THE SPEAKER'S CHAIR.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 580, 28 June 1913, Page 5

THE SPEAKER'S CHAIR.

MR F. W. LANG ELECTED. A POPULAR APPOINTMENT. Aa was anticipated Mr F. W. Lang, the popular member for Manukau, was elected unopposed to the office of Speaker to the Parliament o£ the Dominion on Thursday. In elevating to the Speaker's chair Mr Frederick W. Lang, member for Manukau, Parliament promotes one o£ its most popular members. The Speaker could scarcely make an enemy if he tried. Possibly his retiring manner has kept Mr Lang from the limelight, and from earlier promotion, but he has in the Prime Minister a very old political colleague and neighbour, who realises his qualities. Mr Lang, once accustomed to the new position, will rule on awkward points with firmness, while if the Parliamentary atmosphere becomes electrical at any time, one may predict that the Speaker, of all men in the House, is least likely to increase the tension. Mr Lang has a distinct advantage in being served by a clerk, Mr Henry Otttersen, whose long experience of Parliamentary procedure will be oC material assistance. There are few New Zealand precedents Mr Otterseii cannot quote instanter. He has catalogued them often, and is recognised as a reliable guide in these puzzling affairs. It was as a pioneer farmer in Waikato that Mr Lang first faced the Parliamentary electors in 1893. He then possessed a good record of service on local bodies, having been chairman of the Waipa County Council for six years. He was a member of that body for ten year? altogether, and knew the problem of back blocks roading and settlement by heart. He has had practical experience of how the once decried Waikato lands yielded their wealth to suitable treatment, and is reputed to have dono very well when he sold [out his Waikato farm some years ago to settle nearer Auckland. He became member for Waikto with a thousand majority in 1893, and held the seat until Mr H. J. Greenslade, after some record achievements in touring difficult back blocks country, defeated him in 1905. Less than a year later the death of Mr Matthew Kirkbride gave him his opportunity of re-entering the House as member for Manukau, and he haß remained in that position ever since. Mr Lang was born at Blackheath, a London suburb 61 years aeo and] has been a New Zealander since he was 19. MR SPEAKERS' FIRST RULING. The first exercise, of the newlyelected Speaker's authority, singularly enough, was applied by Mr Lang on Thursday afternoon in cutting short what was intended to be a speech of congratulation on his elevation to his high office. After the election had been concluded, the Prime Minisetr, in accordance with usage, after congratulating the Speaker, moved the adjournment of the House. The motion having been seconded by Mr Macdonald on behalf of the Opposition, Mr J. A. Young, member for Waikato, rose and said that, as the present representative of the electorate which first returned Mr Lang to Parliament,ha desired to tender his congratulations. He was proceeding with his felicitous remarks, when the Speaker intervened by saying: "I am sorry, but the motion before the House now is the question of adjournment, and you can only speak to that." Mr Young, with look of intense disppointment, sat down, and the motion was put and carried.