The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-11 00:00:00

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THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO
FLORENCE.

The Queen, accompanied by Prince and Princess
Henry of Battenberg, and attended by the suite is ex-
pected to leave England about March 20 on a visit to
Florence. The Royal party embark at Portsmouth
and cross the Channel in the Victoria and Albert
yacht to Cherbourg, whence they travel by special
train over the Western line to Paris. Her Majesty
will make no stay in the French capital, but will pass
along the Ceinture Railway to the Lyons line, and
continue her journey via Dijon, Macon, Mont Cenis,
and Turin. The Queen is to reside at the Villa
Palmieri, which will shortly be ready for her recep-
tion. Her Majesty will probably visit the Crown
Prince and Princess of Germany at San Remo while
she is in Italy. Her visit to that country will probably
last about three weeks.
THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

The opening of the third session of the twenty-
fourth Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the
twelfth of Queen Victoria, was arranged some weeks
ago for Thursday, and, in the absence of her Majesty,
it was fixed that the ceremony should be of a very
formal character. The procedure on such occasions
is that the Commons assemble at half-past one
o'clock, but the doors of the Chamber are thrown open
, some hours earlier, in order that members may be
enabled to secure places betimes. The Peers, who
seldom muster in any force on these occasions, Flo
not take their places until nearly two. The Lord
Chancellor enters the House of Lords at about two
o'clock, and, after taking his seat for a moment on
the woolsack, retires to the robing-room, whence in a
short time he returns, accompanied by the other
• Royal Commissioners, to whom her Majesty has dele-
gated the function of opening Parliament, all in
their peer's robes. The Lord Chancellor then acquaints
the House that her Majesty, not thinking it fit to
be personally present, has been pleased to cause a
Commission to be issued under the Great Seal, in
order to the opening and holding of this Parliament;
and Sir James Drummond, Gentleman Usher of the
Black Rod, is directed to summon the Speaker and
the House of Commons. He accordingly passes along
the corridors and across the Central Hall to the door r
of the Lower House, which, in accordance with im-
memorial custom, he finds closed against him, but on
striking the portal thrice with his rod he is admitted
and announced by the doorkeeper, and, making three
obeisances to the chair as he advances, he desires the
immediate attendance of the honourable House in the
House of Peers to hear the Commission read. Mem-
bers headed by the Speaker, the Clerk, the Sergeant-
at-Arms, and the Chaplain, follow Black Rod to the
Upper House.
When they have arrived at the bar of the Chamber
of the Peers the Lord Chancellor reads the Royal
Speech. The Royal Message read, the Speaker and
the Commissioners courteously bow each to the other,
and the Commons having returned to their own
Chamber, the proceedings are suspended until four
o'clock.

It is at this hour that the real business of the day
commences. In both Houses some bill has to be read
a first time pro forma in order to assert a right of
deliberating independently of the cause of summons.
The Lord Chancellor reads the Speech a second time,
and thereupon, this] session, arrangements were
made that the Earl of Crawford should move, and
Lord Armstrong second, the Address in reply.
A great deal of miscellaneous but interesting busi-
ness is generally transacted in the Commons before
the Speech from the Throne is reported. The ses-
sional orders against the interference of peers in elec-
tions and for other purposes have to be re-enacted,
and are usually the subject of some conversation.
Among the new members since the prorogation are
Professor Stokes, for Cambridge University, in suc-
cession to the late Mr. Beresford Hope; Mr. Blundell
Maple, who replaces Mr. Morgan Howard, now a
County Court judge, at the Dulwich division; Mr.
Moss, for Winchester, in succession to the late Colonel
Tottenham; Mr. Serjeant Madden, Solicitor-General
for Ireland, on his re-election for Dublin University;
and Mr. Justice Gibson's successor in the representa-
tion of the Walton division of Liverpool. Time having
been allowed for these having taken their seats, the
programme for the Speaker's guidance showed that
new writs had to be moved for West Edinburgh, Mr.
Buchanan being about to take the opinion of his con-
stituents on the Home Rule question; and for Dundee,
on the retirement of Mr. Lacaita.
Next in the order of business comes the Govern-
ment notices of motions for the introduction of new
bills, and upon the subject of Procedure, and a large
number of notices by private members. The number
of these intimations grows larger year by year, and it
was quite certain that when members brought in the
bills of which they had given notice, every available
Wednesday, or the best places upon that day of the
week, would very quickly be taken. The preliminary
business disposed of, the Speaker has to report that
the House has that day been to the House of Peers at
the desire of the Lords Commissioners appointed
under the Great Seal, and that the Lord High Chan-
cellor delivered her Majesty's most gracious Speech
to both Houses, in pursuance of her Majesty's com-
mands, and of which Mr. Speaker will say he had,
"for greater accuracy," obtained a copy, which he
thereupon will read to the House. The Address in
reply to the gracious message it was ordained should
be moved by Mr. Wharton (not Mr. Warton, he being
now the Attorney-General for West Australia), and
seconded by Colonel Duncan, who, unlike any
other members present, were to wear for the
occasion, the one Court dress and the other
uniform. Then commences the Debate on the Address.
Last year the debate on the Address lasted exactly
three weeks, and was then only brought to a close by
the intervention of the Speaker. The Government are
this year, as has been asserted, anxious to give every
facility for legitimate discussion, but the new closure
rule will enable them to summarily put down any-
thing in the way of obstruction on the Address should
such tactics be attempted. The debate on the Address
over, business will, unless some other appropriations
of the time be resolved upon, rrevert to its normal
course—that is, private members will have command
of the time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and practi-
cally also on Fridays, Government business under
that arrangement having precedence on only two
evenings of the week.