PORTUGAL CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 477, 5 October 1928, Page 1

PORTUGAL CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE DAY

18 YEARS A REPUBLIC CONSULS’ COURTESY CALLS To-day is the anniversary of the Portuguese Republic, and consuls of all other countries represented in Auckland called on the Portuguese Consul, Mr. David L. Nathan, as an act of international courtesy. Each consulate also flew its own flag as a tribute to the Portuguese Republic. The last King of Portugal was Manoel, the second son of the former King Carlos. King Carlos, who came to the throne in 1899, was a monarch of liberal views, who was frequently forced by circumstances to adopt a repressive course of action, while the administration generally, captured by a corrupt type of politician, was the real cause

of the misgovernment for which he was blamed. The discontent engendered under his regime resulted in the King and the Crown Prince being assassinated at Lisbon on February 1, 1908. The second son, Manoel, was raised to the throne, but he was driven from the country by a revolution in October, 1910. Portugal was proclaimed a republic on October 5, 1910. The method of government is democratic. There are two chambers. The lower, with 164 members, is elected by direct suffrage for three years, and the upper, with 71 members, is elected by the municipal councils, renewable half at a time, every three years. The president is elected by both chambers for a term of four years. He cannot be re-elected and receives an annual income of about £5.300. The republic is strongly anti-cleri-cal, most of its leaders, like its president, Senhor Braga, being positivists, but the complete separation between Church and State roused much opposition. The republic has abolished all hereditary titles and privileges.