THE RECONSTRUCTS CABINET.

NZ Truth, Issue 181, 5 December 1908, Page 4

THE RECONSTRUCTS CABINET.

The General Elections now being a Wiing of the past, and the general public having as much as it can possibly do m picking 'winners and estimating the sculling abilities of Dick Arnst and Bill W(?bb and selecting a Christmas goose and other products of the . grape and the hop, politics will .have to take a " back seatj. notwithstanding the fact that Sir Joseph v\Tard has the giving of two big political plums m the shape of portfolios, vacated ij the resignation of Mr Hall-Jones and the defeat of Mr MeNab. As Mr Halllones was the senior Minister and as the promotion of a colleague to fill his shoes will be an indication of the strength of individual existing Ministers, '''Truth " thinks »it wj 11 be found when the announcements are made, .as promised early next year, that the Hon. J A. Millar wm have gone to the head o,f the class and will thenceforth be 'Minister for Vuijlic tforfcs and Railways. Moreover, it has bedn whispered that the Hon^. Jas. uurroll, had the lirst refusal- and declined >.n welL-known grounds, .\nd also teat the Hon. Jas. McGowan was eligible but was passed over for Mr Millar, who can certainly be counted on as one of the .strong men behind Sir Joseph Ward. The question, however, troubling the few, outside Members,, who do take more than a lively interest m the politics of the Dominion, is who. will be the new Ministers and m selecting his -new colleagues Sir Joseph Ward is confronted with a task that can Dot be accomplished with consummate ease. Rumor, of course, is busy with the names of Messrs Guinness, Laurenspn," T. Mackenzie, Hogg, Jennings, Davey, R. McKenzie. and WiWord, and it almost seems a certainty that the Hon. A. R. Guinness will vacate the Speaker's chair - and might henceforth be found taking up the running, as Minister for Trades and Customs, etc., which Me Millar will vacate, though as a sop to Labor the latter will probably combine his oltiee as Minister for Labor with that of Kailways. Greater concern, however, is being manifested m , the selection of Mr McNah's successor, and the running between Messrs Hogg, Mackenzie and Jennings is very close, while about the latter the sectarian issue is being raised, that because he is of the same religious persuasion as the Premier, Sir Joseph Ward will again throw him overboard rather than run the risk of rousing the frenzied fanatics, who are only awaiting a favorable opportunity of crucifying Sir Joseph Ward simply because he is what he is, viz., a Roman Catholic. It is indeed difficult? to forecast how the Cabinet will be reconstructed, but it would not be at all surprising to eventually learn that Messrs Guinness and Jennings will be Sir Joseph Ward's new colleagues. The vacated Speaker's chair is, of course, a political picking, resting with the favor of the House, and the favorite just now, m the event of Mr Guinness's elevation to Cabinet rank, is Mr T. M. Wilford, whose Parliamentary knowledge and experience, not forgetting his present position of Chairman of the Harbor Board, should fit him for that honorable and dignified post.