disturbed, and abnormal, that there is a great disparity between the distribution of seats on the basis of voters and on the basis of population.  The high price of provisions in the towns restricts the growth of urban population, and the dullness of the country districts appears to be favourable to the growth of large families.  It is a scientific and unimpeachable fact that, if you desire to apply the principle of “one vote, one value” to the Constitution of the Transvaal, that principle can best be attained—­I am not sure that it cannot only be attained—­on the basis of voters, and that is the basis Mr. Lyttelton took in the Constitution he formed.