THE NEW MINISTRY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 9, 28 February 1891, Page 12

THE NEW MINISTRY.

N a recent issue there appeared a portrait of the ITW' Hon. John Ballance, the new Premier. We Wp are now in a position to reproduce this together with a complete group of the personnel of the present Ministry. These are the Hon. P. Buckley, Attorney - (1 eneral, Colonial /jkv- Secretary, and Postmaster General ; the Hon. W. P. Reeves, Minister of Education and Justice; the Hon. R J. Seddon, Minister of Public Works, of Mines, and of Defence; the Hon. John McKenzie, Minister of Lands and Immigration, and of Agriculture ; the Hon. A. J. Cadman, Minister for Native Affairs; and the Hou. J. G. Ward, member of the Executive Council without portfolio. THE HON. P. BUCKLEY. Mr Buckley was born near the picturesque village of Castle Townsend in County Cork in 1840. He is the second son of the late C. F. Buckley of that locality. Mr Buckley received his primary education in the well - known Mansion House in the city of Cork, and was afterward at college in Paris till he entered the University of Louvaine in Belgium. While in Louvaine Count Carlo Macdonell, private Chamberlain to the Pope, in passing through selected young Buckley to conduct the recruits for the Irish Brigade organised to defend the Papal States from Ostend to Vienna. There he gave them over in charge to the Papal authorities, who were waiting to receive them. After the Piedmontese had taken possession of the Papal States, Mr Buckley returned to his college, and after completing his studies, returned home to Ireland. From thence he emigrated to Queensland, where, shortly after his arrival, he completed his legal studies under the supervision of the present Chief Justice, Sir Chas. Lilley. Mr Buckley is also a member of the Victorian Bar. After a short residence in Queensland he sailed for New Zealand, and commenced practice in Wellington in partnership with Mr W. S. Reid, the present Solicitor-General. The partnership was not of long duration, and Mr Buckley joined the Hon. Robt. Hart, and continued in partnership with him until the retirement of the latter gentleman from active business. Mr Buckley is now the head of the well-known legal firm of Buckley, Stafford and Treadwell. Shortly after his arrival in Wellington he entered the Provincial Council. He was Provincial Solicitor for the last Administration under that regime'. until the abolition of the provinces. He was called to the Legislative Council in ’7B, and in ’B4 became Colonial Secretary in the Stout-Vogel Administration, and leader of the Upper House. He always took a deep interest in volunteering, in fact is a veteran in it, having raised thei present ‘D’ Battery (then known as No. 1), being captain of it for six years, and having with him serving in the ranks such men as the present Chief Justice, Sir James Prendergast. Mr Buckley is a son-in-law of the late Sir William Fitzherbert. He is a shrewd, practical man, a keen politician, and a valuable acquisition to the Ministry he has just joined. He is also an ardent Home Ruler, and is, we believe, one of the few colonial men to whom a seat in the House of Commons can be given when desired on behalf of that cause. THE HON. W. P. REEVES. Mr Reeves is the son of that distinguished colonist, the Hon. W. Reeves, who made bis mark in the journalism of New Zealand thirty years ago, and was a member of the Cabinet which inaugurated the Public Works policy in 1870. Born in 1857, in Canterbury, Mr VV. P. Reeves began school life at Christ College Grammar School at ten years of age by winning the Canterbury Provincial Government scholarship of £4O a year. He won it a second time, thus holding it seven years in all. In 1873 he gained the Somes scholarship (£4O for three years), and in 1874 he took two University scholarships, being first in classics and first in English. After this brilliant opening he was sent home to graduate at Oxford and read for the Bar, but ill health, caused by the strain of his educational course, forced him liack to the colony without the achievement of either object. After an interval of country life, after the manner of hard working young New Zealand, he was admitted to the Bar. But beyond reporting for the Canterbury Law Society, he did not devote much attention to his profession. He preferred journalism, to which profession he soon devoted himself entirely ; first as contributor and leader writer to the Lyttelton Times. Then he became editor of the Canterbury Times, and in 1889 be succeeded to the editorial chair of tlie Lyttelton Times. In 1887, Mr Reeves was elected for St. Albans, beating Mr Garrick by a substantial majority, and he was returned the other day for Cluistchurch. Mr Reeves is a powerful writer, a diligent student, a ready debater, and a graceful speaker. There are few better organisers of an election contest, and not many men in New Zealand possess his knowledge of books. Mr Reeves was complimented on his joining the Ministry by the leading men of both parties. THE HON". 11. SEDDON. Mr Seddon is from Lancashire, home of the sturdy and independent, in which county he was born in 1845 at Eccleston Hill, where his father was headmaster of a famous Grammar School. At fourteen he started in life by being apprenticed to the engineering firm of Dalglish and Co , of St. Helens. About 1062 he was bitten with the gold fever ; his first attack it was of a complaint which has been profitable in later years. The first attack was by no means of that order, for Mr Seddon finding the Victorian goldfields not propitious, betook himself to the Locomotive Department of the infant railway system of Victoria. About 1866 he came across to New Zealand, and finding his way to the West Coast tasted the luxury of rich finds at Waimea and Other places. In the Provincial Council, in which he was Chayman ct Committees, where studied May and Todd' ami the standing orders, in the

Westland County Council, the Arahura Road Board —in all these his services were many and varied, and much talked of. In 1879 he established himself at the newlydiscovered Kumara. He studied diligently the theoretical and scientific side of mining, and is a member and associate of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and he entered Parliament, where he has been ever since. No need to describe him ; he is known as one of the ablest men in the House. An acknowledged authority on all mining matters, a very fluent, somewhat lengthy and boisterous speaker, he has served his party well, and earned the position to which he has been called. A self made, pushing, industrious, clever man, Mr Seddon should do well in a Ministerial position whose responsibility is a great pruner of exuberances of speech and tactics. THE HON. J. MCKENZIE. Another self-made manis Mr McKenzie, and sturdy withal. He was born at Ardross in Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1838. In 1860 he came to Otago, and there very soon worked his way up to be working manager of the Pakitapu Station, near Palmerston. From that to farming on his own account in the picturesque, fertile Shag Valley was a natural transition to a man of his independent character. There he soon entered public life, on the lowest rung of the ladder, just as he had done in the other portion of his career. In 1865 he began as clerk and treasurer to the local Road Board and secretary to the local School Committee. In 1868 he fought a desperate election fight at Waikouaiti, for a seat on the Provincial Council of Otago, Mr George McLean being his opponent. He lost the election, but gained much reputation. In 1871, however, he was successful, beating his opponent, Mr John Douglas, of Messi’s Douglas, D’Orison, and Co., for the Waihemo seat on the Council by two to one. He retained this position until the abolition of provinces, having been elected the second time for the Waihemo seat without opposition. He next became member of Waitaki County, occupying this position until the Waitaki County was separated in 1882, and then he became Chairman of the Waihemo County, and was a Justice of the Peace,and Property Lax Assessor forthe Waikouaiti County. In 1883 he became a member of the Otago Education Board, and has occupied the position ever since with considerable credit. He was in 1884 also appointed a member of the Otago Land Board, which seat he resigned in 1888. In 1881 he was sent to the House of Representatives by the electors of Moeraki, and has sat in the House for various constitnences for the same part of the country ever since. In 1884 he went to Sydney to attend the Stock Conference, the other delegates representing the colony with him being Messrs J. D. Lance, of Horsley Down, and Hon. E. Peter, of Anama. Mr McKenzie was whip to the Stout-Vogel combination in 1884, and did very well; and he gained the respect of both sides in that capacity. THE HON. J. G. WARD. Like Mr Reeves, Mr Ward is only in his second Parliament. He is also a young New Zealander, though not born in New Zealand. He was born in Victoria, at Emerald Hill, in 1857, and came to New Zealand during his childhood. He, like his chief Mr Ballance, and his colleagues Messrs Seddon and McKenzie, began life in boyhood. At the age of 13 he entered the postal service, at 16 he went into a merchant’s office, and at 20 he tried the Railway Department. But at that early age Mr Ward discovered that he was not made for service, for at 21 we find him starting on his own account in the smallest po.-sible way as a grain expoiter. Once embarked he worked with such skill and enterprise, extending his operations and enlarging his connection, that he is to-day one of the largest exporters in New Zealand, with agents all over Australia and branch establishments in most of the cities of New Zealand. Like Mr McKenzie, Mr Ward is also ‘well liked in thecountiy he lives in,’ as may be seen by the following list of positions he has occupied : —Councillor of the Campbelltown Boiough at 21, and mayor five times in subsequent years ; many years member of the Bluff Harbour Board, four of them chairman ; five years member Invercargill Chamber of Commerce; President Southland Annual Regatta Committee; - President Campbelltown Athenaeum ; captain Bluff Naval Artillery Volunteers—this corps Mr Ward took the first steps to raise during the famous Parihaka trouble. Mr Ward entered Parliament for Awarua in 1887, and was returned unopposed for the same constituency at the last election. In the House he has not made his mark as a speaker, but he has not been a silent member. When he speaks at length, as he did several times for instance on the Californian mail question, he shows considerable mastery of his subject. A very upright man, with many friends, very popular in the House, with the prestige of a most successful career carved out by his own energy and enterprise, Mr Ward should make his mark. THE HON. A. J. CADMAN. Mr Alfred Jerome Cadman is the eldest son of Mr Jerome Cadman, who was for twenty yeais a member of the Provincial Council of Auckland, and the first recipient of a miner’s light at the Cape Colville Peninsula. lhe present Cabinet Minister was born in the year 1847, and was educated at the old parochial school of St. Paul’s, and subsequently at the Wesley College. For years Mr Cadman has been engaged in the timber trade at the Coromandel coast near Auckland, where he has acquired a knowledge of timber and mining business not excelled by any man in New Zealand He made his entry upon public life in the capacity of member of the local Highway Board, and bn the creation of the Coromandel County Council was elected its first chairman, an office which he still retains. In 1882 he defeated Messrs Macky and Brodie in a contested election for the Coromandel constituency, and has made his appearance at every succeeding legislature for the same electorate. Mr Cadman’s name has been mentioned in connection with the distribution of portfolios in previous ministries, but for personal reasons he has refrained from accepting any up to the present. He is a popular and shrewd business man, having prospered in all his enterprises, while the energy he still exhibits is an earnest which promises well for iiis future career.