THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12538, 27 June 1901, Page 4

THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS.

Tub Opposition newspapers are evidently (tetermtoed to make the most of Mr HallJones's refusal to give up Ms quarters in Wellington to make room for a. member of the Duke of Cornwall's suite. Some of them have already announced that the Premier Las demanded the (resignation of the Minister, of Publio Works, and othere have declared; that this Is the inevitable outcome of the incident. But, of course, there is not the slightest ground for their* assumption tihat Mr Seddon is anxious to get rid of his colleague. He made it perfectly clear, whoa speaking to a representative of this journal the other day, tihat he had no intention of pursuing' the matter any' further. It -would certainly have been extremely undignified if he had macte Mr Hall-Jones's natural disinclination to pack up his traps at the bidding of tho Reception Committee an excuse for expelling him from the Cabinet. The Minister had done nothing that could have justified such a course. He simply refused to leave at a moment's notice the rooms he had occupied with has family for two or three years in order to accommodate a gentleman -who required them for as many days. If any'one is to blame it is the official who quietly assumedl that a Minister of the Crown ■would be only too delighted to give up his lodgings to a member of tite' Royal party, even if he had to sleep in a right-of-way himself, or find what shelter he could! in a canvas tent. This gentleman might very well send; in his resignation to the Premier. His arrangements have not been so irreproachable that his retirement would be greatly deplored. But whatever el-se may happen, it seems very improbable that Mr Hall-Jones will leave the Ministry at the present juncture. The Premier would scarcely, care to meet Parliament without a Minister of Public Works, and his colleague would be no more anxious to return to the rank and file of ■his party. They both have too much common sens®, to say nothing of patriotism, to allow a trivial affair of this kind to develop into a Ministerial crisis.