The Dominion. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. THE SESSION AND THE MINISTRY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 286, 29 August 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. THE SESSION AND THE MINISTRY

The Speech with which the Goveh-nor-Gexehal opened Parliament yesterday threw little new light on the political outlook. It refers ,in such ' terras as might have been expected ; to the peace settlement and-various ■ other important questions, and strikes a note that all will echo in | saying that the first duty of the : Government and of Parliament in j the new era of peace is to the men who fought for the. Dominion and to the relatives of those who fell. As the Speech ppints out, Parliament! has j-et much to do in extending tho j existing provision for repatriation. No doubt it will take an early op- i portunity also of conveying the i thanks of the Dominion to the members of its lighting forces and its sympathy with the injured-arid with the relatives of those who have fallen. So far as internal, politics are concerned, some surprise may be' felt at the absence of any direct reference in the Speech to the withdrawal of the Wardists from the Cabinet, but the reason presumably is that the Ministerial changes thun made necessary do not involve the constitutional intervention of the Goversob-Genebal. . Probably the 'latest Speech has as little claim as its predecessors to be regarded as a complete outline of the working programme for the session. Even as it stands, however, it shows that the! Government intends to ask Parliament to do a great deal of work within a limited period. Apart from the hope expressed that Parliament will find time to consider fully the question of coal supply, about t, dozen subjects for legislation are named—not by any means all of them of a rputine character—and some additions to the list are inevitable unless .Parliament is prepared to shirk its manifest duty to the country. Emphasis is rightly laid in the Speech upon' the urgent necessity of extending the scope and operation of soldier settlement and other measures of repatriation. But it is imperatively necessary also that early attention should be given to the adjustment of taxation and to other questions, of which housing is a conspicuous example. The fact established meantime is that the Government plainly intends to ask Parliament to put through a considerable amount of work before the session ends. In' this it is taking the right course,,but evidently the demands it is making on Parliament will notba met unless time-wasting, obstruction, and. electioneering tactics are rigorously excluded, Prospects of accomplishing useful results, during the present session and of setting matters in train for continued progress depend very largely upon the way in which the Ministerial reconstruction now in the air is carried out. Some rumpurs are current that reconstruction in the full sense of the term is to be postponed, perhaps, until the end of the session, and that' immediate action will be confined to the appointment of two or three new Ministers to fill vacanices in the Cabinet. Leaders and members of the Keform Party would be wise to recognise that nothing is to be hoped from any such feeble and inadequate attempt to tide over immediate necessities. Nothing less will 'serve the interests of the country than the immediate establishment of a strong Government, composed .' of the best ; men available to carry- on duties j that have been too long neglected. It is to be added that a Cabinet of pre-war strength evidently will not suiflco to meet existing needs. This is best realised by considering for a j moment the volume of Ministerial duties and the division of work that is essential in the interests of enterprising progress. . The first fact which commands attention in this connection is that the responsibilities of the Government have broadened very greatly since 1914. The list which follows shows an allocation: in ten divisions of the more important portfolios, together with some others that call for particular attention in existing circumstances. Ao doubt it will be agreed readily that any one of these divisions would absorb the main energies of an individual Minister: —

Finance and Customs. lfepatrintion. Labour and Housing. Educntion. ' Defence. Railways find Industries aud Commerce. Public Works _ (including liydro-clcc-tric development) nnd Immigration. land And Agriculture. Public Hciiltli nnd. Internal Affairs. Attoriipy-Genernl mid Minister of Justice, (Lender of tlio Upper House).. Apart from the Departments here provided for them-are some thirty others, including the Post Office and Native Affairs, to be distributed between the different members of the Cabinet. To attempt any grouping of the divisions set out above would simply be to invite a policy of drift where several vital Departments arc concerned. Several Ministers obviously must be left free to concentrate uncliyidcdly upon the affairs of their principal Department. This certainly applies at the present juncture to thq Ministers of Finance and Repatriation—it .is to be hoped that no hesitation will now be felt in making a single Ministor responsible for the last-mentioned Depart-

mcnt—unci it is very clflsircHfl that the PiiniE Ministek should be as free as possible and in a position to keep in touch with the country and exercise a generaj oversight. If the housing problem is attacked as boldly as it ought to be, the administration of a housing scheme will go far to absorb the energies of a Minister, oven if he is not called upon in addition to assume responsibility for a Department as important as that of Labour. _ The Defence ■' Department, too, is likely for some time to come to fully occupy the Minister in Charge. Looking at the volume and urgency of the work to bo 'unclj'.taken, a Cabinet of eleven members, apart from the Member of the Executive representing the Native Enco, ivould seem to bo a necessary provision. This wquld be an increase of two members in the strength of the last Reform Cabinet, but ii , . womci bo a reduction of one member as compared with the Naliorial Government, and the volume of work now to "be faced is much groater than the National Government was at any stage called upon to undertake.

The pressing needs of the country cannot be met except by a Government strong in numbers arid in the qualifications of its members. That fact oiiE-ht to determine the attitude of the -Reform Party and its leaders in regard to the reconstruction of the Ministry. A makeshift arrangement and the overloading of individual Ministers that would be entailed' in unduly limiting the strength of the Cabinet would tend undoubtedly tp divided efforts and inability to concentrate on some of the many important matters urgently calling for attention and preclude, the hope of good • all-round progress in restoring : normal conditions and expediting development. Such arguments as have been raised for delay "in making appointments .ire lacking in weight and savour more of narty than of national interests.' The sooner the new Minisf.i;rs arc appointed nnd get to work the better prospect is there of avoiding any suggestion of a policy of drift. The fact that the new Ministors will know little of the detail working of their Departments when questions are raised in the coming session counts for little in the circumstances which have led up to the necessity for the appointments being made. Tho opponents of the Government, who by their resignations on the eve of the session have created the situation, cannot make use of it for party purposes without exposing themselves to further censure. In any case, much of the work now devolving upon the Cabinet will, or should, amount to opening out new activities- and extending existing activities in an enterprising way. There is full scope for all the energy and initiative the best Ministry available can bring to bear, and to delay in sotting up such a Minis-try-would simply be to subordinate national welfare to smaller and infinitely' less important considera : tior.s.