THE CABINET. ALLOTMENT OF PORTFOLIOS NEW MEN SELECTED. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S FAREWELL MESSAGE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 76, 29 March 1912, Page 3

THE CABINET. ALLOTMENT OF PORTFOLIOS NEW MEN SELECTED. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S FAREWELL MESSAGE.

Tho new Cabinet v;as announced last i night. Uncertainty began to merge into certainty about 4 p.m., whea Sh 1 Joseph Ward said good-bye to heads of departm«nt&. and at 5 o'clock he went up to Govarunieat House, handed in. his resignatiGn'to His Excellency tho Governor, and recommended him to send for the Han. T. Mackenzie. This -was* done, and the new Ministers were sworn 1 ; in shortly after 9 o'clock. The leconjvtiucted Cabinet is constituted as follows :—: — HON. THOMAS MACKENZIEPrime Minister, Minister .of Lands, Commissioner of state Ferests, Minister in Charge of Land for Settlements, Minister ef Agriculture, Minister of Industries and Commerce, Minister in Charge of Tourist and Health Resorts and Scenery Preservation Departments. HON. A. M. MYERS— Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister in Charge of Land and income Tax, Minister in Charge of State-guaranteed Advances Office, Minister of Railways. HON. W. D. S. MACDONALD— Native Minister, Minister of Public Works, Roads and Bridges, Minister in Charge of Valuation Department. ' HON. J. A. HANAN— Minister of Education, Minister of Stamp Duties, Minister of Justice, Minister in Charge of Police Department, Prisons Department, Crawn Law (including Law Drafting). HON. C. LAUNRENBON— Minister of Customs, Minister of Labour, Minister of Marine, Minister 'in Charge of inspection of Machinery Department. HON. C. W. RUSSELL— Minister in Charge of Hospital and Charitable Aid Department, Minister in Charge of Mental Hospitals Department, Minister of -Public! Health, Minister of immigration, Minister of internal. Affairs, Minister in Charge of State' Fire In- j surance, and Electoral and Ad-! vertising Departments, and Government Printing and Stationery Department* HON. J. COLVlN— Postmaster- Ceneral and Minister of Telegraphs, Minister of Mines, Minister in Charge of Old-age Pensions. ; HON. TE RA N CIH I RO A— Minister In Charge of Cook and other Islands Administration, Member of the Executive Council representing the Native Race, and, in . Charge of Maori Councils, Minister In Charge Of Government Insurance Department, Public Trust Department. ; HON. H. C. ELL— Member of the Executive Council, without portfolio. HON. T. BUXTON— Member of the Executive Council, without portfolio. The portfolio of Attorney-General, carrying a salary of £1000, has not yet been filled. It is suggested that if Mr Wilford's health is sufficiently restored i when he returns to New Zealand it will be offered to him. THE NEW MINISTERS | BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. ■ HON. A. MYERS. \ Mr. Myers is not a debater. /When he was first elected as an Independent) many people thought the House was going to have something special in the way of j debating power, but he failed to ma- i terialise as a speaker. His delivery lacks resonance and Huency, but he is immensely popular personally. Indeed, it would be difficult to name in Parliament a more likeable personality. Mr. Myers was born at Ballarat. Australia, in 1867. He was educated at the public school ! there and at Wellington College, and at the age of sixteen entered the employment of his uncle, Mr. Ehrenfried. Six months later he was appointed manager of the firm's Auckland business. His subsequent rise in the business world was little short of meteoric. Ou the amalgamation of his firm's business with Messrs. Brown, Campbell, and Co., he was appointed managing director. He has occupied a position on the directorate of the New Zealand Insurance Com* pany, has been chairman of His Majesty's Arcade and Theatre Company, and a director of the Auckland C4as Company. In 1897 he was appointed a J.P, Perhaps Mr. Myers's popularity is as much due to the fact that he is one of the best-known ull-round sports in AuckJaud as to anything else. He wa3 at on© time a, well-known figure ou the football field, and has won prizes as a swimmer and Odisniaii. During his term of office as Mayor of Auckland h* succeeded in carrying through many progressive schemes, including the building of the Town Hall, municipal abattoirs, -and the extension of the city water snppry scheme. Latterly he has been &no of \hs most untiring advocates of town Elaiining. He was first eJc-ted a uiemer of Parliament on the death of Mr. i"red. Baume, in 1910. HON W. MACDONALD. Mr William; Donald Stuart Mac Donald, until the hiaionc session of last February, when he delivered a vigorous and thoughtful speech, wae always looked up ac an unusually reserved and reticent Pafliarnentariiin. He is the son oi Mr. A. IS. 'Mac Donald, a Victorian pioneer, and iit 49 yeara of a<j;e. Ho was educated at tho. Moridalloc St«to School, and took up fariniuj/ in 6ipp6laud in 1876. Subsequently he took up droving and traversed most part* of the Australian continent. In 18S2 he came to New Zealand, ned ftv« years later accepted the management of a property ior the Bank of New Zealand ;*t Gisburue., Later h» purchased a. property of Tiis own, and now cariicß on cheep farming on an extensive scale. There was hardly a local body iv the district with which, he was not connected. He acted a<; provincial delegate to the Auckland JTanflffi*" Union, was for six year* chairman, of the Tokoniaiu School Committee, ha* occupied a Beso. c>n the Waiapu and Cook County Council*, and was cluuraian ojL £h.« ffaflggfett'jCfaanty; Council.

He also represents Waikohu on the Oisborne Harbour Board, and is president of the Poverty Bay Farmers' Club. Ho has also occupied a leading place on the local Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. This is Mr. Mac Donald's fourth year in Parliament as the representative of the Bay of Plenty. Since 1909 he has been Junior Government Whip. HON. G. LAITRENSON. Mr. George Lauren&on has been a wellknown figure in Parliament for some years new. Ec has distinct gii'i« as a speaker and has always b«en in the foiefront of radicalism. Ons can picture him in the rear ceats oi' the Government benches facing the Leader oi the Opposition, and declaring, as ho frequently did, "I wiil deal with you in a few niiuutes.'' Invariably in his speeches he has been well provided with statistics and he has a facility for making these more interesting than the average member. Always outs-poken, frequently bitter in his replies to criticism, impetuous at times, liked by his friends, disliked by his political enemies, he invariably succeeded in bringing on himself the full measure of his. opponents' wrath and the warmest commendation of his political admirers. He is the vary antithesis of Mr. Buddo, who could sit in his place for hours, when in charge of a Bill in committee, and remain utterly oblivious «f the criticism of his enemies "on the other side." Mr. Laurenson was born in Edinburgh and educated at a private school in the Shetland Islands. He arrived in New Zealand with his parents in 1876 and almost immediately entered tho employment of Mr. R. Forbes, Lyttelton, ship chandler. Eventually Mr. Laurenson entered into partnership with Mr. Foibes, but sold out of tho business in 1904. He firet entered public life as a member of the Lyttelton Borough Council, and succeeded" in being elected member for Lyttelton in the House of Representatives in 1899. Since that time he has held the seat continuously. He^has also been chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board, and is a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church. HON. J. HANAN. Mr. J. A. Hanan it another Radical. In recent times he ha« not been heard so frequently in the House as wa« the case some years ago. The member for Invercargill is not what may be called an attractive speaker. He takes .pains to marshal his facts, but is often excessively deliberate. And there will be no Tami Parata in the House to advise"Get a move on !" That oft-repeated objurgation of the ex-member for Southern Maori was to the 1 writer's mind the most delightful command in the political calender, especially, when it was hurled at «ome plodder in the small hour* of the morning. Mr. Hanan is a, barrister and solicitor, who has practised his profeasion at Invercargill for many years. He has always taken a very prominent part m th© advancement of education, and has been chairman of the Education Committee of the House of Representatives. He first took his seat in Parliament a* member for Invercargill in 1899, and has been re-elected on each occasion that he has since gone before his constituents. HON. G. RUSSELL. Mr. George Warren Russell, in Parliament a man vigorous and able in debate, was born in London in 1854, but canie to Tasmania at an early age, and was educated partly in Launceston and partly in New Zealand. He served his apprenticeship as a printer in the office of this paper. In 1878 he was subeditor of the Wellington Chrouicle, a position from which he retired to establish the Manawatu Herald. Subsequently he owned the Mana.wa.tu Times and later established the Waikato News. In 1899 he commenced business, with a partner, as printer in Christchurch, and since 1897 has owned and edited a. weekly paper, The- Spectator, in Christchurch. From 1894 to 1896 he represented Riccarton in Parliament, was defeated at the next election, but represented the seat again in 1900. In 1908 he defeated Mr. W. W. Tanner for Avon. He is chairman of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, and has occupied a very prominent place on till the educational institutions iv Christchurch. He was also president of the New Zealand Education Conference in Wellington iv 1905. Mr. Russell is the author of "A Manual of Duties of Life" for schools, aud has been a frequent contributor to the press. HON. H. G. ELL. The Hon. H. G. Ell was born at Christchurch in 1862, and, after some experience on local bodies, sought entry into Parliament as member' for Christchurch in 1886. He wa& more successful in 1899, and has had a seat in Parliament ever since. He was member for 'Christchurch until 1905, when he | was returned as member for Christchurch South, and still represents that constituency. Mr. Ell is an ardent advocate of the leasehold, and in general politics . is a Liberal of tbe progressive order. Qutaide politics, he is well known iv Parliament and out of it through hi* advocacy oi scenery preservation, and in this connection his efforts in regard to Wiltoii'e Biii>h will be remembered. During the last few j ya&re Mr. Eil has been. Senior Whip | for the party, to whose interests he naa i always bean, deeply attached. " j 1 HON TE KANGIHIROA. I The Hon. Te KangiLhoa (Dr. l'eter H. Buck), repy-senting the Native rac« oi the Executive, is, Jilre his predecessor, Hon. A. Ngata, a member of the j "Young Maori Party," which has for I its object the uplifting of tho race. He j was born at Drenui, Taranaki, in 1379. He js a son of Mr. W. H. Buck and -Ngat'ongo-ki-tua. • o£ Ngati-Mutunga and Ngati-Tama, hapus of Te Atiav/a trib«, Taranaki. Ho was educated at the Ureuui' Public School and Te Aute College, where . he won the Native medkal . scholarship ia 1899. Then h» entered the Otago University, where he graduated M.B. and >Ch.B. 'in 1904. A year later he wa* appointed Hotwe Siugebn at'Diinedm Hospital, iind in 1905 was appointed a, medical oflicor in the Native Department. Then ho' became a health, officer amongst the Natives, and on the death ol'-Mr. Hone Heke, >v 1908, ho contested and v/on the Northern Maori constituency, for which ho was re-elected "last year. ' HON. T. liUXTOIC. Tho Hon. T. Buxtoa, Member for Geraldine, was born in Liucolnt.hifo, England, in^ 1863, and canie to Lyttelton with hie parents t<vo years later. Abo^t iha.t£ years »£<< to j

South Canterbury with his parents, and, after experienco with tho Farmers' Cooperativo Association, started business in Temuka aa a. general storekeeper, adding later the business of a grain and oroduce merchant, and during the last few years he has also been engaged in flourmilliug. Fifteen years ago lie became a member of the Temuka. Borougii Council, and was 'elected Mayor of the townnine yeare ago, and has held that position ever since. Previously he represented Rangitata in the House of Representatives, and in 1908 was elected member for Geraldine, and at the last election was returned for the Temuka constituency. HON. J. COLVIN. Mr. Jamea Colvin, a popular man in Parliament, surprised his "friends and political opponents by the tact with which he carried out the duties of Chairman of Committeee since h,} was first appointed to that post after Mr. Wilford resigned, and at a time when he was the only person who could effectively silence — by hie acceptance of the office^— the internal party bickering. Mr. Colvin is a native of Donegal, Ireland, where he was born in 1844. Ho landed in Australia in 1861. A year later he followed tho "gold rush" to New -Zealand, and after mining on many historic fields in Otago, he journeyed to the We6t Coast, where he finally settled in 1867. From 1885 to 1891 he was a. member of the Buller County Council, he was a. member, of the Westport Borough Council for ten years, Mayor twice, and a member of the Weatport Harbour Board for twentythree years. He represented the district of Buller on the Nelson Education Board for many years, and at different times ha« been a member of the local Hospital Board and Licensing Bench. He entered Parliament in 1899 as member for Buller, was Senior Liberal Whip for three years up to 1906, and has eiuce acted a£ Chairman of'-'Cominittees. A keen sportsman, Mr. Colvin has been a, member of the Westport Racing Club for forty-four years, and runs a. few speedy horse© in his own nomination.