UPENING OF THE MOTHER OF PARLIAMENTS. .

Hokitika Guardian, 12 May 1917, Page 4

UPENING OF THE MOTHER OF PARLIAMENTS. .

Viewed by T, E- V Seddon, M P.

H v ; . When the King had finished the Speech, he and the Queen rose, bowed to the Lord and Ladies, and Members, and then withdrew. I was surprised to notice in that assemblage so much khaki. The members of both Houses have evidently responded nobly to the call to arms, and many are actively and keenly engaged in the service.

The ceremony over, I went with ome members to the lobbies and into the House of Lords, where I saw the Wool-sack and other historical spots, and then went to the Library, There I came across Lord Bryce, whom you will remember, visited New Zealand in 1912. He had then not long left his post as British Ambassador at Washington. Strangely enough be remembered our meeting at Ot'ra, where, together we had tea at the shed at O’Malley’s Hotel, It was just after the hotel had been burned down, and the license and tea rooms were being conducted in a corrugated iron hut. The event had impressed Lord Bryce for he talked volubly about it. At lunch I was the guest of t' e Piiliamentary A?s:ciation f there bei/g present Lord Rothemaa from Lancashire, Sir Joseph Ward, two Australian M.’sP. (one a sergeant) and Captain Amery who is attached i to the Committee of Imperial Defence.

The Secretary, W. Dagville, was exceedingly kind and obtained passes for both Houses for me. After lunch Sir Joseph and I met some of the members who visited us some years ago when the Imperial members with Lord Emmett visited Naw Zealand. I met Mr Soanlan of the Irish party. He fa a barrister and an extremely interesting man. At four o’clock I went to the Honto of Lords where my pass took me and there I saw the old —the almost mediaeval ceremony of investing a new Lord. Yisoonnt Harconrt and Viscount Sandhurst took their sea’s for the first, time. The ceremony consisted of a procession in which’the new Lords were e-corted by their sponsors ronod the chamber up to tbe Lord 3 Chief Justice and then to the Clerk, where they . subscribed to the oath of Parliament. The new peers were gorgeously arrayed in scarlet and ermine and velvet hats. The quaint old ceremony with the bowing and Bitting, rising and then doffing of their h°>tn—coaid only be seen and imagined in dear old Albion ! In the Home of Gimmcm*, where Sir Joseph Ward and I had front seats in tbe grllery, we board the speeches of the mover and seconder of the Ad-dress-in-Reply. The mover was Mr McCurdy, who although dretsod in Court dress, failed to impress the House with his oratory. He, as tne boys say, “ had tbe wind up,” looked very nervous and ill at ease. Much different was the style of the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Had worth Meux. Here was a man hern to command. He told tbe House he had been used to giving orders all bis life and did not 'expect any answer! He v tapped this oat fiercely ss if hs meaat it, and tba Hours iroared. He looked lesplondad in his full kit—cockad ha 1 , gold lees and uniform with the red ti' bon or his order, rowß of medals. He gave, in a bright and breezy manner, the vie wpoint of the men ol the Navy in this great war, and expressed tbo greatest oonfidence in those in charge at present. “ Leave it to Jellicoe and Beauty,” he said with a snap and a meaning glance at Winston Churchill who sat scowling in a corner seat. The point was rot missed.. When tbe Admiral finished, JMr Asquith rose. One has become so familiar with pictures and sketohes of tbe ex-Pramier, that in his seat one oould not fad to recognise him. His speech was a revelation. He is a master of dignified diotion,' apt allusion ana poetic phrasing. Hl3 voice is mellow and his manner deliberate, but in everything he is dignified. He was greeted with cheers, and smiling the while, graciously congratulated the twain who had set the Parliamentary ball rolling.

His manner in referring to the mover and seconder was facetious and provoked much merriment. “We have Been,” he said, “ the case presented on the one hand in the staid and 6ober, and yet persuasive accents of my own old profession, and on the other hand with a whiff of brine and even of gunpowder by my honorable and gallant friend, who so worthily represents the British Navy. We could not have had a happier conjunction for the opening Of our debate, particularly as by different roads, with different me*hods, and in different tones, both speakers came to the same conclusion —a conclusion which is accepted unanimously and enthusiastically not only by this House but by the whole of the British people and the Empiie—namely, that there is one, and only one, duty before us—to be united and determined in the prosecution of the war.” He was loudly cheered, From then on us he touched with his mpgic speech he created the closest attention to whatever subject be dealt with. He referred to the “ continuous self-effacing and devoted care which our Gracious King has shown from the beginning of the war up to this day,” and then went on to refer to the great work tbe Navy, and also the Mercantile Marine are carrying on under the most trying most difficult conditions. He asked the Government to tell with a little more fullness and precision the scope and purpose of the Imperial Confer ence. That question was endorsed by many hear hears. Whatever the subject he touched, whether it was the food question, tbe question of agricultural labourers, tbe number of ships under requisition by the Government, he infused an interest and commanded an attention which were remarkable. With warmth and vigour* he referred to the undisguised savagery of our enemies in their recent formal proclamation. He said it was “ a direct and defiant challenge both to the consciences and the interests of the whole neutral world.” His peroration was bo fine, so dignified, and given with eueh fine rhetoric, that i will quote it

“I have only one more thing to say. Our coarse is as plain as and plainer than it ever was. It is to secure victory, and the kind of victory which will pave the way not merely to an abiding peace, bnt to a Becure and safeguarded future for freedom and humanity. For that pnrpose two things are needed. The first is the olosast co-ordination in the operations of the Allies, and the next ia a completed and rounded organisation and concentration of every resource in money, in men, in women, in everything within our reaoh. For that let there be no j string voices, no party crosscurrents, no personal or sectional distractions. Upon us in this House more, perhaps, than upon any body of men throughout the length and breadth of the Fmpire, there rests the greatest responsibility both for what is said and done acd for what is left unsaid apd undone. Let us discharge it in the spirit of men who feel from the bottom of tbe r souls tbat they are tho trustees of the greatest causa in history. (Prolonged chaers,)” How t\ie House cheered him. There is no doubt Mr Asquith will coma again. 1 was told afterwards in the Lobhy that he had got right hack to fjfa bsc fornj, and that tbe chart a f*otu ■ file*- had recuperated hiß poweiv. With ali hia oratory, his rhetoric and faculty of easy and graceful expression, odo felt that at a lime like the present when the Empire baa beoome involved in this great world struggle, and that in a crisis the Government must act and act at once, a more resolute man, a man of prompt deois on and • action must ba at the bead. That man is Lloyd George.

No doubt when the struggle is triumphantly over, end the equaring up process begins, the fine, deliberate and legal mind of Asquith will be requisitioned, but whether as Leader remains to be seen. Lloyd Geoige was absent from the Chamber. ' In these strenuous days the absence of the Prime Minister calls forth little comment, even on the occasion of the opening of Parliament. Any vagaries like that are ascribed to the exigencies of the times “ C’est la guerre,” as they say over the water, with a shrug of the shoulders; “War work,” they say here, and look grim. Bonar Law followed Asquith. He is to be Leader of the House, and the Premier practically devotes himself entirely to executive work. Bonar Law’s style is not impressive—it is almost apologetic, and lacks fire, Like many speeches delivered unconvincingly, it reads remarkably well. When he had concluded, interest in the debate flagged. It almost stopped. When the next speaker rose he was hardly discernible amongst the members who were on their feet, and making for thd lobbies. It seems the practice in the British House of Commons to hear the “ front benchers ” speak, and then for the smaller fry to think it over and talk it over outside. Were the same proportion of speakers to give voice on their views as in our New Zealand House, the session would be interminable.

I was interested, when the Russian officers alongside me were not plying me with questions, in picking out the members whose fame has reached our shores. There was Austen Chamber-, ain—keen, alert, bearing a most extraordinary likeness to his father. Winston Churchill—skulking in a corner seat. P. E. Smith—a well dressed man-about-town look about him. Dillon, of the .Nationalist Party, 'just under the Gallery I was sitting in, watching intently the different speak ers. Hazelton—pale fland studious looking, drinking id every word. John Redmond was absent, but Captain Willie Redmond was there, The Speaker ia very like his photographs, but daring the afternoon be bad no o&u»e to assert his authority. He is extremely popular on all sides,

We bad tea with Captain Willie Redmond, who asked abont the folk he had met in Westland and in New Zealand. He is suffering from a hurt shoulder. Donovan was not present, and Ohapple I failed to notice,

My first visit to the House I shall not forger, and before I go to Prance I trust I may be able to attend and hear another debate. Lloyd George, who I met at Amiens, Vas absent. ,1 should like to hear him speak, atd then I shall be satisfied. It was in-

tensely interesting to see the opening caremony, to hear the Speech from the Throne, see the investitures ip the Huuse of Lords nnd then the fine speeches in the Commons. Westminster is a wonderful place. Ae we walked on iba famous terrace and looked across Father Thames to the severfcl iquare buildings which make up St Thomas’ H spital, it was difficolfi to re&lizs that. he*e was tbe Mother of Parliaments. This was tho place where men of old forgathered—men who bad fought for liberty and privileges, acd had come to Ih ses buildings to claim those right* and put them on the Statute Book. Every room breathed memoiies of great men and etudded about we:e sratoea of the giants of tbs past. There was an excellent marble likaress of Gladstone, a splendid one of Jthn Bright. Every woik bed a bust or a porvreit of some patriot. Tbs Colonial quarter seemed to be about tbe Hercourt Room#,” a portion of Bellamy's. There, photograph groups of visiting distinguished Colooia's are displayed. 1 wond.ir will that po.tion soon be on abiding place for Colonials in tbe flesh!

Loudon has many attractions, its themes, its art gallerier, its glor.OUi Cathedrals, but Westminster, with its magnificent buildings, and its stream of keeu men constantly comirg and going, is tbe most; inteiesing and tbri liDg place I know. I world I were able to know it better, and to Appreciate and know the men who from those sacred chambers, make tbe very Empire throb.