Successor

The Reform Party of New Zealand, of which the late Premier W. F. Massey was for so long the leader (TIME, May 18), elected Minister of Railways J. G. Coates Premier of New Zealand and leader of the Party. There was talk of a fusion between the Liberal and Reform Parties, which, if it took place, would give the welded party an absolute instead of a relative majority.

J. G. Coates entered Parliament 14 years ago and, for fully 8 of those years, was a nonentity. In the War, he rose to the rank of major, won the Military Cross. Such success brought him some renown and his chance. Premier Massey added him to his Cabinet, and into that Cabinet Mr. Coates gradually introduced business methods, eschewed political considerations. His sole claim to fame rests upon that fact.

As a politician, he is considered little better than a failure and as a statesman, untried. His difficulties in stepping into the shoes of the late popular Mr. Massey are manifest. His friends in New Zealand, while wishing him the best of luck, are, therefore, dubious as to whether he is the right man to lead the Reform Party and head the Government.