NEW PARLIAMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22756, 17 December 1935, Page 14

NEW PARLIAMENT

RETURN OF THE WRITS OPENING FORMALITIES ELECTION OF A SPEAKER The new Parliament of New Zealand came formally into existence on Saturday, when the writs for the general election were returned. By proclamation dated November 2 it was formally summoned to meet on February 0, but the actual date will be settled later. The first proceedings of a new Parliament (the New Zealand Herald says) are in the charge of a commission appointed by letters patent and usually consisting of the Speaker and four members of the Legislative Council. Members of both Houses meet in the Council Chamber, and after the letters patent have been read the members of the Lower House adjourn to their own Chamber and the oath of allegiance is administered to them individually by the Clerk of the House. The next proceeding is the election of a Speaker, to hold office for the term of the Parliament, which, as the law now stands, is four years. The House then adjourns until the next afternoon, when Parliament is opened witli the usual formalities by the Governor-General, who has previously been asked for his formal approval of the choice of a Speaker. No formalities are required of the Legislative Council as a whole on the first day. Its Speaker is elected at intervals of five years, and if his term of office expires at a time when Parliament is not in session he is entitled to carry on his duties for 14 days after it again assembles. The election of the Chairman of Committees of the House is usually deferred, as his services are not required during the Address-in-Reply debate or until the first legislation is dealt with in committee. Some littlo time also usually elapses before the Government exercises its right to nominate the various committees of the House.

One duty of a new Parliament is to decide whether liquor shall or shall not be sold at " Bellamy's " —or, as the Legislature Act puts it, " within the precincts of the Parliament Buildings "—during the next four years. A poll of both Houses is taken by open voting on the fourth Tuesday after the Address-in-Reply has been determined by the House of Representatives. The " ayes " in both Chambers are added together and the " noes" likewise, and the decision remains binding for the life of that Parliament. In the case of a tie the Clerk of the Legislative Council has a casting vote.

There is a provision that, if nolienee has been carried in the Wellington licensing district, Parliament House, like its surroundings, must be " dry."