Cabinet table in the near future.

The Premier was asked last week whether a shuffle of Ministerial responsibilities announced in the official Gazette signalled a move to cut down the size of Cabinet -- in line with the recommendations of a review of the Civil Service.

The Premier's reply, channelled through Government's media office, was: "No.'' The answer means that Ms Smith is likely to wait for fulfilment of the Progressive Labour Party's election promise to cut the number of seats in Parliament before slashing her Cabinet -- avoiding the risk of disgruntled ex-Ministers making mischief on the back benches.

Ms Smith was also asked why she had changed Ministerial portfolios -- concentrating more power on her own Cabinet Office, mostly at the expense of Terry Lister's Development and Opportunity Ministry.

Cabinet Office will also take over statistics and archives from Milton Scott's Education Ministry, while Arthur Hodgson's Environment Ministry will take over public parks and the Railway Trail, from Youth and Sport and Works and Engineering respectively.

Ms Smith did not reply directly -- but referred to a speech made in January.

She said then that the Civil Service review was designed to "modernise and reform in the interests of efficiency''.

She added: "Anyone who knows me, knows that if I felt there should be a Cabinet shuffle, I would do so.

"But this is not the case -- I am most pleased with my Ministers' dedication, commitment and how they have carried out their work to date.'' But she appeared to contradict herself in the same speech, when she flagged up changes in Ministers.

She said that "only someone who suffers from an extreme case of political naivete would think that it is automatic that Ministries can change without changing Ministers''.

And -- just after the 1998 General Election -- Ms Smith made it clear that the Cabinet was a stopgap one using the system inherited from the previous administration.

She said at the time: "This in no way means that we endorse the way that the Ministries were set up or that we intend to keep them that way.'' Ms Smith confirmed that she planned a revamp, but said: "I don't envisage that happening in the next few months -- certainly not before the Budget debate -- but that is our goal.''