BENCH MATES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 26 December 1925, Page 11

BENCH MATES

REARRANGEMENT OF SEATS TREND OF OPPOSITION PARTIES An indication of the trend of the Opposition parties in the new Parliament is perhaps given by the ticketing of seats in the chamber at Wellington so far as it has gone. Not only has there been a great overflow from the Government side to the benches across the gangway, formerly occupied by the Labour Party, but there has been a strange shuffling of bench mates on the Opposition side of the House. lor instance, Mr Forbes the Leader of the National Party, whom we may presume will be tho official Opposition, has with him in the seat of honour on the front bench Mr Harry Atmore, the Independent member for Nelson. In line with them on the right hand front bench will sit side by side Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Thomas Wilford, former leaders of the Liberals. The front Opposition bench on the left will be occupied by Mr H. Holland, leader of the Labour Party, and Mr P. Fraser, Labour member for Wellington Central. Thus, those two bitterly opposed political enemies, Messrs Atmore and Holland, will be next to each other in the new House, though not actually sitting on the same bench. Sir Joseph Ward has taken the Hon. A. T. Ngata’s seat, so the latter will now proabbly be a back bencher, at all events for the present. Another somewhat significant fact is that Mr T. K. Sidey, formerly the second lieutenant of the Opposition Leader has now taken a back seat. On the whole it would seem that there might not be an absolute cohesion in the new Opposition. Among those who have taken a seat on the old Labour benches is Mr David Jones, who, it is generally anticipated, will be in Mr Coates’ new Ministry, which will not be chosen until after present and potential Ministers of the Crown have eaten their Christmas and New Year dinners -with all the jollity they can command under the uncertain circumstances.