THE COMING MINISTRY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1381, 6 March 1912, Page 4

THE COMING MINISTRY.

These aro the clays of retiring Governments. The Ward Ministry has promised to retire, and its successor is of such a retiring disposition that it hesitates to come into existence. It is a serious matter to have the country governed for several months—for such is Sis Joseph Ward's • plan—by one or another set of men who do not possess the confidence of Parliament or the country. Tho present Government only exists by virtue of its promise 'to destroy itself, and the supposedly retiring Prime Minister 'has intimated as plainly as if ho had said it in so many words that the new Government which is to be formed under his guidance will be afraid to show itself to Parliament. We have sometimes felt ourselves obliged to differ from Siji Joseph Ward, but on this point we very heartily agree with him. The now Ministry will be very much afraid of Parliament; and we may add that it will be even more afraid of tho electors. There has indeed been some brave talk about a platform campaign, but that was iu the healed atmosphere of the House,. If tho still unknown Ministers do take their courage in both hands and mount the platform, we should not be surprised to see some of the meetings run upon lines that would recall Sin.Joseph Ward's address on second ballot night. We hope it will not bo so. It would be a pity for anybody with a sense of humour to be prevented from hearing Mr. Ei,l extol the qualifications of Me. Glover as Minister for Finance. Mn. Isitt defending the appointment of Mr. Payne as Minister for Justice would also be vastly entertaining. And if Mr. Robertson should expand into a platform speech his recent expression of a pious hope that members like himself would bring politics back to questions of principle, it would bo a thousand pities to deny him a hearing. Of coui'so wo do not know—nobody knows—whether all or any of these members will be in the Wardist-non-Wardist Administration. All that can be said with certainty is that, ill-assorted and ill-chosen as the present Cabinet is, the promised one is bound to be woreo.

When Sut Joskpie Ward chose the men who arc now to go out with him, he had a lavpo and comparatively solid majority behind him. He was therefore free to choose the licsl, men in his following, and .yufc ho could not be blind to the. desirableness of choosing those who would be most acceptable to tlio party as a whole. Save in one respect—Hie degeneracy of the human material for Cabinet-making, which hail resulted from the. long Srddonin.n aulocrney —the conditions under which Sin .losKPll Wai;d reconstructed the Ministry in 1900 and ajiain in 1!)U!) were ideal. Those conditions have disappeared. .Siit JosEi'ir Wakd's majority is now \v\-y small, and very insecurely joined loc;ether. and in a sense il, is not his at nil. And beneath what had been thought the lowest depths of political 'degeneracy, he has dragged his prccimis Fnrty to a lower depth. From ainnng they men, some of them' pledgebre;ikcT3, others mem I imo iinrl r-pjno tew hniiesli ttinn of limiiad vieion who axo douliUcaa alxcady_

cursing in their hearts the party ties which forced them last Thursday night to vote in fnvouv of political cowardice and against the spirit of tho Constitution—from these hopeful elements Sin Joseph W.akd must choose the next Goto rumen I of Now Zealand. We say advisedly that it is Sin Joseph Ward who must do the choosing, although Mr. Robekt-, SON', who is doubtless in closer touch with him, may think otherwise. There is some talk of the Caucus of the Forty electing, the Ministers by ballot, but the risks of such a rough and ready method arc too great; for if the new Cabinet includes one man against whom two of the Forty have .an ineradicable 1 , objection—though all the rest should approve of him — tho majority is destroyed. The only method for constructing a Cabinet under such circumstances is wirepulling. Perhaps it does not matter very much .whom Slit Joseph Waiid nominates as his successor. Whether Mr. Thoiias Mackenzie or Mn. Millar or Mr. Wiu-'ord he persuaded to assume the once-honoured office, or j whether it has to bo fought for by the Hussells, Ells, and Laurensoss, or used to secure tho "loyalty" o? a TtonF.r.TSON or a Payxe, tho ultimate result will be much the same. The new Ministry, it is said, will call itself "Progressive," and no doubt it will progress ver.v rapidly incir.ed, for the political spirit of Wavdism will be in it, and its fate will resemble that of certain famous animals which rushed violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters."