PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKERSHIP.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 576, 14 June 1913, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKERSHIP.

MR LANG SUGGESTED. In view of the necessity of having to appoint a new Speaker for the House of Representative, the claims of various members- for the position are being discussed. The name of Mr £<'. W. Lang, th 9 popular member for Manukau, has been freely mentioned, and his election to the position would cause general satisfaction. Mr Lang is Chairman of Committees in the House, and as holder of that position is natural heir to the dignity attaching to the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the event of Mr Lang being disinclined to accept the office, popular opinion points to the Hon. W. Fraßer, Minister of Public Works. The name of the honourable gentleman was mentioned in connnection wuh the Speaker's chair on a previous occasion., and it was generally conceded at the time that if anyone in the House possessed the qualifications necessary to succeed Sir Arthur Guinness with success, it was the mem ber for Wakatipu. Mr Fraser is now 73 years of age, and the demands of such a portfolio as that of Public Works on the physical resources of a man of his age must be particularly severe, no matter how capable his mental qualifications. It is also well known that a considerable amount of chagrin was felt by the Taranaki section of the present Government's supporters when they were left out at the time the Cabinet portfolios were made, so that the situation which has now arisen may afford an opportunity of settling saisfactorily several little domestic differences in the ranks of the Reformers. Should Mr Fraser be ultimately chosen for the Speaker's Chair, it is within reason to suppose that his seat in the Cabinet would go to Taranaki, and Mr Hine seems to be the man likeliest among the two or three aspirants.