The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1908. RE-ARRANGEMENT OF THE CABINET.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12628, 26 November 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1908. RE-ARRANGEMENT OF THE CABINET.

The retirement of the Hon. Hall-Jones iiom New Zealand politics and the defeat of the Hon. R. McNab leave tw6 important portfolios vacant, and a re-arrange-ment of the Cabinet is of course a necessity. Now that the elections are over, and Sir Joseph Ward knows the exact position of affairs, no doubt the question of filling the vacancies will not long be left in abeyance. The positions held by Mr Hall-Jones and Mr McNab— Minibters of Railways and Public Works and of Lands and Agriculture respectively — arc two of the most important portfolios in the Cabinet, and strong men will be required to replace such capable statesmen as the two above-mentioned gentlemen. Both were South Island representatives, but in view of the large increase in population in the North Island and of the fact that it is in this island where for years to come land settlement and railway extension will absorb much more attention than in the South, it is only fair and reasonable that, all else being equal, a representative of these parts should be selected. South Island, members know little or nothing of the requirements of North Islanders; the great majority of the members of last Parliament had but a faint idea of the great possibilities of the future until they went over the Main Trunk Line. Then they were forced to admit their surprise and to express the opinion that the claims of the North were not unjUst. We remember a deputation from the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce waiting on the Hon. Mr McNab and placing before him certain facts and figures in connection with a request that the large s^reas of^Jand. acquired by the GoVernm"e|[t? .between the Waitotara and Wanganui Rivers should be roaded and thrown open for settlement. Mr McNab said he was very pleased to have received „ information about a portion of the Dominion which he confessed up till then he knew absolutely nothing about. The late Sir John McKenzie, and the Hon. T. Y. Duncan, who followed him as Minister of Lands, likewise knew very little about the North Island lands, and it was a frequent source of complaint amongst the Northern representatives that the Minister of Lands had an exaggerated idea of the importance of the South and neglected Northern claims. This should not be. There are North Island members of equal capacity to any Southerners in the new Parlia* ment, and the former are much better acquainted with the requirements of the "Needy North" than the latter, and this aspect of the question should receive due consideration when Cabinet appointments are under discussion.