YOUNG LABORITES IN POWER.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 April 1920, Page 4

YOUNG LABORITES IN POWER.

NOT A REVOLUTIONARY CABINET SYDNEY i April 14.

The most remarkable feature, at present, of the Labour Cabinet which has just taken office in New South Wales is the youth of the majority ol the new Ministers. About half the twelve men who have just been sworn in are mere boys.

Mr Mutch, who becomes Minister for Education, is 34, and looks less than that. He is a good-looking, slim youth, and was a Sydney pressman before going into Parliament three years ago. Ho has a well-balanced mind and an attractive personality, and is certain to have a prominent place in the luture politics of this State. Mr McKell, Assistant Minister for Justice, is only 29. He was a boilermaker when three years ago he stood against his former Sunday school teacher, cx-Premier J. T. S. McGowan, and defeated him. Since then he has been studying law, with a view to qualifying as a barrister, and has generally shown himself to be an earnest young man. He, too, has an attractive personality. Mr McTiernan, - AttorneyGeneral and Minister for Justice, is just 28. ~He has never before been in Parliament —but, since he was the only qualified legal man in the whole party, he got the coveted job. He is a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. Mr Gregory McGirr, the Minister for Health, is 38, and looks much less. He is a qualified chemist and an ex-univer-sity man. Mr Dunn, Minister for Agriculture, in spite of his 42 years, is also remarkably youthful in appearance. He was a public school teacher before entering Parliament, and is the only one of “this team of boys who have become Ministers” who served in tire A.I.F. He rose from private to the rank of captain. Mr Loughlin, Minister of Lands, is 3S, and Mr Lang, the Treasuier, is 43. The oldest man in the Ministry is the Premier, Mr Storey—and he is only 49. Mr George Gann, Minister for Labour, is a few months younger. He served two years in France as a sergeant.

Thoso men aye not revolutionaries, and their training and the responsibility which they now Hold are likely to steady them. They will need all the ballast they can got. Behind them, in the Labour ranks, are disloyal and “red rag” elements, which would push them into extremes if they could These Ministers —and this in itself is an interesting fact—were elected by exhaustive ballot by their followers in Parliament, and it.is significant that the extremists who wore prepared to take office were thrown out on the first ballot. The Labour majority is so small that there does not seem any prospect of As holding office for any long time. Its only hope is to be moderate in its programme and methods, and thus enlist the support of individual Progressives, who are astonished to find themselves in Parliament, and are not anxious for another election.