Parliament for Monte Carlo.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 March 1911, Page 4

Parliament for Monte Carlo.

The little Principality of Monaco, dine of the low remaining absolute monarchies, will soon be so no longer, for >a new Constitution has been •paKsed into law by the Monaco Supreme Court. The Constitution provides for a Council of State, composed of three Ministers, and a National Council of twenty-one members, elected by universal suffrage every four years. The Mornico Parliament will meet twice a year—in May and October. Each session will last only a fortnight at the longest. The Priiiee, who will communicate with 'litis Parliament by means of Messuages to bp read by the Minister of the Interior, will introduce and sanction legislation, but the National Council may ask the Sovereign to propose legislation. The Constitution is the work of three eminent French jurisconsults, and their report on Monaco mentions, among other tilings, that there are only '184 actual Monogasr|ne electors in the Principality, of whom .'So 3 are naturalised, while the area of the youngest- constitutional State of Europe is just 375 acres. Women will he allowed to vote in elections for new municipal bodies in the three districts of Monaco, Monte Carlo, and La Condamine. 'Hie total population of the Principality is 19,121, of whom no fewer Mian, 17,(539 are foreigners. Prince Albert, in a message to his people, says: "After having for twenty-one years governed my country in accordance with, the tradition of several centuries, T have resolved to give a constitutional Government to the Monegasrjue population. One cannot expect to obtain appreciable advantages under this new regime, for nowhere can a. prosperity similar to ours be found; hut T wished to give a. proof of my confidence in the Monegasque and to prepare them for the defence of their interests if ever grave contingencies arose in the Principality."