OATH OF ALLEGIANCE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 199, 8 September 1937, Page 8

OATH OF ALLEGIANCE

-Press AB8ociation.)

Parliament Wil! Have To Be Re-sworn

CHANGE 0F M0NARCHY

(Sy Telegraph-

TVELLn^GTON, Las't Night. . For the second time during the pre-i sent Parliament members of the Legis-l lative Council and House of Represent-j atives will take the oath of allegiance or affirm their loyalty to his Majesty tho King ■v^ien they assemble to-morrow afternoon for the coming session. This procedure has been made necessary by the change in the Monarchy. •At the opening session of the present Parliament in March, 1936, the members of the House of Representatives, in the absence of a Speaker, took or made an affirmation in the presence of the Clerk, Mr T. D. H. Hall. Although there is a Speaker this session, it is necessary tha't he himself should also be sworn as a member of the House, and until there is a quorum of 20 members similarly sworn, constitutionally the Speaker is wrthout a House so far as the transaction of business is c6ncerned. It is proposed to follow to-morrow the precedent established in 1910, when members took the oath of allegiance to King George V. upon his accession to the throne follow- ' ing the death of King Edward VII. On that occasian the oath was administered by tho then Clerk of the House, Mr Henry Otterson, the Speaker, Hon. Sir Arthur Guinness, being the iirst member of the House to be sworn. After taking the oath while "standing on the upper step of the ehair," he remained there until tho requisite 20 members ha'd been sworn. The present Speaker of the House, Hon. W. E. Barnard, proposes to follow this precedent and will be the first member to whom Mr Hall will administer the oath. In the Legislative Council, the Speaker, Hon. Sir Walter Carneross, will not take hi« seat until nine members, including himself, have been sworn. During this interval he will remain standing atf the right of the Speaker 's chair.