The Feilding Star. Oroua & KtwitEa Counties Gazbtte Published Daily. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9,1905. RECONSTRUCTION.

Feilding Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 114, 9 December 1905, Page 2

The Feilding Star. Oroua & KtwitEa Counties Gazbtte Published Daily. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1905. RECONSTRUCTION.

There can be no reason to expect that the Premier will disregard the demands for the reconstruction of the Cabinet which have been made with more or less insistence during the past three years. Almost all of the members of the new House have enlarged upon the necessity of the Premier securing more capable assistance in carrying on the business of the country, and many of them have actually indicated the Ministers who should go and those who should fill their places. The Lyttelton Times, which may be accepted as an authority on the subject, says Mr Duncan, Mr Mills, and Mr McGovern are of course the Ministers to be relieved of their responsibilities and Mr McNab, Mr Millar and Mr Fowlds are tbe gentlemen that are generally nominated as their successors. The change, it goes without saying, would enormously strengthon the Government. Mr McNab, it is well known, might have had his promotion several months ago, but he preferred to wait for the verdict of the constituencies and for the more complete reconstruction which he expected to follow after the election. Mr Millar, also, has been long looked upon as a certainty for ministerial rank, and Mr Fowlds, in the same way, has been regarded as the natural representative of the more progressive section of the Liberal Party. These gentlemen could not only discharge very capably the duties of the Ministers to whom they are expected to succeed, but they could also relieve Mr Seddon of several of his portfolios. Mr M'Nab, for instance, would make an admirable Minister of Education, while Mr Miller could assume charge of the Labour Department, and Mr Fowlds could take over several of the Premier's minor offices. We trust these are the lines on which the inevitable reconstruction will proceed. With Mr M'Nab, Mr Millar, and Mr Fowlds admitted to the Cabinet it would compare favourably with the remarkable combination of enthusiasm and ability that led the Liberal revival of fifteen years ago. So far so good. But the theory of our contemporary is based on speeches made before the election, the surprising results of which must necessarily very materially alter the relative positions of the members and their claims for Ministerial honors, and some whose claims were admittedly great a week ago, are comparatively small to-day.