VACANT PORTFOLIOS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 113, 7 December 1908, Page 2

VACANT PORTFOLIOS.

— + The Otago Daily Times, commenting on the vacancies that have occurred in the Ministry, expresses the opinion that the very prominent place which the Hon. J. A. Millar has taken in the Goveernment, and the skill he has shown in the handling of perplexing questions,jdearly marks him out as the Minister to whom the position of Minister for Railways should bo offered. In regard to the portfolios of Lands and Labour it says: "It has been aeserted that there is no reason why Sir Joseph Ward should not "ignore geograpical considerations in the allotment of these portfolios. As a practical politician, £the Prime Minister cannot fail to recognise that since the colleagues whom he loses both represented South Islandjionstituencies, one at.least of the new Ministers must come from the South Island, and that, other things being equal, Canterbury, which would otherwise have no member in the Cabinet, should supply this representative. But there is another factor to which Sir Joseph Ward must give due weight in the appointment of the new Minister of Lands. This consists in the feeling of the country as disclosed at the elections upon the land question. It is plain that the electors have sent to the House a very strong party in favour of the freehold tenure! Since the heart of the problem of the land question now lies in the North Island, where large tracts of land will have to be opened up in thq next few y l ai V\TJ lr , e , probabl y 80un d reasons why Mr McNab's successor should resent a North Island constituency,'and in this event Mr Hogg being disregarded as too extreme, the choice before the Prime Minister is )imi te s to Mr Jennings. His appointment would be a direct concession to the sentiment of the country, as expressed at the ballot. b °^"., J G P° rtfoil ° of Lands be a|. lotted to the member for Taumarunui, it will be reasorablo to expect that the new Minister for Labour should hail from the South, and if so it will not be surprising if Mr Davey should prove to be appointed. Such an appointment would, we think, give fairly general satisfaction."