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Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13168, 26 July 1911, Page 2

■ i| Parliament. ' / Tiie official opening o? ■tSiG last session of the present Parliament will take place to-morrow. The Governor's speech-, -according to an unofficial forecast, will contain few contentious features, and it is expected that the session will be a short one. The ■Government, it is understood, is prepared to, tackle the business seriously without delay, and the important departmental reports are ready and will be presented at an early stage. Though the session is likely to be hrief, there are indications that it will be a not uninteresting one. The Right Hon. the PHme Minister and the AttorneyGeneral will not reach the;^Dominion until nest month. Until Sir John Findlay's return the Hon. J. McGowan will represent the Government in the Upper House.

The General Elections. The general elections are set down for early November, and interest in political matters is becoming keen. I The campaigns directed hv the leading members on both sides of the House have been proceeding briskly. The acting--I'romier, Sir James Carroll, made a successful excursion into the South Is--lnnd, and in tho centres in which he delivered addresses he had a warm reception. The -misrepresentation of Liberal ideals and achievements indulged in ad nauseam by Opposition orators, lias furnished their opponents with material of which*very effective use has been made, and the Government has every reason for looking forward with confidence to the verdict of the olectors in November. The Hon. IH. McKcnzic, Minister p'f Public

Works and member for Motueka, paid a visit to his constituency during the month, and delivered a number of addresses. At Wakefield he made a very effective reply to Conservative strictures upon the Government. The Defence Scheme. When the period allowod for registration in the Territorials and Senior Cadets under the Defenco Act expired, it was found that the response to the call, generally speaking, had been satisfactory. It will still be some- time before the scheme can be brought into actual operation. The medical examination of recruits is now going on throughout the Dominion, and will probably consume some weeks, arid after thut tho drafting of the meil to their units will be taken in hand. It is worthy of note that the medical inspection, as far as it has proceeded, has disclosed a satisfactory standard of physique. The proceedings initiat-

Ed against those liable for service under the Act who failed to enrol themselves within the prescribed time have brought the objectors to compulsory training, conscientious and otherwise, again to the front. The Act goes as far in deference to genuino.religious scruples .as.seems to.be possible without. seriously imperilling the success of the scheme. Where it can be accomplished without detriment to efficiency persons who have conscientious objections to bearing arms will be posted to non-combatant branches, but it is obvious that it would be impossible in that way to meet the views 6f all whd may enier'tain such scruples. Opponents of the system are forming

branches in various places of an organisation styled the "Anti-Militarist Society," which aims at demonstrating the fact, that there is "intense antagonism" to military training, (ian4,ipXo--poses to supply local aflv'Vfl Vvliere n'ff(4'F'<iri\;y \o lads wlio are defying the law by not regist^--,^. ii ie result of «ne tlemouhiVatlollS so far organised ddOS Hot justify the impression thnt organised resistanco to the DefeHGe I Act commands a groat deal of popular Sympathy-. , The W^atjisr.. ....-:., Several days' incessant rain in most ' parts of the. Dominion.hare ed in swollen riyoj:s. nuVj flisto\}"dtl«)ii. of: ti'iiffip. iii'd cohiiimnications. On Mon--1 ;KvChristclnu-eh an^all places soutl jf that city were cut off froa- telegraphic communication by., breaks^ in the linos asl'i'ihefj to iM hcary lAli 01, , §ii&\\- iii lli'o back country, and they are . still isolated from the rest of the Do■ minion. T\ie rivers in this district arc ! high, but so far no damage hns been j reported.

the Situation at BlenheinV.

itiS iiltsiVgre intelligence aVailable from .Blenheim shows the.^posiitian j thoijo to,to very sqi'ious ..WtWeji. The floca \Vat,o^ ( 'appear to ; have inyaded piik-es in £ho town to which they never gained access in the inundations, qt'i previous years, an.tl the, toll ofjilamiic;^ is a.lm\dy tst.rfimfity )\Mvy, while the \~>dralysis of business and communication will entail severe privation and discomfort until measures to cope with tho emergency can be properly organised. The present experience of Bleiu heim shows the futility of the measures which were adopted some year's ago in the jiope of averting, su'ph diWs-j ters, :j and. j jt_ sepnis prptabio, that the. situation is aggravated by the protective embankment blocking the egress of the flood. Unfortunately there appears to be no immediate prospect of an linprovfcjhrJn*; ni the trai.thtf*1; *--He last word from Blenheim was that rain was still f^; ng and t_^^ 'uiaications locally at the time of writing are the reverse of encouraging.