THE EARLY DAYS OF THE SESSION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3124, 30 June 1917, Page 6

THE EARLY DAYS OF THE SESSION

Regular frequenters of Parliament aro inclined to note with satirical amusement the furious outrush of the pent-up accumulation of recess grievances with which members flood the Chamber in tho opening days of each session. Petitions, questions to Ministers, notices of motion, notices of new Bills follow one on the other v/ith quite amazing speed. The manner in which the back-benchers compete with each other' to get in first with tho popular catch-cries of the hour, and thus afford their constituents evidence of their zeal and alertness, is a perennial source of joy to the cynical onlooker. The session just opened has witnessed a perfect Niagara of notes of interrogation which have poured from all quarters of tho House towards the Ministerial benches. To the uninitiated it might almost seem that Ministers could never survive such a deluge. Tho experienced Parliamentarian knows better. When, for instance, Mr. ViGoit Brown calls on tho Prime Minister to deposo the Minister of Defence from his office, ho instinctively compares tho standing and the services of tho militant* member -for Napier with the standing and services of the Minister ho attacks, smiles, and puts the. matter out of liis mind. And so on with a wholo list of tho questions raised. Theso are merely '.'playing to tho gallery" or aro tho outcome of personal feeling. Thcro is always tho man with a grievance. But underneath the froth and the electioneering many issues are touched on in tho questions and notices of motion piling up ou tho Order Paper which indicate, a determination on the part of members to get to the bottom of various matters about which we know too little. The position of affairs regarding pur military forces is a caso in point. We.do not anticipate that Ministers will meet with any serious troublo from members during the present .session. That. they will have to face a certain amount of badgering and heckling goes without sa.ying. But tho.great majority of members are anxious to assist them with their tasks, provided that Ministers aro prepared to deal openly with them and tako them fully into their confidence—or as fully as is compatible with tho necessity for keeping information from tho enemy that might prove, of assistance to him. Ministers, it may be assumed, aro willing enough to do this, and they will find it the simplest means of disarming tho malcontents aud strengthening their own position with "the public, The soonev Ministers satisfy tho abnormal thirst for information displayed by members the smoother will the business of Parliament proceed.