END OF THE SESSION.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14507, 8 November 1912, Page 6

END OF THE SESSION.

AMUSING MOCK PARLIAMENT' ; ,

(srEttAi, to "tub rurss"), X' WELLINGTON, November 7. ' 'VTho scssiou camo to an end just be. fore miduight. For somo considerable ':■ timo tho proceed'ngs t wero hung up by tho Upper House who inserted a clause ' ' in tho "Washing-up" Bill with regard to a question of Maori litigation. The * ' clause was clearly out of .order in that it was foreign to tho Bill, Sir Arthur Guinness -so ruled, but. th© ActingSpeaker of tho Upper House ruled otherwise. A deadlock ensued but a conference was arranged between representatives of both Houses and eventually a way out was found.

Then tho members of tho Upper Houso took to complimenting one another and moro time was wasted. Shortly beforo eleven o'clock tho House got tho "Washing-up" Bill, and the Appropriation Bill back from the,(?>. per House. Tho Bills wero read a third time and passed. Mr Sneaker then left, in a motorcar for Government Houso to obtain his Excellency's signature to the Appropriation Bill. In tho interval a moro. than usually amusing mock parliament was held\ I A clever Bill entitled "Tho Auckland j Domain Model Pa Bill" had bc-en I drafted and printed. It was a most amusing skit on Mr Myers's Bill regarding tho Orakei. Domain. Dr. Buck, who had. charge of tho Bill, explained that it was "a tjicasurc to rcstoro all tho grandeur and splendour of tho neolithic age, and to do nwav witb this cursed civilisation." Dr. Buck's attempt to pilot his Bill through Committeo kept a full House and overcrowded galleries in roars of laughter. Thero was a particularly largo attendance of '-strangers," iucluding many ladies. The Speaker returned to tlio House at 11-23 p.m., and after the usual formal and valedictory proceedings, tho first, session under tho control of the Massey Government came to an end. , It has been a remarkable scs«*ion in more ways than on-i., and thf Government has emerged from it with great credit, and stronger than when they entered upon their somewhat difficult task at its commencement-