THE IMPERIAL PAKLIAMENT. (Town and Country.)

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 316, 23 May 1874, Page 2

THE IMPERIAL PAKLIAMENT. (Town and Country.)

On the day appointed for the meeting of a new parliament » the members of the two Houses assemble in their respective chambers. In the Lords, the Lord Chancellor acquaints the House that 'her Majesty, not thinking it fit to be personally present here this day, had been pleased to cause a Commission to be issued under the Great Seal, in order to the openingand holding of theParliament ' The LordsCommissioners.beingintheir robes and seated between thethrone and. the woolsack, then command the Gentleman Usherof the Blackßodtolet theCoramons knowthatthe 'LoidsCommissioners desire their immediate attendance in this House to hear the Commission read.' Meantime, in the Lower House, the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery has delivered to the Clerk of the House a list of the members returned to serve ; and on receiving the message from Black Rod the Commons go up to the House of Lords. The commission having been read in presence of the members of both Houses, the Lord Chancellor opens the parliament by stating 'that her Majesty will, as soon as the members of both Houses shall 1 be sworn, declare the causes of her calling this parliament ; and it being necessary that a Speaker of the House of Commons should first be chosen, that you, gentlemen of the House of Commons, repair to the place where you are to ait, and there proceed to the appointment of some proper person as your Speaker, and that you| present such person whom you ghall so choose here to-morrow at o'clock, for her Majesty's royal approbation.' The Commons immediately •withdraw, and returning to their own House, proceed to elect a Speaker. Till a Speaker be elected, the clerk acts as Speaker, standing and pointing to members as they rise to speak, and then sitting down. If only one candidate bo proposed for the office, the motion, after being seconded, is supported by a influential member, generally the leader of the House of Commons ; and the member proposed, baring expressed his sense of the honour meant to be conferred on liinii in» called by the House to the chair, to which he is led by th« proposer and seconder. If another member be proposed aui seconded,, a debate ensues ; and at its close, the clerk puts the question, that the member first proposed ' do take the chair as Speaker.' If the House divide, he directs one party to go into the right lobby, and the other into the left, and appoints two tellers for each. If the majority be in favour of the member iiist proposed, he i* led to tho chair ; if not a similar question being put regarding the other member and answered in the alGrmative, he is conducted to the chnir. The Speaker-elect expresses Ihia. thanks for the honour conferred on him, and takes his seat ; on which the mace is laid on the table, where it is always placed during the sitting of the House with the Speaker in the chair. He is then congratulated by some leading member, and the House ndjourns. The next day, the Speaker-elect, oit the arrival of Black I!od, 2>rocecds with the Commons to the House of Lords, where his election is approved by the Lord Chancellor. He then lays claim, on behalf of tho Commons, to their ancient lights and privileges, which being confirmed, he retires with tho Commons from the bar. Beaily the same foinis are observed on the election of a new Speaker, when a vacancy occurs by death or resignation in the course of the <se*«o?i:. The members of both Houses then take the oath prescribed by law, a proceeding which occupies several days. In the Upper House the Lord Chancellor first t ikes the oath singly, at the table. The Clerk of tbe Crown delivers a certificate of the leturn of the Scottish i epresentative peers, and Gaiter King-at-arms the roll of the lords temporal", after which the lords present take and subscribe the oath. Peers who have been newly created by letterspatent present their patents to the Lord Chancellor, are introduced in their robes between two other peers of their own dignity, proceeded by Black Sod. and Garter, and conducted to their places. The same ceremony is oV served in the case of peers who have received a writ of summons — a formality necessary when a member of the Low er House succeeds to a peeiage ; otherwise his seat does noiS become vacant. A bishop is introduced by two other bishops, without the formalities observed with temporal lords. Representative bishop* of Ireland take their seats without any particular ceremony. Peers by descent hare a right to take their seits without an introduction. In tbe Commons, the Speaker first subscribes the oath, standing on the upper step of the chair, and is followed by the other members. Members on taking the oath are introduced by the Clerk of the House to the Speaker. Members returned on new writs in the course of the session, after taking the oath, are introduced between two members. They must bring a certificate of their return from the Clerk of th«~ Crown. The oaths are required to be taken in a full House, with the Speaker in the ohair — in the Commons, between the hours nine and four. The presence of a Commission constitutes a full House. In the Upper House tha oaths may, by 6 and 7 Viet. c. 6, be taken till five o'clock. On the demise of the Crown, the oaths- must be taken anew in both Houses. When the greater part of the members of both Houses have been sworn, the causes of calling the parliament are declared by tho Sovereign either in person or by commission. In the former case, the Queen proceeds in state to the House of Lords-, and commands Black Rod to let the Commons know ' that it is her Majesty's pleasure that they attend; her immediately in this House.' Black Rod proceeds to the House of Commons, and form illy commands their attendance, on which the Speaker and the Commons go np to the bar of the House of Lord*, and the Queen reads her speech, which is delivered <o her by the Lord Chancellor kneeling on one knee. When parliament ia opened by commission, tho Sovereign not being personally present, the Lerd Chancellor reads the royal speech to both Houses. Immediately after the royal speech is read, the House is adjourned during pleasure ; but both Houses are resumed in the afternoon, for the purpose of votiDg an address in answer to the speech from tbe throne. In each House, it ia common to beg in business by reading some bill pro forma, in order to assert the right of deliberating without reference to the immediate cause of summons. The royal speech is< then read, and an address moved in answer to it. Two members in each House by the Ministry are chosen to move and second the address The pieparation of the address is referred to a select committee ; it is twice read, may be amended, and when finally agreed on, it is orderedto be presented to her Majesty.

Something quite new in qio annals of jurisprudent come* to us from North Carolina It is the report of tho case of 'The State v. William Linkhaw. Indictment for misdemeanour. Superior Court, Spring Term, 1873'— and a curious case it is. The unfortunate Linkhaw was prosecuted under the statute for ' disturbing a religious congregation.' This far from sweet William is, it appears, a member of the Methodist Church, and is accustomed to sing after a fashion so retarded that ' at the end of each verse his voice is heard when the other singers have ceasad.' The effect of this was duplex. Half the congregation laughed, while the moiety 'got mad.' The ' irreligious and frivolous' alio attended to enjoy the fun. The 'serious and devout' became indignant. Still William would sing. Sometimes the preacher, for fear of profane merriment, would order no singing at all. The presiding elder refused to preach in the church on account of William Linkhaw' s bad singing. Leading members of the assembly interfered and privately labored with Willliani, beseeching him to sing no more. But ho knew his rights, and knowing dared maintain them. He didn't appeal to the Personal Liberty Bill — not he ! Ho fell back upon bis vested immunities as a Christian. He firmly said, with a courage worthy of Martin Luther, that ' he would" worship God, and that as a part of his worship it was his duty to Bing.' And so he did ; and with such deliberation that at lihe end of every verse he was two and one half bars behind. Flesh and blood couldn't stand it. The constable was sent for, who took William into custody ; the grand jury indicted him ; the petit jury found him guilty of singing out of time. He has appealed. — New York Tribune. A high-school girl, just graduated, said in her essay :—: — ' Let us avoid the frivolities of life, and pursue the noblest ends only.' The next day she was moved to tears in an agonising attempt to decide the proper shade of blue for her complexion — American paper. 'Little Tommy didn't disobey mamma, and go in swimming, did ho ? ' — ' No mamma. Jimmy Brown and the rest of the hoys went in ; but I remembered, and would not disobey you.'— 1 And Tommy never tells lies, does he ? '—No, mamma :or I couldn't go to Heaven.' — ' Then how doe* Tommy happen to have on Jimmy Brown'i shirt ? '