ABOUT PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 522, 1 June 1909, Page 8

ABOUT PARLIAMENT.

' • * \ GETTING THE HOUSE READY. ONE RESULT OF A SHORT SESSION. It is confidently' stated that carpenters, paporhangers, and painters will bo out of Parliament Buildings by to-morrow night, oi Wednesday, and those responsible say that everything will bo in order by Saturday night. liig floor of the House or Representatives has been oovered with cork' linoleum, oh which <rfen. the heaviest legislators will tread almost silently. The members' desks aro now in place. In tho corridor; both on tho ground floor and upstairs, there is an amazing litter of chairs, tables, umbrellastands, wator-flltens, books, and everything necessary for stocking a second-hand furniture sliop. :• The: Ministerial and committee, rooms are also being renovated, though it is possible that somo of the Ministers will not vacate thoir'present quarters in ether buildings during the contemplated short first ses-' sion. The new Legislative Council Chamber will not reproduce the crimson. and white which were tho prevailing, colours of • the old one. The walls have been oovered with a pale sly-bluo paper. - According to experts this colour is "pleasantly .stimulating, to the, mental faculties, ,and is not nearly so suggestive; .; legislative.- .rest v 'ao,tlio soft green of the walls of tho representative chamber.:. , , , A special train to oonvey the Auckland members to tho capital will leavo the northern city on Saturday afternoon, and wiU arrivo at Wellington on Sunday. Most of,tho members from other parts' of tho Dominion aro expected to bo in town by that time. , . It is intended • that the. members attending the informal gathering on Monday next shall have all the comfort and all the facilities for work and relaxation that would bo afforded them during any regular, session. Various officials and all the orderließ and messengers have received notice to present themselves at Parliament House ready for duty on Monday. ■' ' If the Prime Minister's plans aro, . endorsed by the members of botli Houses, the first session, of tho coming Parliament will last only a few days, and the second, .will begin: in October or possibly at tho end of. September. One consequence will be that legislators will have no opportunity of voting on -the question of tho sale of liquor at Bellamy's. The Legislature Act provides that: "In tho first sessioh of each new Parliament, on the fourth Tuesday after the Address-in-Reply has b<»n'determined by the House of Representatives, the dork <h each House shall conduct a poll, at which membcrs'of such Houso shall vote on tho question, 'Shall liquor be sold within tho precincts of, the Parliament Bnildings during the remainder' of tho present Parliament llt follows that if there aro not four Tuesdays in the session the vote cannot bo taken. This was the case in 1906, when the death of Mr. Seddon led to the holding of two sessions in the year, and the bar at Bellamy's consequently remained open throughout'the last Parliament on the strength of the veto taken in 1903. The same thing 'previously. occurred in 1897.