THE NEW MINISTRY.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 82, 11 October 1879, Page 2

THE NEW MINISTRY.

Mb. Hall, has after some r-onsiderable trouble, suffpedfd m getting a kind of a scratch Ministry together, but still leaving three of the portfolios vacant. It is composed of the following gentlemen .- — Mr. Hall. Premier and Colonial Secretary; Mr. Whittaker, sen., Attor-ney-General; Mr. Atkinson, Treasurer and Customs ; . Mr. Olliver, Public Works ; Mr. Rolleston, Land, Immigration, and Education ; Mr. Bryce, Native Minister; and Mr. Tamoana, Native Member of the Executive Council. It is intended to create a Minister of Minos, which, with the appointment of a Postmaster-General and Minister of Justice, will require a redistribution of the whole of the Cabinet. Were it not that Mr. Pyke has already joined the ranks of the Opposition we should not have beer sin prised to have seen him make his debut m this colony as a Cabinet Minister m the capacity of Minister of Mines, a position for which his old Victorian experiences would have aptly fitted him. Although Mr Pyke has been m the House of Representatives during the formation of many Ministries, ho has never caught the eye of the Premier, nor his portly presence graced the Treasury benches, and yet Mr. Pyke- was a Minister of the Crown m Vmfama nearly twenty years ago, when he had charge of the Department of Mines. The whole of the debate m the House on Wednesday was occupied m a discussion as to the length for which an adjournment should be granted — whether until last night or Tuesday— but the Opposition prevailed, with the understanding that should the Premier have neither completed his Cabinet or prepared his political statement, a further adjournment would be granted.