NEW MINISTER

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 12 June 1926, Page 9

NEW MINISTER

PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE, MR K. S. WILLIAMS APPOINTED. CABINET AT ITS FULL STRENGTH. The reconstruction of the Cabinet has been completed and the Ministry brought to its full working strength by . the appointment (announced yesterday) of Mr K. S. Williams, member for Bay of Plenty, to the portfolio of Pub'ic Works, which the Prime Minister relinquishes forthwith. The appointment is covered by an announcement by Mr Coates, as follows : “In the course of my statement somo ■weeks ago regarding Ministerial appointments and changes in portfolios,” said the Prime Minister, “I stated that, with a view to lessening load I was carrying, it was my intention at an early date to relinquish' the portfolio of Public Works, which I have held for some years. I have accordingly tendered to His Excellency my resignation of this position, and Mr K. S. Williams, M.P. for tho Bay of Plenty, will be appointed to the vacant portfolio. Mr Williams will be sworn in as a member of the Executive Council immediately, and will assume the duties of his office at once. “I desire -to take this opportunity of expressing my keen appreciation of the valuable assistance and loyal cooperation rendered to me at all times by the officers of the Public Works Department, from the administrative heads down to tho most junior officer,” said Mr Coates. “I sever my connection as their Minister with great regret, but with the certain knowledge that they will each’ and all continue to accord the same measure of loyal service to my successor.

“I feel confident that Mr Williams, as a practical farmer, with a lifelong experience and knowledge of the requirements of our country districts and what ono may term tho ‘backblocks’ settler, will render good and efficient service. He possesses also a long experience of local government, and has always shown a practical sympathy with the pioneer and the wage-earner. I know that the men employed in the Public Works Department will have in their now Minister an interested and large-hearted boss. “The appointment of Mr Williams brings the Cabinet now up to full working strength. I should like to repeat that, where there are so many eligible members of the party which' I have the honour to lead, I have found the task of making the selection of new Ministers no easy one. I kndw it is impossible in these matters to give universal satisfaction, fiut.l have endeavoured to pick a team that will, 1 believe, give of their best in the service of the Dominion.”

The Hon. Kenneth Stuart Williams, the new Minister of Public Works, is a very well-known East Coast, settler in tho Tokomaru district. Ho was born at Bay of Islands in 1870, and is the sixth son of the late John William Williams, who sat in the House of Representatives for Bay of Islands in the 1876-79 Parliament. Mr Williams was educated at Heretaunga School, Hastings, and Christ’s College, Christchurch, and was captain of the Rugby fifteen. He settled at Matahi'ia, pn the East Coast,- in 1894, and has followed the occupation of sheep farming ever since. He has taken a keen interest in local government, being chairman of the Waiapu County Council for several years, and for some time he was a member of the Waiapu Hospital Board, Tokomaru Harbour Board and other institutions. Mr Williams also held office as president of tho Christ’s College Old Boys’ Association. Together with other members of the Williams family he established the Waiapu soldiers’ settlement, which was purchased for £40,000, with the object of settling returned soldiers, the income to bo applied towards the assistance of incapacitated men belonging to the East Coast. He -was returned as member for Bay of Plenty at the by-election in September, 1920, following the death of Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald the previous month. At the general election in 1922 Mr Williams was returned unopposed, and at the recent election in November a similar honour was again conferred on him by the electors of the Bay of Plenty. Mr Williams is an enthusiastic sportsman, and his colours are familiar to most racing enthusiasts.