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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4926, 6 January 1877, Page 2

The reconstruction pi; the Government and distribution of the offices to be held by the several members were considered in Cabinet on Thursday and yesterday, and it is probable that during to-day a (■iazette will be issued, notifying that his Excellency has been pleased to appoint— The Hon. Harry Albert Atkinson to be Premier and Colonial Treasurer. The Hon. Daniel Pollen to be Colonial Secretary and Native Minister. The Hon. Frederick Whitaker to be Attorney-

General. The Hon. John Davies Ormond to be Minister of Public Works. , The Hon, Charles Christopher Bowen to be Minister of Justice and Commissioner of Stamp ■ Duties, The Hon Donald Reid to be Secretary for Crown Lands and Minister for Immigration. The Hon. George MoLean to be Commissioner of Customs, Postmaster-General, and Commissioner of Telegraphs.

It will be seen by the foregoing that Mr. Richardson has carried out his long expressed intention of retiring from the Ministry. In him the colony has lost a Minister of whom it has had reason to be proud 'while he held office, and whose services,- now he has resigned his post, will be remembered with gratitude. Taking office in 1872 with Mr. Waterhouse, just before the inauguration of the Vogel Public Works policy; arid continuing to administer that policy till the present date, he has held the office of Public Works Minister in the colony at amostcriticalperiod—at atime when practical knowledge, careful judgment, and thorough honesty were indispensable qualities in the head of the department, in order to the successful carrying out of the great enterprise to which the colpriy was committed. In what degree Mr. 'Richardson possessed these qualifications let the unabated confidence of Parliament and the country reply. The errors and failures of his administration, as Sir Julius Vogel said' in his farewell speech to New Zealand, are so few that it would be very difficult for anyone readily to lay his finger on one of them; whilst the department, in point of honesty and purity, has ever beqn above suspicion. Amid all the dirt throwing that has lately been indulged in, none had the hardihood to tax him with conduct other than straightforward, and no ipublic man has ever retired from office with a cleaner reputation than has Mr. .Richardson. We can only hope that! should occasion require, and his private affairs allow of it, ho may at some future time agkin become one of the Advisers of the Crown. His successor, however, is a; gentleman who will haVe the confidence of "the colony. He has proved , himself to be an honorable and efficient . administrator; and occupies a very prominent position in the House as a clever debater. The accession to office of Mr. Donald Reid must be regarded with unmixed satisfaction, and the office he has taken—that of Lands and Immigration—-is one for which his past, career has specially fitted him.: The administration of the lands of the colony is one of the most important matters to' be attended to- under the new regime, and as Mr. Reid is known to hold

very decided and liberal views upon this his particular hobby, his presence in the office is a guarantee that the question will not be lost sight of by the Government. As representing the more practical phase of Otago public opinion, Mr. Reid will bring much additional strength to the Ministry.