PARLIAMENT OPENS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 286, 29 August 1919, Page 7

PARLIAMENT OPENS

« ik , 'A. BRILLIANT CEREMONY , DISTINGUISHED VISITORS BUSINESS o*' CUAIING DAYS /' ' •■ - ■■■■■'' ■ : ~"~ ■■ " / Thei opowng of Pfirliament yesterday was, in eyery respect one of the most spectacular of these functions .that have ■■ ever taken place in the country.' In the first place, the opening ceremony took place in the, new- Legislative Council ' . Chamber, the first occasion on which the chamber had been used. And after the severity of the ceremonies during the war years, the display of the dress uniforms of tho naval and military officers seemed cmite remarkably impressive. The Royal Savy had most, distinguished represenrntives present in Admiral Jellicoe and officers of his staff, and officers of the rjiip's company of the New Zoaland, now in ' port. Officers of the. General' Staff present included Major-General Rnbin, Bri-gadier-General Richardson, BrigadierL General'M'Gavin, and Colonel Bettington. The guard of honour was provided by No. 26 Company (St. James) and NO9. i 80-40 Companies (St. Thomas) \ Senior 1 Cadets, Lieut. Colmer in command. .A, dotaohment for general, purposes was proL'.. vided. by No. 81 Company (Wellington Oity), lindcr Lieut. Miles. . , The Governor-General entered the Buildinga by the new entrance, although the doorways and passages leading from this entry +.o the Chamber are by no means finished yet. All the entrances and the passages were decorated with a ' geiißTons display of flags, snd inside the Council Chamber the .flag . decoration were quito elaborate. . ■During all tho years that the opening ceremony has been held in, the litKe room Occupied by iiho Legislative Council, the ceremony has lost much of its impres> eiveness by rewon of the fact that the legislators of both Houses hnvo hnen crowded within very narrow pace. Yesterday there was room for some marked separation of members of the Legislative Connoil and member? of the House. Members of the Upper House ranged themselves on the benches on either hand of the Sneaker's chair, and the members of the House of Representatives eat on chairs in the body of the room, with Mr. Speaker sitting alone in front. On the risht of His Excellency Mr. Massey. . , took the first, ohalr of tho front,row of , wats, 'and Sir, Joseph .Ward sat at his loft hand. Other members of the Present Ministry tooV seate near to Mr. Manser. Pip .TosephJWard .was tlw only one. of the Ministers who have recently TPsieried who took -position with present members • of.the Government; ~■.■'..

URGENT BUSINESS. 'The House will have but a short session to-day. After; the formal business references, will be made to the records of the ex-members of the Legislature who have died during the recess, of whom there are a considerable number, and then tho House will adjottrn'for the day. It has been expected that an effort would be made,to pass the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill through all stages on this, day, because the Mortgages Extension' Act will expire 'on August 31, and unless the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill is passed this week the Mortgages Extension Act will, expire before the House can It is not considered a matter , of great urgency, however, that/this Bill should be passed, us there will be little opportunity for mischief in the few days that will elapse before the Expiring Laws Continuance. Bill can b> passed through the Legislature. All that will be necessary to invalidate any ections taken in the interim by rapacious mortgagees will be a- clause of a retrospective character in the Bill. It is possiblo that this Bill, which is considered' of ■ such urgent importance, may not.be , reached even on Tuesday. There are other nr/rent matters .which the Prime Minister ■ thinks c.f asking the Houso.to d§alwith at once.- It.is mentioned, in,, the.;Speech.of* the'< Governor- 1 General that, .the" moneys for' tho settlement of eoldiefS <m : the land have teen all expended, that, in fact, the amount has been exceeded. In truth, the excess is considerable, a , matter of a. million and a half. It would bs highly unconstitutional for the Government to, go on spending money without the authority of Parliament now that there i 9 opportunity for consultinc; the House, and tho present intention of\the Prime Minister jsito ask the House' to pass legislation to authorise the Government to go on spending, money on the-settlement of soldiers on land. The urjrency of this matter lies in;:the fact.that it is of .the ■utmost importance that this work should jp on unimpeded, and just now it is held up for lack of money, . ' , . Another matter which the House will %e asked to deal with at once is the ratification of the' Peace Treaty. This, as stated in the Governor's Speech, will be' doie hy xesolution of both Houses. It will bo impossible for members to have copies, of the treaty for.their personal study before the question of ratification comes on. The treaty is a huge document, and there can bo no thought of the House gifrng full consideration fo it. , .Tie popular notion of a treaty is iv broad sheet of parchment, two-thirds coifred with script, and one-third with a column of signatures. Tho "Conditions of Peace" signed at the end of the ,».reat! war between Germany s and the Allies j fill quite a large, book, quarto size, cjid an inch thick. ~But members will find nrach to talk about.on the question of ratification, "and it will afford opportunity for Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward to make their statements to the House by way of report on their doings abroad. ■ ' ■ , • .' The Expiring Laws Continuance Bill has still to ,be put through, and then" thtiro will be time for the Address-in-Keply motion to be submitted by Mr. Nash. Present indications are tha't this motion cannot ,be reached before Thursday. -~ . . ' ■ : - WHERE EX-MiNISTERS SAT. ~ A;little interest attached-to the-posi-tioßS which membera took in the House whrin it assembled. Sir Joseph, Ward eat directly opposite to Mr. Masaey, in the bench which should be ocoupied by )iho Leader of the Opposition. With him on the same bench sat Mr. Mac Donald, and on, the adjoining bench sat Mr. Myers on his left, and on his right Mr. Wilford and Sir James Carroll. Messrs, Enssoll and Hanan took seats in other parts of the House, not anywhoro near the front bonohes of the Opposition. In actual fact Mr. Eussell sat on one of the cross benches, and Mr. Hanan took a back seat on the left of the main door of the Chamber. , MEETING OF GOVERNMENT PARTY. A meeting of tho Government Party is to be held this evening. Some time aur- '?* "week-end the Prime Minister ehould be able to make some announcement as to the filling of the vacant positions in the Ministry. It is now considered improbable that there will be any resignations' from the present Ministry at present. WAR GRATUITIES.. : The Defence Minister will again bring . before Cabinet during the week-end adjournment his gratuities scheme, and it is hoped that ■tho Government will come to some decision on it before the House meets next week. Yesterday Mr. Glover asked an "urgent" question in the House. Hβ wanted to know from.tho Minister of Dofence on what date the returned soldiere would be paid their gratuity. The Minister replied that if tho honourable, member would have patience for a. few dnvs he would have his answer. Two other members gave notice of other questions bearing upon the gratuities matter. Mr. Hine suggested , that the gratuitv should be a flat rate for all ranks, and Mi , . Luke made the samo proposition in another notice, in which he pointed to the fact that officers had hnd their pay increased during the war while the eoldiers had not. Possibly these suggestions may bo taken into account when the scheme is being finally considered by tho Government. REMISBIONS OF RENT. It was suggested to the . Minister of lands (Mr. Guthrie) in the House yestorday by Mr. G. Witty that somo relief should be given to eattlers going on-to asrri-wlteeal lands at tho wrong season

of the year. If settlers went on their luldihgsat a time of the year when they had to lose u season of profit, he urged that their rent for the period lost should be remitted or capitalised. ' Mr. Guthrio snid that the law at present'contained ample provision for cases of the' eon. Tho Government could postpone, remit, or capitalise rent in cases whero this courso was deemed advisable, and this was constantly being done. WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT? There was a general smile and gentle laughter when the Prime Minister gave notice yesterday of the Women's Parliamentary Representation Bill. Ordinariiv it would not have been necessary to irivo to a Bill of this character, the purposo of which is to provide for women sitting as members of tho Legislature, such a. cumbrous title. , It must be ,a Bill to amend the Legislature Act, and in ordinary times tho Bill would have ben called simply Legislature Amendment Bill. The reason for avoiding this title on this occasion is that to introduco a Bill so named would throw • open a vnrv wide gateway for the introduction of much matter quite foreign to the ■special purpose of tho Bill. Mr. M Combs micht draft a series of olauses on proportional representation, and there might be opportunities for other members to have brought up other little fancies of thnir own. In the Bill as it will appear there will be no room for amendments except those germane to the idea of the Bill. ■. . ' ■ . INDUSTRIES COMMITTEE'S REPORT. The report of the Industries Committee of the House of Representatives will pl-obably be presented in the House today bv the chairman of the committee (Mr. 0. A. Wilkinson). The report is a very bis document, for tho committee has covered a very wiie field in its inquiries, and has in the ond brought down many proposals referring to many branches of trade and industry. . LOTS OF LITTLE BILLS. Never before on the fiist day of a session has there been such a rush to give notice of private members' Bills, and local Bills as there was yesterday. There was nothing whatever to . indicate that the session was to be a short one. Indeed, the business offered yesterday would be sufficient to keep tho Bouse going at reasonable pace for several weeks.