THE NEW MINISTRY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 267, 20 December 1928, Page 8

THE NEW MINISTRY.

WHAT THE PAPERS THINK. ABOUT AS STRONG AS POSSIBLE <- How strong the Ministry will prove : •Which was sworn in yesterday ex- | perience alone can tell, but it seems ; safe to say that if Sir Joseph Ward j shows as' much Wisdom in his leadership of the team as he has in the se- j lection of it, it should be able to ren- j den very useful service to the country j at a time of considerable, .difficulty. | If it cannot be called a strong’ team i that is certainly not the fault of Sir j jlijseph Ward, for it will be gener- j ally conceded that it is about as strong as the material available : would allow. As a tailor can only ;iit his coat according to his cloth, 1 so a Cabinet-maker is limited to the timber with which the electors have supplied him. If in the present case the proportion of unseasoned timber is’ unusually large, and, at an® fate ir. recent times, unprecedentedly so,not only is the builder not to blame, but it might even be said that the ‘ circumstance rebounds to his credit. The most serious fault that we have to find with the new Prime Minister’s distribution of the portfolios is that he has loaded himself far too heavily. As soon as the team has settled down his colleagues should hasten to his relief.—-Wellington Evening Post.

“A CARETAKER CABINET.” The main point is that the rather oddly-compounded Ministry is nothing much more than a caretaker Cabinet. Until a large new body of legislation is introduced they can do no more than administer the Departments which operate the existing law, and nobody will suppose that they will do the administrative work any Letter than their predecessors. Tlsfe Departmental machinery is “ fixed of old and founded strong,” and this bran-new Ministry will not be able to overhaul it. We should cheer them on if they endeavoured to do so, but we fear that they will aim rather at pleasing the bureaucrats than at correcting or curbing them. Reformers will wish them all well, and will jom in congratulating Mr. Forbes on attaining Ministerial rank after a long period of service in Parliament. Lilfe everyone else, they will look forward with interest to the speeches in which the new Ministers will introduce themselves to the country.—Christchurch Press. REASONABLY STRONG CABINET.

“ Sir Joseph Ward has chosen a reasonably strong Cabinet. No main province has been overlooked in its composition, and five South Island Ministers, with the prospect of a sixth have been included in it. The South island will have no complaints to make with that distribution. General satisfaction will be felt if Mr. Sidey should be chosen for the leadership of the Legislative Council, and his legal training would make him entirely suitable for that of Attorney-General, with which it has most often been associated.”—Dunedin Star. “ STRANGE MINISTRY.” “ While it cannot be said to offer any great surprises, it is nevertheless a strange Ministry. It includes nine members who have not previously held office, these including the Leader of the Upper House. More remarkable still, four of the new Ministers are members who were elected to Parliament for the first time. Necessarily, they will be unusually dependent upon the permanent officials for assistance in making their acquaintwith the ordinary routine of their duties, nor have all of them been assigned the least important of Departments. ... In general terms, it

may be said of the Government that it conveys the impression of being well balanced. Most of its members should be capable of discharging with reasonable efficiency the responsibilities accepted by them, and as a whole the Ministry is not open to the criticism to which its predecessor was exposed, of including m*embers not equal to their tasks.”—Otago Daily Times.