PARLIAMENT OPENED.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 88, 12 May 1916, Page 3

PARLIAMENT OPENED.

SPEECH FROM THE THRONE. A RECORD OF BREVITY. WELLINGTON, May 9. The second session of the IlHh Parliament of New Zealand was this day opened by the Governor, when Ipk Excellency was pleased to -uakc tbo following speech: — Honourable Gentlemen of '.he Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,—

I It has been found necessary to subi niit to you a proposal for the extension j of the powers of my Government in mat- : ters relating to the war, and 1 have j therefore found it necessary to convene Parliament at a somewhat earlier date , than usual. It was my privilege at tha j opening of the session of 1915 to read a message from his Majesty the King ! congratulating the people of this Doj minion upon the splendid conduct and bravely displayed' 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 and at Helles on April 25, 11)15, was the historic occasion of that message, j Though all the land forces of the Allies I have since been withdrawn from the , Dardanelles, history will record that our men throughout the occupation faced I the dangers of battle and disease and [ endured privation and suffering with j unfailing courage, and that they, with : the Governments 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 honour had been won. 'My Ministers hope that when the terms of peace are considered they 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 the ordinary expenditure on the public service of the Dominion. Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,— Cntil 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 be invited to direct, the whole of your energies to the settlement of some of the dillicult problems which have arisen in consequence of the war and to the consideration of measures which have direct relation to the existing exceptional conditions. I earnestly commend those matters to your consideration, and I pray that Divine Providence may guide vou in vour deliberations.