AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 80

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS.

FEDERAL CABINET CHANGES. SYDNEY, June 25. Tho outstanding event of the week in Federal politics has been the reshuffling of portfolios in the Cabinet. As the result of these, Senator G. F. Pearce (Nationalist), formerly Minister for Home and Territories, becomes vice-president of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate, his portfolio being taken by Senator Sir William Glasgow (Nationalist), of Queensland. Mr T. Paterson (Country Party), of Victoria, becomes Minister for Markets and Migration, instead of Senator Sir Victor Wilson, of South Australia. Mr L. Atkinson of Tasmania, a Country Party member, drops out of the Cabinet. Senator Wilson’3 resignation was a forced one, as he was defeated at the elections in November last, and his term expires on June 30. The surprise was Senator Pearce’s relinquishment of the Home and Territories Department, this being an indication that this political veteran, who has had a remarkable run of Ministerial offices since 1914, has his eye on the chairmanship of the Northern Territory Commission, for the provision of which he has been largely responsible. The negotiations for the reshuffle, which were rendered somewhat delicate by the relations of the Pact parties—Nationalist and Country—and their representation in the Cabinet, were in progress for several months. Ope of the difficulties was the fetish that each State should have a representative in the Cabinet. This has been dropped in the newly-arranged Cabinet, as neither South Australia nor Tasmania now has a representative. There was also the larger question of the representation of the two Government parties. This question was accentuated when the Country Party wished to have a Country Party member appointed instead of Sir Victor Wilson, who, though elected in 1917 on the Country Party ticket, split with his colleagues, did not attend their party meetings, and was finally ousted mainly because of the bitter Country Party opposition against him at Hie polls. This incensed the Nationalists, who after all won the day,- as a Nationalist Senator filled Senator Wilson’s place, while a Country Party man filled a vacancy caused by a Countryite dropping out of the Cabinet. THE NEW MINISTERS. The new Minister for Markets and Migration (Mr T. Paterson) will hold the more interest for Now Zealanders, as he is the author of the Paterson butter stabilisation scheme,'under which, as from January 1 last, an export bounty is paid on butter out of the proceeds of higher charges to Australian consumers. He was born at Birmingham, England, of Scottish parents, and, alter returning to Scotland as a boy, emigrated to Australia as a young man in 1908. He is now in his 44th year. He has live! in Victoria since the year of his arrival, being engaged in farming, mainly grazing, about 40 miles north of Melbourne. He was elected to the House of Representatives as member for Gippsland in 1922, in which year he was also president of the Victorian Farmers’ Union. Sir William Glasgow, who was born in 1876, comes of a family of graziers in Queensland. He was elected to the Senate in 1919, and again returned at the elections in November. He has had a distinguished military career, both in the South African and late wars. He served with the Light Horse in Gallipoli, and was given command of the 13th Infantry Brigade in 1916. Later he had command of the Ist Australion Division, and was made a MajorGeneral in June 1918.