The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia. Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. PARLIAMENT OPENED.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 29 August 1919, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia. Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. PARLIAMENT OPENED.

The Governor's Speech, with which Parliament was opened yesterday, contains a good deal of formal and historical narrative which hardly could have been omitted. This deals with the victorious close of the war the splendid work of our New Zealand soldiers, the expression of national sympathy with the bereaved, the statue the Dominion was granted at the Peace Conference, and very modestly refers to the part played at th e Conference by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance; and w e think it will be agreed that all the references are appropriate. The policy parts of the Speech are few and of the tentative order. They necessarily wait on circumstances; they disclose a number of proposals which can hardly be regarded as contentious, and must be disposed of however short the session may be; while there are other subjects on which there ought to be legislation, and will be if Parliament be found to be in the mood to do work. But it is of no use disguising th e fact that the Opposition has the whip harift. At best the Government majority can be but small, and there is so short a time available that even if measures cannot be negatived on a test division, they can be destroyed by dilatory methods. The Speech does not attempt to outline a general political programme. In the circumstances this could hardly have been expected ; the political situation precludes it; for it is not known yet how the Cabinet will be constituted for the work of the session, not to speak of the election campaign. If ther e is to be any declaration du-ring the session of future Ministerial policy there will be other opportunities of putting it forward, such, for instance, as that provided by the Financial Statement. There is therefore not much policy to be found in the Speech, and the Address in Reply debate may be almost a formality, unless, of course } the administration of the National Government is to be brought under criticism. The only party logically entitled to undertake this work would be the Labor party, aided by a few fre e lances who are not compromised by a debt of loyalty to the now defunct conjunction. 'Ihe course of the session must depend on developments which it is difficult to forecast.