OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 118, 19 July 1873, Page 5

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

The third session of the fifth Parliament of New Zealand was opened on.-Tuesday. Though the event has not been associated with any political portents in the minds of our legislators and parliamentary agents, hangers-on, and waiters upon Providence, a vex-y large section of the people of this oity will preserve a vivid recollection of Tuesday’s ceremonies. Placed merely within the category of public displays, it possessed attractions that outshone any ceremony of a like kind ever seen in Wellington, recommendations which sufficiently accounted for the remarkably large gathering, chiefly composed of ladies, which thronged the galleries and floor of the Legislative Council Chambsn-. It is not an every-day occurrence to have the opportunity of hearing a new Governor read his opening speech in new Houses of Parliament. Making allowances for the dissatisfaction experienced by those who, through want of proper management, were uncomfortably placed, or shutout altogether, the general feeling was one of pleasure at the brilliancy of the scene. The galleries at each end of the chamber were crowded with handsomely dressed ladies; on the floor below was another closely packed congregation of the fair sex seated behind a temporary enclosure dividing their portion of the chamber from that of the “grave and reverend seigniors.” The handsome hall, its graceful ornamentation and new furniture and fittings, all helped to form a very attractive “show.” Outside the Buildings there was little display. The Artillery Volunteers were drawn up on the reclaimed land under the command of Lieutentant Pilcher, Captain Pearce being engaged at the Government Buildings. The Veteran Volunteers were ranged outside the Legislative Council as a Guard of Honor for his Excellency. A few minutes before two o’clock hie Excellency drove from Government House, the departure being marked by a salute of seventeen guns from the three-gun battery of the Artillery Corps, which was remarkably well served. His Excellency having entered the Council Chamber and taken his seat in the Speaker’s chair, the members of the House of Representatives were summoned from the “ other place,” and they responded by crowding into the vice-regal presence as tumultuously as youths let loose from school. His Excellency was dressed in a gorgeous military costume ornamented with a profusion of gold lace. At hig left hand was seated Lady Eergusßon, with something of the paleness of the lily in her countenance, as if not in the enjoyment of robust health. The Speech was read by his Excellency in a full decided voice, but with scarcely the grace and modulation which characterise his extempore deliveries. Rather an unseemly clatter of feet and voices issued from the strangers’ gallery during the ceremony. At the conclusion of the Spseeh his Excellency was escorted out of the chamber, and his entering his carriage was the signal for the Artillery to fire a second salute. This closed the sight-seeing portion of the day’s doings, and those concerned in the “ business of the country ” wended their way to the