POLITICAL SURPRISE PACKET.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2118, 28 June 1907, Page 3

POLITICAL SURPRISE PACKET.

A VERY MILD SURPRISE. ADVANTAGES OF A “DOMINION.”

(Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, last night. The political surprise packet which Sir Joseph Ward managed to keep up his sleeve until the last moment was opened in the Legislative Council this afternoon. The opening of the packet, however, did not creato any unusual excitement, and many members seem to be indifferent whether New Zealand is called a “colony” or a “dominion.” The Leader of the Opposition says that so far as lie can see the only persons to benefit by the change will he himself and the wife of tho Governor.

On mv oxpressing my surprise at this, Mr. Massey pointed, out that a dominion pays the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament a handsome salary, and that the wife of the Governor of a dominion is entitled to be called “Her Excellency.” “No doubt,” savs Mr. Massey, “the New Zealand Government will follow in the footsteps of the other dominions in this matter.” In regard to the proposed “Dominion” of New Zealand, it is worth noting that the Act constituting Canada a dominion, which came into force 40 years ago, provides that the Constitution shall be similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom; that the executive authority shall be vested in the Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, and carried on in her name by a Governor-General and Privv Council; and that the legislative power shall be exercised by a Parliament of two Houses, called tile Senate and the House of Commons.