THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1912. THE NEW MINISTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10596, 30 March 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1912. THE NEW MINISTRY.

The announcement-of the new Ministry has been received by the public with mixed feelings. Nobody seems to regard it as other than a stopgap Ministry a combination arranged with a view to attempting to create solidarity in a Party which is thoroughly disintegrated. So many influences of a minor character have been At work during the last few days, that it was for a time thought the new Premier had a hopeless task before him. It is known that the Hon. T. Mackenzie desired to retain in. the Ministry at least two of his former colleagues. A small party of Indeipendeiiits and Labourites, however, in<sisted that there should be a clean isweeip, and the Premier, to save himself from, immediate defeat, has yielded to the pressure brought upon ihiim by a few irresponsible*. In some quarters it is alleged that the Ministry has not- been constructed by Mr Mackenzie, but by Mr L. M. Isitt, who lias suddenly assumed a position in polities which is as unique as it is paradoxical. That a man who went to Parlia'ment as an Independent, and subsequently lauded the virtues of the Ward Adm-liust ration, to ■the skies, should be insistent upon the rejection of almost every member of the Cabinet, is too humorous for words. Meanwhile, it is rather remarkable to note that the new Premier has not consented to throw over Mr Myers, the brewer representative of Auckland', at the request of the. political tyro of Ohristohurch. Mr Myers i.s the- strong man of'tho new

.team, and he has boon given the important portfolios of Finance, Railways, and Defence. It is just a question whether, capable man as lie is, ho can do anything like justice to these three Departments. However, .there is satisfaction in the reflection | that one of these great Depart- ' ments, at anyrate, cannot bo run cmudi worse than it ha® been for the Hast few years, bo far as the rest of the new Ministry is concerned, it is hardly worth cntiekm. The three iGhiristLihurdh men are all Radicals of the first order, and it may he said that they, with their younger colleague, Mr L. M. Isitt) will endeav-j our to run tihe Ministry for all it is [worth so long as it lasts. There does not seecm very much prospect of the new team getting far into the first isession. The elements in the Ministry are so diverse thai there can be no possibility of cohesion. A desper--1 ate attempt will doubtless be made to intrude the licensing question uipon ifche country, and if this happens there is bound to be trou'ble. Then there is «tflio land question. Mr Mackenzie .stated.the other day that his first objective would be the throwing open of the lands of the countrv to settlement.. He is now met with the position that (if he attempts to. introduce land legislation on. lines which will suit himself and Mr Myers, he will create an immediate revolt among his Ohristchurch colleagues. The Canterbury Ministers may attempt to force itforougjh some Radical measures, and they, in turn, will be confronted -with the moderates of the Cabinet. And so it will- happen that things all round will be mixed. The inclusion of Mir Gqlvin> the nondescript of the (West Coast, has come as a surprise (to everybody. . Probably nobody-' ex-" ! pected it Iciss ; i)han the member for' ;Buller himself, ' But then, the burly Roderick MeKenzie having been jet-, 'tisoned, the We at Coast had to be 'placated in some form or another. The North Island has itself to blame for being poorly represented (so far as j numbers are concerned) in the. new ■Cabinet. It deliberately threw out I two-thirds of the Lroeral Party, and it 'omiEft be made to pay the penalty. However, it will probably survive the \shock, for the time is not far distant when a party will be in power |dn which it will have confidence as well as adequate representation._ The life of the Mackenzie Ministry will be ' .isihort, but it is expected to be particularly merry.