THE DAY IN PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 149, 28 June 1929, Page 8

THE DAY IN PARLIAMENT

Parliament was opened with due sol* enmity yesterday afternoon, but thera was an air of expectancy about the proceedings in so far as the GovernorGeneral's Speech outlining the work of the. session was concerned. The Speech did not indicate that Parliament would be asked to digest a heavy legislative programme, but such utterances do not always disclose what a Government has at the back of its legislative mind; in. other words, there might be more in, the Speech than meets the eye. la any case, it can be said that this session will not rank as the least important in the country's history J The significant feature about yesterday's proceedings was that the Leader of the Opposition (the Eight Hon. J. G. Goates) did not give any notice to move an amendment to the Address-in-. Beply motion, so that it seems fairlycertain that the Reform Party intends to give the Government jevery opportunity to show what it can do in the way of fulfilling election 'promises. The sitting of the House of lasted for just a few minutes under the full hour, questions about unemployment and the means the Government proposes to cope with the earthquake disaster occupying much of the time. Some of the notices from the Government benches relating to actions of the Eeform Government when it was in. office were piquant ii their nature, and if the information asked for in the form of returns results in interesting revelations from the pigeon ixoles the session will not have proved, a nugatory one. Mr. E. P. Bushworth (Bay of Islands), who was temporarily unseated after the last short session of Parliament, but was returned at the by-elections in the early part of the year, was sworn in, as was also Mr. |W. J. Jordan (Manukau), who was absent from the Dominion ■ during the short but eventful session in December. Leave of absence on account of illness was granted to the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, Mr. T. D. Burnett (Temuka). and Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Egmont). Mr. G. C. Black, who is busy in the earthquake areas in Nelson and the West Coast, was granted two days' leave of absence.