Evening star., 1922-03-06
LIBERAL MINISTER
TO RULE CANADA
w. L. Mackenzie King Takes
ReinS of Government
TOMORROW.
BY the A 'socia ted rr-ss.


OTTAWA. March 5-For the first
| time sind, 1911 liberal Pre- min
| lister will hold the reins OF govern
! ment when the fourteenth parliament
of Canada is. opened bs Governor Cen
eral Byns rAxt Wednesday. w. l..
| Mackenzie King. the new premier, is
| the first Of his party to hold that Of
fee since Sir W&frid Laurier was de-
feated more than aen years ago on his
policy of reciprocity with the United
States.
While lacking much of the pomp
| and circumstance that mark similar
| events in Great Britain, the converting
| of the Canadian parliament is accom-
panied by observance af many ira
Editions few relics of medieval
pageantry, borrowed from the mother
| of parliaments" at Westm iuster, have
been retained and probably will con
tinue.
Wear Rich Uniforms.
The governor general. in full dres@f
military uniform. drives TO the house
! of parliament in the state carriage.
| attended by guard of honor.
mounted and safoot. He enters the
! senate chamber and occupies tlD
| Speakers chair.
! Then Il functionary known as tiT,a
| gentleman usher OF the black rod '
clad IN silk knee breeches, silken.
hose. buckled shoes, tailed coat
adorned with rosettes. and a cooked
nat, proceeds to the commons cham
, ber, where the members of parlia-
| fnsnt are waiting patiently. and gives
| three resounding raps on the door.
| The sergeant-atarms of the COM
mons. who is also attired after the
| fashion of Cromwelrs day, goes To
the door and investigates the rap
/ ping. He returns to announce TO the
/ speaker of the commons the arrival
of the messenger from the senate.
! The speaker orders that the mes
senger' be admitted. In comes :h-
gentleman usher, who. after making
three low bows to the speaker.
nounces that the governor general
| demands the presence of the com
mons in the senate chamber. Three
more bows and the gentleman usher
| takes his leave.
! After him comes the sergeant-at-
; arms with the great mace of ths
commons at the sloe on his shoulder
| Behind the sergeant-at-arms march
eS the speaker of the commons. in
| gown and cooked hat Behind troop
/ the members of paliament. As many
( as can squeeze themselves into the
| senate chamber do 50. and the gov
/ ernor general reads the speech from
the throne. Then parliament is opea
| Tor business.
Election Of Speaker.
The first task is election of "A
/ speaker who always is a member or
! the dominant party. For this oificr
I Premier King has selected Rodolrhs
] Iemieux of Montreal, a parlimca-
tartan Of twenty-SiN years expert
] ence. He served as postmaster gem
eraI in the' Laurier government prior
1 to 1911.
| Election of the speaker by the
members is: the merest formality AFT
er he has been chosen by the pre-
mier. The government commands
about one-Ealf of the members OF
| parliament The official opposition
/ group. numbering about fifty in IA
| house of .3., members, is led by Ar
| thur AieigheIL the defeated premier.
who is paid a salary as opposition
| chief
f! An unofficial progressive group of
sixty-odd members is commanded BY
; T. a. Crerar. This group is expected
1 to support the government on most
| OF its policies. but mainly on the
! tariff liberals and progressives unit
i ing in their belief in customs duties
/ for revenue only" as against the
! conservative program OF protection.
| Premier King. himself veteran Of
I the Laurier ministry of 1911, in
! which he served minister of labor.
+; has surrounded himself with season.
+. ed advisers. many OF whom had cab
! met experience under Sir Nilirld
I.aurier. Five of the King ministry
/ We're in the administration that went
down - defeat in 1911 on the reci-
procity pact with the United States
| Foremost among these is w. s
, Fielding of Nova Scotia, who nego-
tiated the reciprocity agreement with
the Taft administra ton. The others
are: Charles Murphy OF Ontario.
George P. Graham of Ontario. Henri
= Beland of Quebec and jacques Bu-
reau of Quebec.