TO MEET JUNE 24

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22339, 26 May 1947, Page 4

TO MEET JUNE 24

PARLIAMENT SESSION MANY PRELIMINARIES APPOINTMENT OF SPEAKER (S.R.) WELLINGTON, May 24. The traditional day for the opening of Parliament, a Wednesday, is likely to be abandoned for the commencement of the forthcoming session. It has already been stated by the Prime Minister, Mr. P. Fraser, that Parliament would open about Wednesday, June 25, but the recent deaths of the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. D. G. Sullivan, and a former Prime Minister, Mr. G. W. Forbes, together with the fact that the House of Representatives having no Speaker has to elect one of its members to the position, involves an unusual number of preliminaries. Therefore, instead of meeting on a Wednesday, Parliament is likely to be called together on Tuesday, June 24, to meet a commission which will direct the Lower House to appoint a Speaker. The Government nominee for the position is Mr. R. McKeen, Island Bay, and the election must take place before the Governor-General meets both Houses in the Legislative Council and delivers the speech from the Throne. Obituary notices will take a full day. The House will adjourn immediately they are passed. By meeting a day earlier, Parliament will still have an opportunity of passing the usual Imprest Supply Bill within the first week.