PARLIAMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 251, 20 September 1933, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

OPENING OF SESSION. FORMALITIES THIS AVEEK. AVELLINGTON, Sept. 20. After a recess extending over twenty-eight weeks, members of the House of Representatives and the Legislative Council will assemble to-morrow afternoon for this year’s session of Parliament. The opening will take place in the Legislative Council Chamber, where the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, will deliver bis speech from the throne. In this His Excellency will give a general outline of the Ministry’s legislative programme. For the most part the business transacted by the Legislature this week will be confined to the usual formalities associated with the opening of Parliament. The session will be the second in succession to be inaugurated in the spring. Last year Parliament opened on September 22. The late start on that occasion was due to the fact that the emergency session earlier in the year had not finished until May, and it was then out of the question for Parliament to resume its normal session at the customary time in June. In addition to that, Rt. Hon J. G. Coates, and tlie then Minister of Finance, Hon. AV. Downie Stewart, were absent from the Dominion at the Imperial Conference at Ottawa. The reasons for this year’s relatively late start are much the same. The session which commenced iii September of last year did not finish until March, there having been a seven-week adjournment over Christmas and New Year. Another factor was the absence abroad of the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. AV. Forbes, and the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Hon. R. Masters, who represented New Zealand at tlie recent World Economic Monetary Conference in-London.

There has been some curiosity as to where Mrs McCombs is likely to sit. Her late husband, Mr James McCombs, shared a front bench with Mr D. G. Sullivan, member for Avon. The general custom is for new members to be given a seat in either the middle or back row and gravitate to the front in accordance with their length of service. It is believed, however, that the Labour Party is anxious to confer upon Mrs McCombs the honour of a Beat in the front row, and that in all Erobability she will occupy the seat of er late husband.

At the conclusion of the ceremonial opening, both Houses will hold short sittings. Members of the House of Representatives will meet on Friday afternoon to pay. their respects to legislators and ex-legislators who had died daring the recess. These are Hon. Wirenni Rikihana, Hon. Sir Thomas Sidey, Hon. G. If. Thomson, Mr J. McCombs and Mr A. McNicol. After tributes to their memory and the passing of resolutions placing on record their services to the State, and expressing sympathy with their relatives, the House will probably adjourn until Tuesday as a mark of respect. On resuming next week the Address-in-Reply debate will be commenced, the mover of which will bo Mr H. Holland, member for Christchurch North, and the seconder Mr \V. J. Broadfoot, member for Waitomo.