Swearing-in the Members.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12793, 11 June 1909, Page 5

Swearing-in the Members.

When the formal proceedings in connection with the opening of Parliament took place this afternoon, the public was not admitted to the buildings in large numbers. The accommodation in the new building, and especially in the Legislative Council Chamber, where the ceremony took place, is so restricted that only a small number of members of both Houses, and a select gathering of officials and their wives, were enabled to view the proceedings, and there was therefore, necesarily, a lack of that pomp and circumstance that has, on most previous occasions, been an interesting concomitant of the opening of Parliament.

The Governor was escorted to Parliament Buildings by a detachment of the Heretaunga Mounted Rifles, and the salute was fired by a detachment of the Permanent Artillery. The country's Constitution requires members of Parliament to give an assurance by oath that they will not behave treasonably towards the King or his subjects during their term of office, but the Constitution does not, apparently, provide machinery for a rapid output of oaths. The swearing-in wheels revolve slowly. Whether the slownes3 is part of the pomp and majesty of law, designed to suitably impress the prospective makers of the law, is something definitely known only to those who, with -dignity and decorum, promote the ceremony. A few ladies were in the gallery with "Merry Widow" hats and other modern feminine appurtenances to glorify the sombre scene, and they were curious to see what would happen about the Speakership, but the members had first to be sworn in from A to W, and the spectators had to be thankful that the alphabet stopped there. Four by four the members were summoned to the centre, and four by four they kissed the Book. It was noticeable that the legislators had no qualms about bacilli. Each trusted that the other would have sufficient respect for the forms and traditions of the House not to leave any malignant microbes- on the pages. The Book was opened and was pressed to the lips by one member, and passed on. The recipient did not bother about turning a new leaf, and he had not even watched to see the part that his predecessor had kissed. The page was taken on trust, and so went along the line. Unhajwoily, before one batch of four was clear or the table, another quartette was heralded. As the members had to sign on as well as swear, there was some congestion and confusion. The writing was done right in the midst of the swearing-in, and legislators were piled pell-mell together in the narrow passages, and some of them could not have felt in a very amiable mood by the time they managed to get into position for taking the oath of fidelity.

This medley continued till a genius had an inspiration. When the master of ceremonies was somewhere near the M's, it occurred to somebody to suggest that the business would be facilitated if the writing were done at a remote corner of the table, instead of in the middle of the scrimmage. Thus the swearers formed a sort of circular queue compassing the table, and the ceremony regained some of the dignity which it had been fast losing. While the long minutes were dragging on, the sworn and the unsworn busied themselves with conversation. A buzz of talk reverberated through the room. The process of solemn pledging did not awe the assembly or the spectators. It was no new thing to most of the members, and they did not feel constrained to sit in sedate state till the long operation was concluded. One was conscious that dignity was lost in length of the procedure, and one could not help feeling that with the application of retrenchment a quickening would be better for the ceremony and better for everybody.