PARLIAMENTARY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 29, 9 May 1916, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY.

THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. ( (By Telegraph—Special). Wellington, May 9. . The second session of the nineteenth Parliament of New Zealand was this day opened by the Governor, when His Excellency was pleased to make the following speech:— Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

It has been found necessary to submit to you proposals for the extension , of the powers of,.my Government in matters relating to.cthe war, and I have therefore found it, necessary to convene Parliament ■ ], f 4t-- a somewhat earlier date than /usual. It was my privilege at the opening of the Session 0f'1915 to rea(J.» -message from His Majesty tlio; King/ the people pf this the splendid conduct arid- bffl%ry : ' jiisplayed by the New Zealand troops at the Dardanelles. The landing of our soldiers with their comrades of the Australian troops and of the British and Indian forces at the Anzac beach, uid at Helles, on the 25th April, 1915, was the historic occasion of that message. Though all the land forces of the Allies have since been withdrawn from the Dardanelles history will record that our men throughout tlvj occupation faced the dangers of battle and disease and endured privation and suffering with unfailing courage and that they with the Government and peoples of New Zealand and of the Commonwealth quietly and without demur acquiesced in and accepted the necessity of retirement from the battlefield where so much honor had been won. My Ministers hope that when terms of peace are considered it may be possible to reserve for New Zealand and Australia' the" ground where our men fought and so many fell in the service of the Empire. Mr Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: In the estimates prepared for your consideration you will be asked to make full provision for the prosecution of the war in addition to ordinary expenditure on the public services of the Dominion • Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: Until the warfare in which New Zealand has claimed to take her full part with the Empire is terminated by a peace ensuring for the world freedom [from the tyranny of German military methods, all political parties have agreed to abstain from controversy of a party character. You will therefore jbe invited to direct the whole of your 'energies to the settlement of some of (the difficult problems which have arrived in consequence of the war and Jto the consideration of measures which ;have direct relation to the existing exceptional conditions. I earnestly commend those matters to your ensideration and 1 pray that Divine Providence may guide you in your deliberations.