CHANGE IN THE MINISTRY

Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1931, Page 15

CHANGE IN THE MINISTRY

NINE MEMBERS LOSE RANK MR. FORBES’ UNPLEASANT TASK. MINISTER HARD TO CONVINCE. Wellington, Sept. 20. When the House of Representatives meets on Tuesday evening the chamber will show evidence of the most extraordinary political change-over since the days of New Zealand’s war Cabinet. By that time the new Government will probably have been sworn in and the Coalition Ministers will be in their appointed seats. The caprice of the political game has removed nine members from the pedestal of Ministerial authority and given them the disliked title of back-benchers. One Minister, it is rumoured, harbours the intention of returning to the Independent school of thought he pursued up to the time of his elevation to Cabinet rank. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, chose Saturday morning for the disagreealjje task of sending for his Ministers and telling them the worst. One by one they were called to the Cabinet room, where the Prime Minister informed them that their Ministerial race was run, at any rate for the time being. One by one they left the Cabinet room, their message clearly stamped on their faces. That there was some heartburning was quite apparent, and one or tivo who entered the Prime Minister’s room with a briskness born of hope, came out with the graveness of realisation. MINISTERS LEFT IN THE DARK. One of the most noticeable features of the negotiations leading up to the foi mation of the Coalition Government was the fact that the great majority of Ministers were in the dark as to what was taking place. Cabinet had met toward the end when the Prime Minister announced his decision to accept the Reform Party’s offer of help, but beyond that most of the Ministers knew little. There was, therefore, unconcealed speculation over future events, especially as the choice of the two remaining United Ministers for the new Cabinet was solely in Mr. Forbes’ hands. Many of the nine who were asked to resign took the request as a matter of course in spite of the loss of position and salary involved. ' , One Minister, whose first Parliament this is, came out of the Prime Minister s room with an apparent jauntiness, but others whose political experience had been longer and. who had attained. Cabinet rank only after years of . waiting walked back to their rooms with very serious faces and. with not even a glance at those who happened to see them in their last hours of office. One Minister at least is reported to have gone very much more fully than the others into the merits of the Prime Minister’s request for his resignation. The Hon. H. Atmore, Minister of Education, spent almost two hours with Mi. Forbes, and from what can be gathered the interview was not as calm as those that preceded and followed it. It has been an open secret in the lobbies for some time that although Cabinet was anxious to reduce the present expenditure on education, Mr. Atmore was strenuously opposed to any such move. It is believed he went as far as to threaten drastic action should, his wishes in this respect be over-ridden and that, partly for that reason, Cabinet postponed carrying out any educational cuts that it thought could be made. NO REASON FOR EXCEPTION. There were reverberations some time later in the House when Mr. Atmore stated his position quite openly, declaring that educational expenditure could not be reduced except by cutting wages further. There is no doubt that some members of the Ministry believed the education vote should not be the only one to escape from the pruning of the economy knife, but to all intents and purposes the Minister had won a temporary victory. Later developments resulted in a growing opinion that this particular vote could be reduced without efficiency being impaired, especially in view of the statement by the Cabinet Economy Committee set up some time ago that a cursory examination of the position showed that economies totalling about £250,000 could be made in the department. Further economies were expected to be recommended by a non-Parliamentary committee of investigation which was promised but which was never appointed. It is understood authoritatively that the general opinion is that drastic economies must now be made in education. This belief is said to have been formed by not a few of those who will be In the new Cabinet, and it is understood the question was discussed fully between Mr. Forbes and Mr. Atmore on Saturday. Originally there were grounds for believing that Mr. Atmore had _ a good chance of a scat in the new Cabinet, and there is little doubt he was one of the most surprised men in the United Ministry when informed that he would not have a place. INSISTENCE UPON LOYALTY. Members themselves are diffident about expressing themselves of the sudden development until they are informed whether or not the Coalition Government means an extension of the life of Parliament for any considerable time. Unless any new understanding is reached it is likely that the Coalition will be for a period necessary to put into effect the programme of emergency legislation calculated to check immediately the financial drift and rehabilitate the finances of the country for some years ahead. When this task is finished the general election should follow. The political position has changed with such amazing frequency of late, however, that this question has been subordinated to the more important question of policy, the general lines of which were established before the pact between the party loaders was sealed. One condition of the Coalition is believed to be the insistence by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates that the United Party members shall give a written pledge of loyalty to the new Administration in order to ensure the working and co-operation of the late Government side of the House with the new Administration. Mr. Coates’ announcement in the House on Friday that bis party was behind him to a man in the move he has taken Is accepted as a guarantee against defections from the Reform Party.