WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 142, 17 June 1926, Page 11

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

CABINET MAKING. THE NEW MINISTER. CONTENTIOUS LEGISLATION. (From Our Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, June 15. Curious folk who love poking their noses into other people's business are still wondering why the Prime Minister left the Hon. K. S. Williams to announce his own appointment to the Cabinet. Early last week it was common talk in his own constituency that Mr. Williams had been induced to accept the remaining portfolio Mr. Coates had to give away. On Thursday the "Evening Post" had it on the best authority that the story flying about the Bay of Plenty was true, but it failed to obtain what it deemed the necessary confirmation from the Prime Minister, and the public remained unconvinced. The Prime Minister declared he knew nothing about the matter. On Friday the morning papers made no allusion to the subject, presumably having failed to extract any information from the head of the Government but on Saturday they published the official announcement of Mr. Williams' appointment. Just what was the object of all this mystery and delay it is difficult even to conjecture. It really was a feather in the Prime Minister's cap to have overcome Mr. Williams' reluctance to accept office, and one would have thought he would have made the most of his achievement. The new Minister will be a very distinct acquisition to the Cabinet, his pleasant personality, his sturdy independence, and his knowledge of affairs having made him popular both in the House and in the lobbies. As a tactical move his appointment is the happiest of all Mr. Coates' efforts at Cabinet making.

The Ministerial Multitude. The appointment of Mr. Williams as Minister of Public Works brings the numerical strength of the Cabinet up to fourteen, six more than the number considered necessary when Mr. Massey took office fourteen years ago, and two more than were required to balance parties and carry exceptional burdens during the course of the Great War. Mr. Coates makes no apology for this substantial increase. Cn the contrary, in announcing the completion of his team, he expresses to the disappointed aspirants for portfolios regret that he is unable to give them their deserts forthwith. "I should like to repeat," he says, "that where there are so many eligible members of the party which I have the honour to lead, I have found the task of making the selection of new Ministers no easy one. I know it is impossible in these matters to give universal satisfaction, but I have endeavoured to pick a team that will, I believe, give of their best in the service of the Dominion." Statements of thie kind usually are reserved for the privacy of the party caucus,- but it is one of the charming manifestations of his exuberant boyishness that Mr. Coates takes the whole wide world into his personal confidences without any thought of the purpose to which they may be turned by his political opponents.

Licensing and Gaming. It is generally expected that measures dealing with licensing and gaming will be submitted to Parliament during the session opening to-morrow. Licensing is likely to prove the more contentious of the two subjects, as it concerns intimately a much larger section of the community than does the totalisator; but there is a. feling abroad that the present House of Representatives will look with more favour upon proposals for extending the time between the option polls than has any previous House since the institution of popular control. The Prime Minister has made no secret of his view that to obtain the necessary hotel accommodation throughout the country and to maintain it at a high standard of quality the owners must be given some approach to security of tenure in return for their additional expenditure. It will be surprising if a large proportion of the members of the new House, irrespective of party, do not endorse this view. As for the gambling proposals these are not likely to go much further than does the leerislation already on the statute book. What is wanted here more than anything else is vigorous administration, and the new Minister of Justice, the Hon. F. J. Rolleston, has made sucn a good beginning in this respect that the question very well might be allowed to stand over till the full results of his policy are revealed.