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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 279, 22 May 1912, Page 4

THE MINISTRY. The Lyttelton Times is not at all sure that Mr. Mackenzie has yet made out a good case for the appointment of additional Ministers. Our contemporary says it is easy enough to understand that tho Prime Minister himself and Mr. Myers, each with the work of two men on his shoulders, are over-burdened, and it is possible that the other Ministers, witk all the details of their departments to master, are finding plenty to do just now. But the Times cannot help thinking that if the administrative duties of the Cabinet were fairly distributed among its ten members they could be performed without making excessive demands upon anyone. It is true that the increase of population, the extension of settlement, the growth of trade and the multiplication of departments have all added to the work of .Ministers during the last twenty years, but the Times argues that it is 'not necessary for the numerical strength of tho Cabinet to keep pace with the natural development of the Dominion. Nor does it think the fact that the Commonwealth Ministry consists of only ten members an argument on the other side. The Federal Ministers are relieved by the State Governments of many important duties that fall to the lot of Mr. Mackenzie and his colleagues, and probably their number would not be so large as'it is but for the fact that they have to be adequately re- ■ presented in two elected chambers. The Times suggests that if Mr. Mackenzie wants to make his case good he must convince the public that Mr. Colvin, for instance, cannot be called upon to do more than attend to the Department of Mines and that it is necessary to keep Mr. Buxton merely as an ornamental member of the Cabinet without portfolio. The member for Geraldine, at any Tate, would be capable of giving very valuable assistance to his colleagues and even might relieve Mr. Mackenzie of some of the duties he has taken upon himself. Perhaps a re-arrangement of portfolios would show that there was no urgent need for additional Ministers.