THE NEW MINISTRY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2532, 5 August 1915, Page 6

THE NEW MINISTRY

CABINET OF TEN A CHOICE OF POSSIBILITIES. Members have been entertaining themselves and one another since the National Cabinet announcement was made in tlio House with speculation as to who the members of the new Cabmot will be. Although no official announce' ,n;ent to this cfi'ect has been made, ll may be taken as certain that the now Cabinet. will consist of ten members,' and, of. course, t'liis number will no! include Dr. i'omare, who is a member of tho Exccutivo without Cabinet rank. No representative of tho Native raca has ever been a Cabinet Minister. Six James Carroll was Native Minister iof many years, but he represented a Euro. pean constituency. 'Ihis means that thero will bo five Government members and five Opposition members iu tha Cabinet. No olßcial announcement har. been made. Both of the leaders, Mr. .Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, won asked yesterday whether thoy could Baj who their colleagues were to .be,- but each refused to make any announce' ment,, and each isaid further that h« would not mako an announcement until the new Ministers wero sworn in. Mr. Massey oven-indicated that .the choica. of tho Ministers to represent his partj had not been made yet, but ho wa£ careful to add that there was no <WH. culty about the choice. '

Two members of the present Minis-' -try must retire, and if way is. to be made for any new- member, Air. D. H. Guthrie, for example, a third Minister would have t-o resign. This is, liow-' ever,- regarded as.a very unlikely contingency. It 1 is generally accepted that Mr. E. H. - Rhodes'trill retire, but there is not so much certainty about who shall make the other vacancy. Sir. I'raser' may resign, and he may not. It is by no means correct to say,' that, his : retirement ' is certain. ,There/ is , a rumour that Sir Francis Bell may. relinquish the leadership of' the Legislative Council, to take up shortly another important appointment under the Crown. .If this' should be correct, Mr. Herdman would probably go to the Upper House, leaving Wellington North seat vacant. -This latter contingency would not' necessitate a contest, becauso one of the terms of union is that no by-elections shall bo fought. There is another rumour that Mr. Herdman may retire, and tho people who profess to believo this point out that,one of the seats 1 on the Supreme Court Bench, will shortly be vacated. Thero seems to be- no doubt that Mr, Herries will remain in the Cabinet.

On the Opposition side tbero is practically no difference of opinion about four of the new members, but there ia dcubt about the fifth. -Tho four will be Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. G. W- Russell, Mr. W. D. S: Mac Donald and Mr. A. M. Myers, all of whom have held Minister-'■ ial office previously. For the fifth place four names .have been mentioned Mr.. 1 ,T. K. Sidey, Mr. C 4. W, Forbes, Mr. J. A. Hanan, and Mr. A. H. Hindmareh— and the balance of opinion is in favour, of the two first-mentioned, with a preference in favour of Mr. Sidey. "With so much indefiniteness it is mera guess-work to attempt to allocate portfolios. So much depends c-n'what members of the present Cabinet retire. . It is stated that one important de- ' parturo at least will bo t.'ikcii in regard -to the Dofenco Department—the appointment of a civilian committee of experienced business men to advise the. Minister regarding matters relating to' the purchase of stores and the geneial conduct of camp affairs.