A Shadow Cabinet

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 513, 16 November 1928, Page 1

A Shadow Cabinet

Portfolios in Ward Ministry

Choice of New Disciples

FROUGHOUT the country it is believed that Sir Joseph Ward will he given an opportunity to form a Ministry after the inevitable resignation of Mr. Coates from the office of Prime Minister. The .interest aroused by this possibility is the keenest that has been associated in the formation of a Cabinet Ministry for many years. The political battleground is still thick with the smoke of the campaign, and a discussion upon Cabinet possibilities necessarily is enveloped in the mist of conjecture.

In leading the United Party into the House, with every probability of occupying the Treasury benches, Sir Joseph Ward is the first prospective Prime Minister in New Zealand’s political history to be absolutely untrammelled in the choice of his 12 administrative apostles. Prior to the election the United Party strength in Parliament was insufficient to form a Cabinet of any sort; its 11 members held aloft the tattered banner of the former Liberal Party. Now it has returned with 26 seats —sufficient to form a Ministry, but insufficient to carry on a Government without the assistance and goodwill of one other party. It would be absurd, and hardly short of political suicide, for Sir Joseph Ward to select his new Cabi net with regard only to the qualifications of this old party remnant. Group allegiance in the past is in itself insufficient to earn for them positions in the new chosen group, nor are they selected for their individual merits alone. The interests of territory must be considered. It is usual, when Cabinet Ministers

are being appointed, to divide the Dominion into four, or even eight, parts, and distribute as evenly as possible the members of the Government —with regard always to their individual qualifications for the jobs they are to fill. Sir Joseph Ward has a reasonably wide field of new material upon which to work, and in addition to the rank and file of his own party, he must woo the Independents, and possibly the sole representative of the Country Party. Out of the mist of political uncertainty, the prophet sees but dimly the personnel of Sir Joseph’s favoured disciples It is a phantom Cabinet—a shadow cast by the party tangle anc! by the people’s indefinite mandate. It has been suggested already that Mr. H. Atmore, Independent member for Nelson, who has had more experience in Parliament than most of the United Party, will be certain to team in with Sir Joseph Ward. Will he team without a place in the Ward Ministry? WILL THEY GO OVER? Presumably Sir Charles Statham, Independent member for Dunedin Central, will again occupy the Speaker’s chair. Then there is Mr. W. J. Poison, Independent for Stratford, a recognised authority upon land and rural finance—a man who, at the State’s expense, toured the world and studied agriculture and rural credit. If he is to become a member of the United Party, yvill he do so in a spirit of political goodfellowship, and with a gesture of personal friendship, or will the portfolio of Agriculture have to be dangled before his eyes to entice him over? This, of course, only after Sir Joseph himself had accepted the responsibility for the Prime Ministership, with either the Ministry of Finance or Postmaster-Generalship. Thousands of things said and done before the election must be wiped of. the slate for ever, but Mr. A. J. Stallworthy, member for Eden, and Mr. J. B. Donald, member for Auck land East, will not forget their statements on the hustings that they both were members of the United shadow Cabinet at the party conference in Wellington. The former’s study of education abroad might be considered by Sir Joseph, and the business know ledge of Mr. Donald must have familiarised him with the operation of customs tariffs and protective duties. HOT TIME AHEAD

Colonel McDonald, Wairarapa, as a live and active Minister for Defence, probably would give ihe “brass hats the hottest time they have had since the “cease fire” sounded in the Great War.

The obvious qualifications of Sir Apirana Ngata for handling native problems would assure him for administering Maori and Samoan affairs as well as the Cook Islands. Mr Ransom, Pahiatua, deputy-leader of the party, could not be overlooked for his knowledge of the country’s internal affairs, while Mr. G. W. Frbes, Hurunui, once leader of the Nationalist group, must be given an important portfolio, possibly Lands.

Always a champion of the railwaymen, and a railwayman himself, Mr. W. A. Veitch, Wanganui, has studied the systems closely. Mr. T. M. Wilford, Hutt, also once lead i- of the party, would almost autenm' ; cally step into the portfolio of Justice ant! Attorney-General.

As Leader of the Legislative Council, Sir John Findlay would represent the United Government with distinction.

This day truly is the day of oppor tunity for the young New Zealand poll tician.