POLITICAL NEWS. MINISTERS AT WORK,

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1912, Page 8

POLITICAL NEWS. MINISTERS AT WORK,

•' commencing their new. 'duties. All the new Ministers are hard at work gaining' an insight into the tietails of the various Departments that they are called upon to administer, and all have discovered that one of th_ most pressing duties ie to answer the sheaves of telegrams of congratulation that they have received. Tho Prime Minister (Hon. T. Mackenzie) spent tha week-end at the Weraroa Experimental farm, in -which he takes a very keen interest, and is. due back hi-Wellington at 4 o'clock this afternoon. Cabinet has been convened for 4.30 vrhen, it is understood, Ministei'6 will have a lengthy discufisipn,on matters of policy and detail". In regard to tho reconstruction of the Cabinet, a good deal" was said at the time, and has since been said, as to the position that the Labour membeie occupied in respect to the rearrangement. The Post has been definitely informed that no member of the Labour Party was offered a seat in the new Cabinet. MINISTER FOR MINES. The Hon. J. Colvin, the new Minister for Mines, reached Wellington on Saturday from the West Coast, and is no.v •installed in the quarter- in Parliament Buildings formerly occupied by hia predecessor, the Hon. E. M'Kenzie.'' He had very little to cay when asked by a Post reporter what were his intentions in regard to the industry. He was fully conscious, he said, that it ivs.% a difficult task to follow a man of such wide experience and outstanding ability as the Hon. R. M'Kenzie, but he would endeavour to carry on the work of the Department and the policy of the Government in relation to mining in the best interests of both the industry and the community generally. He regarded the mining industry a_ one of the most important in the Dominion; he had been conversant with it for many years, both as a miner and as a member in Parliaj ment —in fact, it was the miners who first returned him to Parliament, and he would always be glad to do his beet for all who were concerned in it. POSTMASTER-GENERAL.' As suggested in The Post on Friday j last a slight rearrangement of portfolios has been made, and the Hon. H. G. Ell has been given the portfolio of j Postmaster-General. I WORKS AND NATIVE LANDS. The Hon. W. D. S. MacD'onald, Minister of Public Works and Native Affairs, -will, if possible^ leave Wellington on Friday ior Gisborne. There has been a good deal of correspondence lately, he told a Post reporter, in regard to the' opening of the Waikohutoko section of the Gisborne-Motu railway. The opening of this section will carry the railway thirty-one miles from Gisborne, and the settlers and the people in the vicinity are urging the Railway Department to take it over. Further, the residents generally have been asking for an improved timetable,- and this morning he had a conference with the Hon. A. M. Myers, Minister of Railways, and it had been decided that the Railway Department will take over the new section (about eight miles in length), and run the new time-table on the Bth inst. (Easter Monday). It is not likely that Mr. Myers will be able to be present at the time, which will probably be made the occasion for congratulatory speeches. " I intend to take a tour round a good deal of the North Island," added the Minister, "looking into the position of the various railway and other works. There.has been a great deal of advance made in regard to the settlement of Native lands during the past twelve months, and a large number of negotiations are now in hand for all classes of dealings. In regard to the transactions of the past year, when the whole of the returns are submitted to the people of the country," he remarked in conclusion, "I think it will be generally acknowledged that very great strides have been made in the settlement of the Native Lands throughout the North Island."