THE SESSION

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 June 1926, Page 3

THE SESSION

OPENING INCIDENTS.

(Special fco “Star.”)

PRESS GALLERY, Saturday.

Time and tide wait for no man, and even though gubernatorial dignities suffer from lumbago, or other maladies of a less excruciating nature (except that of listening to speeches by members of Parliament) Parliament has to be opened. Not that the doors cannot be opened any time, but it is necessary to have some amount of formal display and pomp in order to be able properly to digest the Government’s legislative policy as it is most often dimly adumbrated in what is commonly known as the “Speech.” Hence it was that on Thursday there yas a hurried rush in the search for precedents to learn how Parliament could be sent on its way rejoicing without the imprimatur of Sir Charles Fergusson’s bright red coat and gaily plumed hat. Dug up from the misty past the recollection of what happened once or twice in Queen- Victoria’s regal story was Drought to light and it was discovered that when Her Majesty was unable to deliver Her Speech in person the Lord Chancellor made a very appropriate deputy. So it came about that Sir Walter Carncross, Speaker of the Legislative Council, oi* the “Lord Chancellor” of New Zealand, did his best without the aid of a Woolsack to acquaint the faithful Commons of what would be required of them during the next three or four months, or over whatever period it pleases them to linger within these precincts. Robbed of the .presence of the Vice-Regal Party, the ceremony was without its accustomed glamour and splash of colour, and until the evening paper came out the crowd of spectators within' and without the Chamber were at a loss to know what was the matter with the Governor-General except that he wasn’t there. So what with the formal opening by Commission on Wednesday, which procedure is always necessary in the case of a new Parliament as there is no Speaker, and' the absence of the Governor-General on Thursday for the full-dress ceremony, the opening of Pailiament this year was not so interesting as usual and in the fact that His Excellency was unable to attend it provided a circumstance, which has never before occurred in the political history of New Zealand.

Sir James Carroll, one of the venerable members of the Legislative Council, provided some slight diversion in the course of the ceremony in the Council on Thursday. On such occasions as the opening of Parliament and the delivery of the Speech from the Throne it is customary for the “Lords” to put on evening dress and be seated in their Chamber well before the time the Vice-Regal Party is due to put in an appearance. Sir James was a little late in arriving on this occasion, and he was also minus evening “glad rags.” Nothing daunted, he entered the Chamber while Sir William Carncross was carrying out the duties of His Excellency’s deputy and essayed to make his way to a seat in the : front row amongst his fel-low-Councillors and the many fine ladies who were also seated in the vicinity. The portly Sergeant-at-Arms standing behind the Speaker of the Lower House who was seated just in front of the faithful Commons, did his best to hold tire Mace on his shoulder and at the same time keep Sir James Carroll back by “elbonic” pressure on Sir James’s abdominal regions. In the language of the football scribes, Sir James was not to be denied, and, successfully countering the Sergeant’s tactics, he shot past as the Mace swung a point or two to the right wing, and glided with the utmost dignity to the only vacant seat in the front row. The Sergeant may have felt like ’cracking him with the Mace, the symbol of authority, but it was a case of artful dodging of which any ordinary man would have been proud to be the hero, yet Sir James’s demeanour did not betoken that he thought anything more of the incident than he would have of lighting his pipe. The Speech no doubt contained some idea of what the Government’s l legislative programme for the session is going to be, but it was so clouded in two and a half columns of words that all the Leader of the Oposition could do so soon Commons returned to their own Chamber was to announce that he intended to move an amendment. Parliament would not be Parliament if it did not have a noconfidence motion, and though the Labour Opposition is small in numbers it is but doing its duty in being as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals when it comes to a question of saying wjiat it thinks about the Government’s policy as outlined in the Speech.

One of the first things which struck one on the House meeting for the despatch of business, was the preponderance of the Government Party. It is hard to visualisb the strength of tlie Reform Party until one actually sees how its members surge over other parties in the popular Chamber, filling two-thirds of the available accommodation. To an old Parliamentarian the sight of the Labour Party occupying the Opposition benches was not exactly terrifying, but it made one furiously to think of what may happen in the next three years, if the Prime Minister should so act that his towering majority dwindles away to vanishing point. The Reform Party’s majority is majestic and sweeping and gives one an impression of immense strength. Is it a giant with feet of clay?

A striking figure in the Chamber on opening day was that of Sir Joseph Ward. All eyes were centred on him as he entered and it was noted that officials and messengers treated him with all due deference. One and all seemed glad to have him back there again, and although he might not have been strictly in the best, of taste in cracking jokes over the tremendously serious and dignified business of the election of a Speaker, yet at the same time it is fitting that someone should act as a sort of political joker and Sir Joseph’s little quips about his own strong and independent party of one man which does not require any Whips or caucus meetings, provoked merriment. By the way, Mr. Atmore is challenging Sir Joseph’s claim to be the only independent party in the House.

A rather humorous incident happened while members were being sworn in on Wednesday. It is customary to perform this ceremony with an open Bible, but at one stage the attention of the Clerk was diverted for a moment or two, and he got something in the nature of a shock when he found that he was administering, the oath of fealty to one batch of mem-

bers on a Book of Rules and Procedure.

Well, the session has opened, and already the question is* being asked, When is it going to end?