PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2497, 25 June 1915, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

THE OPENING CEREMONIES MR. LANG ELECTED SPEAKER Parliament was opened yesterday by Commission—the first session of the Nineteenth Parliament of New Zealand. This procedure, invariably followed at the first meeting of a new Parliament, is a most unpretentious, if somewhat formal, one. _ The Speaker of the Legislative Council (Sir Charles Bowen) with the other two Commissioners, Sir Francis H. D. Bell and the Hon. Colonel Collins, N.Z.M.C., met the members of the Council assembled, and Sir Charles Bowen read His Excellency's Message us follows:— "Honourable Legislative Councillors and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,—His Excellency the Governor, not thinking fit to be present here this day in person, has been pleased in order to the opening and holding of this the First Session of the Nineteenth , Parliament of New Zealand, to cause Letters Patent to be passed under the seal of the Dominion, constituting us, and the several. honourable members therein namedhis Commissioners to do all things in His Excellency's , name on his part necessary to be performed in this session of Parliament. This will more fully appear by the Letters Patent themselves, which must now be read." Then the members of the House of Representatives were summoned by the Black Rod to attend, and in their presence the Clerk of Parliament (Mr. L. W. Stowe) read the Letters Patent under the hand of His Excellency the Governor, which stated, inter alia", that His Excellency would attend on the day following to inform the honourable gentlemen of his reasons for calling Parliament together. This done, Sir Charles Boiven instructed tho members rf the House of Representatives to repair to their usual place of meeting, and there elect a Speaker, whom they should present to His Excellency for his approval on the following day at 11 o clock in the morning. The members of the House of Representatives forthwith left the Chamber, and the members of the Cbuncil dispersed,

ELECTION OF SPEAKER. MEMBERS TAKE THE OATH. In the House of Representatives the Clerk (Mr. A. 1\ Lowe) read tho instructions he had received, and then proceeded to administer the oath to the members in parties of four. Sir James Carroll, the Hon. A. T. Ngata, Mr. G. W. Forbes, Mr. .IV, T. Jennings, Mr. A. E. Glover, Mr. E. Newman, and Mr. T. M. Wilford were absent Two members. Sir. J. M'Combs and Mr. P. C. U'obb, made their profession of allegiance without being sworn. The Clerk then informed tho honourable members that they ought to elect a Speaker. Mr, F. W. Wang Proposed. Dr. A. K.. NEWMAN (Wellington) East) proposed Mr. F. W. Lang for the position. 'When Mr. Lang had been made Speaker two years ago it had been an experiment, and experiments did not always work out successfully. This experiment had, however, been a complete success. In turbulent times in the House, Sir. Lang had behaved with tact, urbanity, and firmness, and he had great pleasure in asking the House to elect Air. Lang Speaker. Mr. R. SCOTT (Otago Central) seconded the proposal. ' Those who had been in the House under Mr . Lang's Speakership, he said, must realise that his impartiality had been beyond question. There was no other nomination. Mr. LANG, speaking from the floor of the House, expressed high appreciation of tho great honour conferred upon him. In the two years he had presided as Speaker he had come to realise keenly the duty attaching to the office. If elected ho would endeavour to uphold the honour and dignity of the House, and in this he hoped he would have the support of honourable members. He honed honourable members would give him that support, because it was as much in their interest as in his own that the honour of the New Zealand Parliament should be upheld. It would bo'his aim to mete out exact justice to all. Mr. Lang was then escorted to tho Chair by his proposer ajid seconder. No Time far Strife. Speaking from the steps approaching the Chair, Mr. Lang thanked his brother members for the honour they had done him in electing him Speaker, the highest honour members of tho House could confer on a brother member. It was exceedingly gratifying to him to be re-elected Speaker after two years' trial. Those two years had been very strenuous ones , for tho Speaker and for memoers generally. Many events had , happened to disturb the minds of members more than usual, and the difficulties had been_ accentuated by the fact that parties were more nearly equal than they had previously been in his experience of the House. For the last 20 years he had been in Parliament parties, had been more uneven, making the duties of the Speaker very much easier. Of one thing he was sure, and it was a matter about which the House should be Unanimous, that at this time all' party differences should be sunk, and.. that they should devote all their energies to assisting the Mother Country, in her need., (Hear, hear.) In the. Chair he would divest himself of all partisanship, and endeavour so to carry out his duties that members would liot regret having placed confidence in him._ Mr. Speaker took the Chair amid applause. Congratulations. The Rt. Hon. W. F. MASSEY (Prime Minister) congratulated Mr. Speaker on his unanimous re-election. The fact that he had been so re-elected proved that his conduct of the proceedings of the House had_ been satisfactory to members, "You mentioned the fact. Sir, that you have been a member of 1 the House for about 20 years," Mr. Massev continued. "That reminds me that it is exactly 21 years ago this week since you and I and 31 other , members took our seats and the oath for the first time. There have been many changes in those 21 years, and you and I have had many experiences. Time has thinned tho ranks of those 33 members, who at that time first had experience of tho Houso of Representatives, but 1 venture to say' that the experience wo have gained has been invaluable to most of us and especially to you in the position you now occupy. 1 hope you will coutinuo to occupy your present position for a very long period. 1 am sure yon will continno to do good service to your constituents, to tho people who send you here, good service to tho country, and good service to the Empire." SIR. JOSEPH WARD (Leader of the Opposition) said the very pleasing duty fell upon liini to offer congratulations on behalf of members of his side of tho House. Mr. Speaker had leferrcd to the evenness of parties in tho Ilouso in last Parliament. He 'could only add that the parties were more oven now than they wero then. He suggested, with a. smile, that the evenness might not long continue, and that the Speakers position might thereby be made less trying. (Laimhter.) So far ns the

give him as little trouble as they had aver done in all their history. He referred to the fact that it was nearly 2D years since he had entered the House. In that time he had sat under four Speakers, not one of whom had over had the least trouble with hira.(Laughter.) In the House he could only see one member who was in Parliament when 'he entered it, and that ivas the honourable gentleman who had been Jlr. Speaker's proposer. He wished Mr. Speaker a happy and successful term in office. Mr. Speaker returned thanks for the congratulations. .At 3.30 p.m. the House roso until 8.30 p.m. to-day.