THE LATEST PARLIAMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13091, 3 June 1913, Page 9

THE LATEST PARLIAMENT.

PEKIN 'S HISTORIC CEREMONY.

WONDERFUL EXPERIMENT

LONDON, April 11

There are 596 members in the new j Chinese House of Commons, and 874; members of the Senate. Of these, 500 , and 177 respectively met jointly this week in Pekin for the election of a President. The Hall of Assembly is modelled on that of the Washington House of Representatives. ! I With few exceptions, the members were dressed in frock coats and top hats, and the House presented a remark- : ablo appearance. The Deputies and Senators maintained a dignified, serious, ' and attentive demeanor, as if they wero fully conscious of the fact that the day formed a great landmark in the political history of the world, and particularly in that of Asia. The inaugural ceremony was of the briefest and most simple character. The temporary Chairman merely declared that Parliament was open, and the members thereupon rose in their seats and bowed. Then a message from Yuan-Shi-Kai was presented, and afterwards Liang-Shi- Yi, Chief of the Presidential Secretariat, advanced ceremoniously and laid the scroll containing the text of the message upon the 'tribune. Yuan-Shi-Kai, in his message, heartily congratulated Parliament upon its inauguration, and expressed the hope that the Republic would last 10,000 years. 1

Followed by all the members of tho Cabinet, Liang-Shi- Yi then descended to the floor, of the House, and the entire company rose ence more and bowed three times in formal fashion, to tho Republic and to the sovereignty which it embodies. The sitting was then suspended. The recess Will last for a week, at the • end of which the joint Houses will elect their officers and proceed to business.

The American Charge d'Affaires was , an interested spectator, but no other Chief de Mission was present, although the staffs of the various Legations were represented. j A JOURNEY BY CAMEL. I

Cabling from Pekin, the Daily Telegraph correspondent said : "After tho sitting was over I mingled witb. the representatives of the nation, who seemed loth to separate, and chatted willingly enough about themselves and their plans. All of them have apparently brought their families to Pekin, a fact which is peculiarly significant in the East, as it denotes permanent residence. Every part of the Chinese dominions was represented. Mohammedans from Kansu Province, and the new dominion mixed with Mongol delegates. Cantonese stood talking with Heiunchiang representatives; men whose homes are 3000 miles apart were seen together. One mail bashfully admittec. '"'at he liad travelled to the capital by cii...el for a considerable portion of the way, and then asked me naively, 'Is my top-hat correct?'

"Sui'ely this is an experiment wonder--ful to contemplate. Here is the seed cast carelessly by Europe now bursting ' into fat crops. Englishmen, of all the ' peoples of the earth, who triumphantly j established the representative principle when others were languishing under despotism, must look benignly on something which, if it should prove fully successful, means a' recasting of tho world."

A remarkable circumstance in connection with the new Parliament is that, though it has itself been elected UDon a vague form .of universal suffrage, everyone having been 'permitted to vote who desired to do so, one of the subjects which it will have to discuss will bo the creation of a franchise based upon some sort of a property qualification. ..■■•/