Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30, 1925. CABINET RECONSTRUCTION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 26, 30 December 1925, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30, 1925. CABINET RECONSTRUCTION

Tiie Prime Minister has wisely kept his own counsel concerning such plans as he may have in hand for reconstructing the Ministry. When questioned on the subject by pressmen eager to secure the first news of the impending changes, or to ascertain the names of tiie possible successors to the vacancies existing and likely to occur, he has simply, with that disarming smile of his, waived the questioners on one side, merely indicating that nothing will be done in the matter until after the holidays. And, apart from the one or two Cabinet Ministers who share his more intimate confidences, the other Ministers, with the sword of Damocles possibly suspended over their Ministerial careers, have goue about their business with minds unperturbed by the possible happenings of the INew Tear. That Cabinet changes are pending is certain. The vacancy caused by the death ,of the great Leader of the Reform Party last May has yet to be filled, the portfolios Mr Massey held having been distributed amongst the other members of the Cabinet. Then it may be taken for granted that Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, who is now a member of the Legislative Council, will relinquish the Defence portfolio as soon as Mr Coates is ready to appoint his successor. Sir Erancis Bell, now the Father of the Cabinet and its sage counsellor and friend, is also, it is understood, resigning the Attor-ney-Generalship, as he is leaving on a visit to England in March and is not likely to return for some months to come. He has already taken leave of the Legislative Council, of which he has been the Leader since July 10th, 1912, and been farewelled by that august body. But these are the only known vacancies that will exist when Mr Coates enters upon his task of reconstructing the Ministry. It has been assumed that there will be others. Certain of our contemporaries have hinted that at least three other members of the Ministry will be retired, and a metropolitan daily has stated its belief that Messrs Anderson, Bollard and Nosworthy will not find places in the new Cabinet. Mr Bollard, as one of the newest Ministers of the lot — he was the second last of his colleagues called into his Cabinet by the late Mr Massey—has shaped very well as an administrator in the Internal Affairs Department, but he is neither an orator nor a good debater. The Cabinet, as a whole, with the exception of Sir

James Parr, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart and the Hon. A. D. McLeod, is lacking in both respects. But there is no more incisive or logical speaker in the House today than the Minister who has so ably administered the Education Department during the last six years, and who now holds the portfolios of Justice and Post and Telegraphs. He has a faculty of dissecting and exposing the hollow nature of the sophistries which sometimes cloud the true character of such things as Labour’s land policy, etc., which is very disconcerting to his political opponents. Less subtle in argument, but more pointed in attack, Mr McLeod has a way of advancing his facts which carries conviction with it. He is the strong man of the Ministry -where its land policy is concerned and may be expected to remain in charge of the department which he so ably, controls. So far as Sir James Parr is concerned, rumour has it that he is destined to be the next High Commissioner. On the other hand, he may have ambitions in regard to the AttorneyGeneralship, which would give him a claim to a Supreme Court judgeship later on if his inclinations run in that direction. It is said that he is anxious to relinquish the Education portfolio. Mr Anderson, it is understood, is prepared to “carry on’’ in charge of the Mines and Labour Departments, but he is quite agreeable to take his seat in the House as a private member, if Mr Coates desires him so to do.