The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-03
OPENING OF PARLIAMENT
tcontinued from First Page)


 listened to his own defence from the lips of his son.
 Austen Chamberlain spoke haltingly and under evident strain; yet, when he referred to his father. it was always as ."The member from West Birming- ham" There was a tinge of impas- stoned feeling in his words which brought constantly to his hearers re- alization of the relation between the two men. Now and again jeers greeted the youngest member of the cabinet, whereupon, with unmistablable anger, his father turned his glance in the direc- tion of the offender. and occasionally Joseph Chamberlain cheered his son on with an emphatic ''hear, hear"
 As Austen Chamberlain, nearing the conclusion of his defence of the atti- tude of Premier Balfour and his father towards the fiscal question the interrup- tions grew more frequent, and the chancellor Of the exchequer clutched the brass bound treasury box on which MT. Gladstone was so fond of leaning, and addressed his remarks almost solely in the direction of his father. Defiantly Austen Chamberlain accused Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman of attacking the premier in his absence, and with a touch of pride he said:
 ''The member from West Birming- ham is here; he can speak for and look after himself"
 The house frankly expressed it's relief when the speech was over, and gener- ally termed the proceeding one of the most extraordinary personal situations that ever had occurred, and the speech as one of the weakest defenses of the governments policy ever made
 On behalf of Premier Balfour, Austen Chamberlain declared that the House of Commons must first decide whether or not 1t desired any change at all in the fiscal system. and until that point was settled the opposition demand for details of the governments fiscal re- form plan could not be granted.
 With the exception of the foregoing unexpected incident and the spirited defense of his action in the Whitaker Wright case by Sir Robert Finally, the attorney general, the opening of par liament was uneventful.
 King Edward and Queen Alexandra drove in full state to the house of lords, where, with much ceremony, the session was declared open. His majes- tvs speech from the throne Is general ly regarded as having merely recorded facts already known, while the govern ments legislative programme has been announced already in these dispatches. Lord Lansdowne, the foreign secretary, confirmed what has heretofore been Rrffo in C, attitude in the far eastern crisis with out throwing any new light on the ne gotiations. Both in the house of lords and the house of commons the British Thibetan expedition and the war in Somaliland came in for criticism, but the opposition, after the fiscal question, laid stress chiefly upon the importation of Chinese into the Transvaal and the report of the war commission.
 Tn the house of lords the only note worthy incident was the absence of the Duke of Devonshire (formerly lord president of the counciD and Lord Bal four. of Burleigh (formerly secretary for Scotland), from the ministerial bench, but in spite of this the house of peers ended the session with a passivity that quite belied the party cleavage which has occurred since last they met.
 In the House of Commons this cleav- yage was more apparent for Charles T. Ritchie (former chancellor of the ex- cfequer1 and Lord George Hamilton (forner secretary for India), both took their seats below the gangway and di- rectly in front of Joseph Chamberlain, and, curiously enough, between Lord Hugh Cecil, the bitter opponent of the former colonial secretary, and Jesse Ceilings, his most faithful adherent. AS one member said:
 Everything is at sizes and sevens. ;
 From the best sources the Associated Press learns the government s not like ly to be turned out on John Morley s amendment to the address in reply to the speech from the throne, which is against any return to protective duties; but the general impression prevails that the government will not be able ! to keep its forces together to see the session to an end.
 The Irish party, which now almost holds the balance of power, held con- ference during the day and decided to take no action untl the government has defined it's intentions towards the Cath olic university and the amendment tc the land purchase act It is probable that Mir. Redmond's adherents will ab- stain from voting for the present on any division which would endanger the government. Mir. Redmond will enun- ciate the standpoint of his party to- morrow.
 Sir Robert Finlay towards the close of the night session said he intended to amend the law dealing with com pany cass-, such as those as Whitaker Wright. He declared that after careful consideration of the evidence at his disposal in 1902 it seemed to him that Wright's misstatements were really ir support of the corner" which would have rehabilitated the London and Globe Finance corporation, and were made with the view of benefitting rath- CT than injuring the shareholders. The attorney general announced that the government would pay the costs of the Wright prosecution.
 Throughout this first sitting the op- position appeared much invigorated with it's successes in the bye-elections
 FRUIT GROWERS MEET.
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