PORTFOLIOS REARRANGED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3144, 23 March 1909, Page 3

PORTFOLIOS REARRANGED.

BURDENS OF THE PERMIER. a southern paper's advice. The Dunedin "Star," editorially, says:—"The "New Zealand Times" went a-bird-nesting to some extent on Thursday. There have been a few unimportant transfers of Minis' teria] responsibility: e.g , Dr. Findlay once more finds himself in charge of Post Offices,while the Agricultural and Stock Department is attached to Commerce, and given over to the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, as well it may be, since that excresence styled 'industries,' which never justified its existence is tu be abolished. But Mr Mackenzie will continue to control the Tourist Department, and he is fully satisfied that there is no occasion to appoint a successor to the position hitherto held by Mr Donne, as the tourist branch is sufficiently well manned already. We confess that we should like to have seen the Prime Minister relieved of some of the portfolios he still holds. Hisduties, carrying as they should do the general oversight of all the de partments of the State, together with the anxieties attaching to finance, are surely enough for any man (he he ever so strong) to bear, and we tell Sir Joseph Ward with a candour that might not be altogether pleasing to him, that he cannot defy nature too long. He has had one warning which we trust will not be lost to him. It is high time that he unloaded Lauds and all that it connotes, and h's party and the country generally will hail with satisfaction an announcement before the House meets that he has handed over the administration of that very important department to a colleague intimately acquainted and in close sympathy with the legitimate aspirations of the settlers and who is prepared to uphold the vital principles of the existing land legislation."