THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1919. MR MASSEY'S DILEMMA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17712, 25 August 1919, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1919. MR MASSEY'S DILEMMA.

On tli© face of it the arrangement which liaa boon mad a by Mr Massey for the distribution in the Reform Government of the portfolios that were held by membors of the Liberal Party in the National Government beara evidence of its temporariness. It cannot be suggested that it has been productive of " misfits" eo much as that there is a transparent lack of balance about it. There is nothing xnoro incongruous about the acceptance by Mr Massey himsolf of the office of Minister of Finance than there was about tho appropriation by Mr Seddon of that office many years ago. The cares and responsibilities, however, which lie on the shoulders of tho Prime Minister during a period of political crisis are sufficiently heavy already without having those that are associated with the oversight of the country's finances added to them. The reasonable and indeed the obvious plan, in the absence of any considerations important enough to necessitate its rejection, would have been the restoration into Sir James Allen's hands of the control of the department of Finance. It will be remembered that prior to the establishment of the National Government Sir James Allen combined in himself tho offices of Minister of Finanoe, Minister of Education, ana Minister of Defence. Theso constituted an unduly taxing burden, and even under a temporary redistribution of offices there should be no occasion for throwing an excessive amount of work on any member of the Government. The duties, however, of Sir James Allen as Minister of Defence, which were exceedingly arduous during the war, must have now become so comparatively light that it is a matter for surprise that tho control of one of the other departments that were previously administered by him has not been again, entrusted to him. Of those departments, that of Finance is the one which might, in view of his special qualifications, have been expected to be assigned to him. The occupancy by Sir Francis Bell of snch important offices as those of Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Justice, and Minister of Education can last for only two or three days, pending the completion of other arrangements. The principle that the political control of departments upon the administration of which large sums of money are expended and in connection, with which important questions of policy are involved should be exercised by members of the Lower House is one that is not challengeable. It may be concluded, therefore, that it is only to tide over the few days that will elapse before Mr Massey meets his supporters in Parliament that the arrangement will obtain under which such portfolios as those of Education and Internal Affairs are held by the Leader of the Upper House and under which other portfolios have in the meantime been distributed. In this connection it is to be observed that there is a vacant Ministerial offioe now at the disposal of the Prime Minister—that which Mr R. H. Rhodes gave up at the time of the formation of the National Government. But Mr Massey may be required to make a decision more momentous than that involvcd in the selection of a colleague who shall fill this office. He may have to decide whether the reconstruction of the Government, which he has foreshadowed, shall or shall not be ma.de forthwith. The dissatisfaction of a number, if not actually a majority, of his supporters in Parliament with the personnel of the Reform Government has become notorious. Ho may be faced with a demand for the retirement from office of three members of the Ministry. There are practical difficulties at any time about the reconstruction of a Government during a session of Parliament, and those difficulties are plainly the more serious when the existence of the Government hangs, as at the present time, by not much more than a thread. Considerations of loyalty to their leader at a time when he is especially in need of their loyalty may not bo without their influence upon the disaffected members of the Reform Party. But it is certain that the possibilities of the political situation, have become more complex than they have been at any ! time since the Reform Government came into offioe.