CABINET RECONSTRUCTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19691, 19 January 1926, Page 9

CABINET RECONSTRUCTION.

NEW MINISTERS APPOINTED. THE HON. W. D. STEWART ATTORNEY-GENERAL. PRIME MINISTER’S DEPARTMENT. CO-ORDINATING IMPERIAL WORK. MR F. D. THOMSON APPOINTED HEAD. (F.kom Ocr Own Oos::espondent.V WELLINGTON, January 18. A meeting of the Executive Council was held at the Parliamentary Buildings at 3 o’clock this afternoon, his Excellency, the Governor-General presiding. The following were sworn in as members of tlie Executive Council and appointed to the portfolios set opposite their names: The Hon 0. J. Hawkem, M.P., for Egmont, Minister of Agriculture and Commissioner of State Forests. The Hon F. J. RoHeston, M.P. for Timaru, Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Th© Hon J. A. Young, M.P. for Hamilton, Minister of Health. The Hon W. Downi© Stewart, Attorneygeneral, vice Sir Francis (Bell, resigned. In connection with the nepv appointmets to the Ministry the Prime Minister 'the Rt Hon J. G. Coates) has issued the following statement: — It will be remembered that the vacancy in the Cabinet caused by the death of the late Prime Minister (the Rt Hon. W. F. Massey) has not been filled. A further vacancy has been caused by th© retirement through ill health of the Hon. Sir R. H. Rhodes who held the portfolios of Defence and Commissioner of State Forests, and who did not seek re-election to the present Parliament. I have on several occasions publicly intimated that early in the New Year 1. would take steps to reconstruct the Cabinet, but before making any reference to the new appointments I would like to express my keen sense of tbe valuable services rendered by Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, extending over a long period of years, .and of the great loss that Iwe and the country have sustained by his retirement. Throughout his long parliamentary career and more particularly as a Minister of the Crown he has been imbued with a high sense of pubic duty, and has at all times carried out the duties of his Ministerial positions with credit, strict integrity and befitting dignity I part with great regret from a colleague with whom I have been so intimately associated since 1919, and who was also a. member of Mr Massev’s first Ministry in 1912. It is well known that the Rt Hon Sir Francis Bell has expressed his intention of retiring from Ministerial life, and his resignation of his office at Attor-ney-General will take effect at once, but he will retain the portfolio of External Affairs until his departure for Europe in March next, when he will leave to act as New Zealand’s representative at tbe Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva. This, perhaps, is not the proper occasion to refer at length to the conspicuous record of public service Sir Francis Bell has rendered to the Dominion, but I can sav that the high position occupied by him for so many years in the • Government wiH, indeed, b© hard to fill. It is satisfactory to b© able to state that he will retain hia seat in the Executive Councils and that tlie Government and New Zealand nrill still bo able to have the benefit of his experienced counsel. Although the country is not to lose Sir Francis Bell’s services immediately, yet the date of his departure is drawing near. I wish to announce, therefore, that the Hon W. Downie Stewart will now succeed to the Attorney-Generalship. The new appointments announced are the onlv ones which his Excellency has been advised immediately to make, but further Ministerial changes will be recommended in the near future in order to bring tbe Ministry up to full strength. May I say that (where there are so many members possessing undoubted qualifications for Ministerial office, I have found the task of selection difficult, but it has been made with an effort to command the approbation and confidence of Parliament and the country. A further readjustment will include Finance being placed under the Hon W. Downie Stewart in accordance with the intimation made last. year. The present Minister of Finance (the Hon W. Nosworthy) will continue to administer the Treasury until the end of the current financial year. I should like also to saw that although the Hon Sir Maui Pomane is relinquishing the portfolio of Health which he has successfully administered, lie will continue to represent the Native Race in the Executive Council and also retain the admintratkm of the Cook and other islands. I am of opinion that the Prime Minister should not be burdened (with a mass ot administrative detail connected with State departments, but should rather be available to render his Ministers assistance in discussing and deciding suitable organisation and staff to give proper affect to policy decisions. I take this opportunity to announce that whilst I am retaining the Public Works portfolio for the present, a change in the Ministerial control of this department is contemplated shortly. I hope to be in a position to advise further appointments early in the year. Since assuming the leadership of the Government last year I have become, increasingly impressed with the manifold nativities and almost unlimited scope of the work attaching to the office of Prime Minister, involving as they do very heavy demands on time and attention. In our democratic community the Prime Minister is called upon perforce to attend to a large amount of detail work which leaves him but little time to devote mature consideration to many important matters in the wider field of policy. Tlie Prime Minister, in my opinion, should be relieved of much of this attention to detail in order that a great deal more of his time may be usefully employed in the general interests of tlie Dominion. Moreover, the development of closer in ter-1 mperial relations which may be said to have had birth in the Imperial War Cabinets and Conferences nine or 10 years ago is now increasing to such an extent that in the opinion of the Government the time has arrived 'when special provision should be made to deal with this highly important branch of our work. lam strongly of the opinion that all such matters should come under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister, especially in view of the fact that he is the official representative of the Dominion at all Imperial Conferences, and in this capacity is the person who is invested with the requisite authority to sneak on behalf of the Government tmd tlie country in tlie councils of the Empire. It is only right to say that the staff of the Prime Minister’s office with its limited personnel has, in the past, efficiently carried on a tremendous volume of work, but I am convinced that the demands have now become too heavy to enable adequate consideration being given to the many important questions “which arise in Ute course of administration. Therefore, with a view to a more effective or--aniaation, 1 have decided to create a Prime Minister’s Department under a permanent departmental head, and also to

ppoint to the staff of the new depart* ment a special officer whose duty •will be chiefly confined to Imperial and external affairs arising in the coarse of the continuous process of communication and consultation which, is now in force between his Majesty’s Government and the Dominions. By this means a more complete system of, co-ordination will be brought into practice in connection with our Imperial work. The additional expenditure involved in the creation of this Department need not he large, but it will he amply justified by increased efficiency and organisation. Mr F. D. Thomson, C.M.G., who has for many years held the position of chief private secretary to the Prime Minister, will be appointed Permanent head of the new department. The special officer to be appointed to the External Affairs branch of the department will be announced in due course. In announcing the creation of this department I would like, in conclusion, to add a few words of a personal nature bearing upon the change. I do not wish the public to infer that I desire to isolate in any way or to make myself inacoessbile t* members of the community who are desirous of seeing me. On the contrary I shall continue to welcome such visits and to have the opportunity of mutual discussion on matters connected with the administration of the public affairs of our country. What I do hope to achieve by the setting up of such an organisation is > great measure of efficiency in dealing with official matters, and more time to devote personally to the promoting and the well being "of all sections of our people. In saying this it most not be understood that the Prime Minister is tbe onlv responsible member of tbe Government, but experience has proved that very often there is % tendency on the part of persons to go over the heads of Ministers of the Crown in bringing various matters to the attention of the Prime Minister, resulting frequently in duplication and unnecessary delay in dealing with them.

THE NEW APPOINTMENTS. A FIRST INSTALMENT. IMPROVING THE SECRETARIAT. IMPERIAL AFFAIRS RECEIVE MORE PROMINENCE. (Feom Ora Own CoßSEsyoNDEirr.) WELLINGTON, January 18. The appointments now announced must be regarded as only the first instalment of Cabinet reconstruction under the Coatee regime. Possibly the further appointment* will not be made until about the end o'* the financial year. Another Minister is likely to be appointed from the South Island, and so far I see no reason for departing from my previous _ prediction ■ t Mr David Jones will be given a portMio. From the point of view of ability there is another southern Minister who could fill the bill, but the chances would n to be in favour of Mr Jones. Tlie important portfolio of Public Works is now a matter for chief consideration. In this connection two members, Messes K. S. Williams and F. F. Hockly, com* into the purview. Possibly, owing to Mr Young’s elevation to office, Mr Hockly will now be made Chairman of Commit* tees in his stead, which would leave Mr Williams in the running for the portfolio of Public Works. The Hon Sir Maui Pomare, though remaining on the Executive, will apparently be .without a portfolio. With portfolio of Finance and the At-torney-Generalship the Hon Downie Step*With portfolio of Finance and the Attor-ney-Generalship tbe Hon Downie Stewart will have a fairly heavy load and no doubt at the end of the financial year he will relinquish the control of the- Department of Customs in which he has been a signal success. As Minister of Agriculture Mr Hawken has already the necessary equipment, in so be able to'bring some new ideas into pracbe abel to bring some new ideas into practical siiape. Mr Young will have to feel his <w»y for a time in the Department of Health, in which Sir Maui Pcmare was generally regarded as a success, as the special knowledge which Sir Maui possessed was undoubtedly a valuable asset. THE NEW SECRETARIAT. .Anyone who has been brought into close contact with the Prime Minister’s Office during recent years must have realised that the work had outgrown the staffing, and must have marvelled at what was actually accomplished by Mr F. D. Thomson and his assistant, Mr C. A. Jeffery, amidst a series of—under the circumstances —unavoidable interruptions. The innovation which the Prime Minister proposes must be regarded as another indication of his organising ability. The proposed secretariat will relieve him of a o-rcaf amount of detail- work that formerly fell to the lot of the Prime Minister, and thus enable him to give more attention to matters of policy and administration. A still more important phase of the departure will be the greater concentration on matters of Imperial concern that will be now possible. This is a phase of overseas administrative (work that bos grown tremendously in recent years, and several sew Zealand newspapers have called attention to the necessity of potting the work at this end on a better and more definite footing. As the head of such a department Mr Coates is fortunate in bav■•r at hand his present chief secretary, who abeam- has had great experience. As far bade as 1902 Mr Thomson attended the late Mr Seddon at the first Colonial Conference on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward VII. Again, in 1916, he accompanied Mr Massey, when after Mr Asquith's resignation Mr Lloyd George formed the Imperial War Cabinet to which the overseas Prime Ministers were bidden. He was with Mr Massey at Uo Imperial War Conference that sat in 1817, and went also to London 'when the mperial War Cabinet met in 1918. Ai time when matters appeared to be going hndlv with th-. Al’ies m the war. It wiS be remembered that, no sooner had the Prime Ministers returned to their homes, than they were summoned to the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919. Mr Thomatm was with the Prime Minister on that occasion and also at the Imperial Conferences summoned in 1921 and 1925. He has, since the formation of the Imperial Secretariat, as one result of tbe Peace Conference, been the New Zealand representative on that body. H© is thus well equipped for the position and will be of assistance to Mr Coates should the latter, as seems highly probable, have to attend an Imperial Conference before the vear is over. With the new Secretariat in operation there should be another very ranch needed reform, namely the relief of the Prim© Minister from a good deal of minor -retail work. In recent years the tune of the Prime Minister has b -e-n greatly tabem ■ » with callers, whose business is 'with other Ministers, or even heads of depart* ments. Ag rest many people think they should" go to the fountain head when there is roallv no occasion for their doing ao. Uorether the new innovation will be in the interests ■ t t.ie tiomiiiion, as well a* of the Prime M : "'rter, as the new Secceiriat will be able to guide such caflws into th© proper channels and so save vainable time to the Prime Minister.