NEWSPAPER COMMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20986, 24 September 1931, Page 11

NEWSPAPER COMMENT.

OPINIONS ON CABINET. general approval given. gain in executive power. Leading daily newspapers of the Dominion comment, on the formation of the Coalition Cabinet as follows: Dominion (Wellington). —Mr. Forbes I and Mr. Coates have succeeded in getting : ogether probably as strong a team as , could be chosen from the present Parliament. Intelligent and unremtiting sup- , port of our primary industry must be the 11st business of the new Government, and one that a Cabinet so constituted can be trusted to discharge. Arising out of the farmers' troubles is unemployment. It is a welcome sign of the Government's earnestness to seek a solution that, it has apparently created a new post, the Minister , in charge of Unemployment, and appointed to it Mr. Coates, one of its ablest, most experienced and vigorous administrators. I üblic opinion will also be reassured that the Hon. W. Downie Stewart is to return to the .treasury. The education policy will of necessity be subject to early review and it is no surprise that it should be in the car© of Mr. Masters. Ho may be largely untried in departmental administration, although it is known lie has been close to the I rime Minister in counsel. Regarded as a whole, the Cabinet promises to give a good account of itself. Ihe key positions are in safe hands. Indeed, the Coalition has resulted in a great gain in executive power, in addition to experience and ideas. Selection Not Easy. Evening Post (Wellington).—Cabinet will be welcomed as well representing the strength of both parties, for each of the leader s tasks )in selecting four colleagues from his own party has not been an easy one. The general opinion will be that both leaders succeeded remarkably well in a task which would not admit of their pleasing everybody, and that result is a team very much stronger than either of the parties could have produced from its own ranks. The Coalition is a strong team, and starts with strong public backing. If it can remain true to the spirit which inspired the speeches of both its leaders yesterday, we believe that it will justify the high hopes of the country. Press (Chrisitchurch). —It is impossible to be blind to the fact that the most important posts in the new Cabinet have been allotted to the Reform Party. The most important of all is Finance, and Mr. Forbes has wisely surrendered that to Mr. Stewart,, but Public Works and Unemployment; will run away with most of the money made available by the Minister of Finance and both go to Mr. Coates, who assumes also the difficult task of co-ordinating transport. The important thing is that departments should be placed under men who are most competent to control them, and if that has happened, praise goes first to Mr. Forbes. In the meantime, everybody will endorse the Prime Minister's tribute to the loyalty of the colleagues from whom he has parted company. Ability and Experience. Times (Christchurch). —If the new Government is not quite the strongest team that could have been selected from the combining parties, it is at least as strong j as the conditions of its formation would j allow. The geographical tradition might j have been ignored, however, at any rate j for this occasion, since what the country | needs and demands is administrative capacity and not merely district representation. Still, the Cabinet combines ability and experience and it should command the confidence of the public. That Mr. Forbes should continue to be Prime Minister was inevitable. Mr. Coates takes Public Workii under conditions very different frorri those in which he proved his capacity to spend loan money, but on the Unemployment Board he will have every opportunity of displaying his initiative and ability to manage economically. The public will hs.ve confidence in Mr. Stewart as the head of the Finance Denartment. Otago Daily Times (Dunedin). —There is no department that compares with that of Education in respect of expenditure. There is no departmental expenditure that exposes itself more fully to attack at present than expenditure on education. It is highly anomalous and, indeed, amazing, therefore, that the office of Minister of Education should be allocated to the Hon. R. Masters, the Government representative in the Upper House. If is any one Ministerial office more than another,"excepting only those of,the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Customs, tjiat should be held bv a member of the elected chamber, which alone possesses control over expenditure, it is the office of Minister of Education. MR. HOLLAND'S VIEWS. REFORM PARTY'S DOMINATION. [j>Y TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL It K POUT lilt. J WELLINGTON, Wednesday. In a statement to-day the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. E. Holland, said : he objected strongly to the very impor- 1 taut portfolios of Education and Indus- ' tries and Commerce going to the Legisla- : tive Council. An outstanding feature of I the rearrangement was the way in which 1 most of tho major portfolios had been 1 handed over to the Reform Party. It would appear that for all practical pur- f poses the Reform Party held a dominat- j ing position in the new Cabinet, POPULAR APPOINTMENT. i I MR. YOUNG'S NEW POST. j DAY OIF CONGRATULATIONS. [BY TELEO RA I'll. —SPECIAL I! KPORTKIt. ] W KLLINf ■' TON. Wed 11 pad ay. The appointment, of the. Hon. J. A. i Young to tlie Coalition Cabinet has proved I extremely popular, and congratulations have been reaching him to-day from all parts of tho Dominion. Hospital boards throughout the country have expressed pleasure at bis return to the post of Ministor of Health, and they are supported by Mr. W. Wallace, president of the Hospital Boards' Association, who also telcgraphed congratulations. A typical message is that received from | the Danneinrk'S Hospital Board, which tenders he.irtv congratulations and ex- \ presses the view that every board 111 the I Dominion will welcome the appointment. Local bodies' organisations and societies in the Waikato and elsewhere join in the good wishes, which are summed up in one message, "Hearty congratulations 011 your appointment. A good team, which 'will inspire public confidence."