WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 May 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP. ALLEGED DISSENSIONS. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, May 3. The appointment of the Hon. W. D. S. McDonald to the leadership of the Liberal Party during the absence of Sir Joseph Ward has given rise to just the stories that might have been expected. An enterprsing newspaper correspondent has put it about that the Hon. G. W. Russell is so incensed at the Minister of Agriculture being preferred before him that he is seriously contemplating resigning his seat in the Cabinet and making a bid for the leadership of the Independent Opposition. This story reats on no better foundation than the fertile imagination of its author. Mr Russell has ambitions of his own, which one day may be gratified, but he knows the game of politics too well to select a time like this for breaking away from his colleagues in an effort to promote his own interests. THE POSITION. As a matter of fact, the appointment of Mr McDonald to the Liberal leadership does not involve any material change in the relations between himself and his colleague. Under the system of non-party Government each Minister has assumed a measure of individual independence that would have been impossible under the party system. Mr Russell is as much the master of his departments as Sir Joseph Ward is of the Treasury and the little Post Office. The leadership, at any rate in its delegated form, represents little more than an easy means of communication between the leaders. For this purpose Mr McDonald, who is discreet, tactful and highly popular, has qualifications which Mr Russell does not possess and the Minister of Internal Affairs is far too

sensible to make a fuss over an appointment his own judgment must approve. THE COUNCIL APPOINTMENT. Though it was well known a week ago that the names of a number of gentlemen for appointment to the Legislative Council had been submitted to the Governor for hia approval, it was not till Friday they were whispered about the city with any measure of confidence. Now they are known to everyone well in advance of the official announcement, and the usual criticism is being heaped upon the heads of the party leaders who seem to have taken turn and turn about in making the selections. There is very general approval of the reappointment of Mr George Jones and Mr H. F. Wigram, both of whom have given the country excellent service, and a- , mong those who know him well Mr W. H. Triggs is regarded as a distinct acquisition to the revising chamber. It is understood the "batch" will consist of fourteen, and that the majority will consist of business and professional men with a small leavening of farmers and workers. THE GREY SEAT. The progress of the contest for the Grey seat is being watched with a good deal of interest in Wellington, not because the result may affect the strength of parties in the House of Reps., but because the return of Mr Holland would seem to outsiders to imply some waning in the loyalty of the Dominion. The news from Greymouth this morning encourages the hope that an amalgamation of the "win-the-war" Labour, Reform and Liberal forces will ensure the constituency taking its place with the rest of the country in a determination to see the great struggle for freedom and civilisation through to a satisfactory conclusion. Had Mr Holland been sound on this point, which appears to be the one thing vital at the moment, he probably would have had the sympathy of a substantial majority of the electors of Wellington.