By direction of Mr. SPEAKER,

The CLERK read the Proclamation of His Excellency the Governor-General, dated the 2nd November, 1912, summoning Parliament to meet on this day for the dispatch of business, as follows:

PROCLAMATION by his Excellency the Right Honourable Viscount Gladstone, a Member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, High Commissioner for South Africa, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Union of South Africa.

Whereas by Section 20 of the South Africa Act, 1909, it is provided that the Governor-General may appoint such times for holding the sessions of Parliament as he thinks fit, and may also from time to time, by proclamation or otherwise, prorogue the said Parliament;

And whereas by Proclamation No. 157, 1912, the said Parliament was prorouged until Monday, the 9th day of December. 1912;

And whereas it is expedient that Parliament should be prorogued for a further period;

Now therefore, under and by virtue of the power and authority in me vested, I do by this my Proclamation further prorogue the Parliament of the Union until Friday, the 24th day of January, 1913, and do hereby declare, proclaim, and make known that the third session of the first Parliament of the Union of South Africa, constituted as provided by the said South Africa Act, 1909, will be held at Cape Town at 12 o’clock noon on the said 24th day of January, 1913, for the despatch of business.

Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the Union of South Africa at Pretoria this 22nd day of November, 1912.

GLADSTONE, Governor-General.

By command of his Excellency the Governor-General-in-Council.

LOUIS BOTHA, Prime Minister.

By direction of Mr. SPEAKER,

The CLERK read a letter from the Secretary to the Prime Minister, dated the 22nd of November, 1912, stating that His Excellency the Governor-General had signified his intention of opening Parliament at noon to-day with the usual ceremony.

At a few minutes before Twelve o-clock, Mr. Speaker and Members proceeded to the Senate House to attend the Ceremony of the Opening of Parliament, and on their return.

Mr. SPEAKER took the Chair and read Prayers.

The CLERK then read the list of members, when the following answered to their names:

• Mr. Johannes Joachim Alberts
• ” Morris Alexander
• ” William Henry Andrews
• ” William Duncan Baxter
• ” Heinrich Christian Becker
• Hon. Sir William Bisset Berry, Kt.
• Mr. George Blaine
• ” Christian Lourens Botha
• Genl. the Rt. Hon. Louis Botha, P.C.
• Mr. Thomas Phillip Brain
• Hon. Henry Burton, K.C.
• ” Walter Frederick Clayton
• Mr. Frederic Hugh Page Creswell
• ” Frederick Reinhardt Cronje
• Hon. Henry Latham Currey
• Mr. Michiel Johannes de Beer
• Dr. Andries Lourens de Jager
• Mr. Gert Johan Wilhelm du Toit
• ” Charles Gustav Fichardt
• Rt. Hon. Abraham Fischer, P.C.
• Mr. Henry Eardley Stephen Fremantle
• ” Lourens Geldenhuys
• Hon. Sir David Pieter de Villiers Graaff, Bart.
• Mr. William Henry Griffin
• ” Evert Nicolaas Grobler
• ” Pieter Gert Wessel Grobler
• ” Charles Henry Haggar
• Col. Sir David Harris, K.C.M.G.
• Mr. Charles Beeton Heatlie
• ” James Henderson
• Dr. John Hewat
• Mr. John William Jagger
• ” Christian Johannes Jacobus Joubert
• ” Jozua Adriaan Joubert
• Hon. Sir Henry Hubert Juta, Kt., K.C.
• Mr. Jan Gerhard Keyter
• ” John Gavin King
• ” Christman Joel Krige
• ” Pieter Gysbert Kuhn
• Genl. Lodewyk Arnoldus Slabbert Lemmer
• Col. the Hon. George Leuchars, C.M.G., D.S.O.
• Mr. Basil Kellett Long
• ” George Albertyn Louw
• ” Gysbert Henry Maasdorp
• Dr. Donald Macaulay
• Mr. Walter Bayley Madeley
• Hon. Francois Stephanus Malan
• Mr. Johannes Henoch Marais
• ” Pieter Gerhardus Marais
• Rt. Hon. John Xavier Merriman, P.C
• Mr. Izaak Johannes Meyer
• ” Hugh Mowbray Meyler
• ” Marthinus Wilhelmus Myburgh
• Dr. Andrew Murray Neethling
• Mr. Richard Granville Nicholson
• ” Henry Alfred Oliver, C.M.G.
• ” Thomas Orr, C.M.G.
• Sir Lionel Phillips, Bart.
• Mr. John William Quinn
• ” Charles Phineas Robinson
• ” Willie Rockey
• ” William Runciman
• ” Henry William Sampson
• Hon. Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer
• Mr. Johannes Hendrik Schoeman
• ” Theophilus Lyndall Schreiner
• ” Hendrik Philippus Serfontein
• ” Percy Arthur Silburn, D.S.O.
• Hon. Sir Thomas William Smartt, K.C.M.G.
• Genl. the Hon. Jan Christiaan Smuts, K.C.
• Genl. Tobias Smuts
• Mr. Johannes Petrus Gerhardus Steyl
• ” George Louis Steytler
• ” Charles Frederick William Struben
• ” Henrick Schalk Theron
• ” Petrus Jacobus George Theron
• ” Johannes Adolph Philippus van der Merwe
• Mr. Jacobus Willem van Eeden
• ” Hercules Christian van Heerden
• ” Christian Andries van Niekerk
• ” Jan Abraham Venter
• ” Hendrik Cornelius Wilhelmus Vermaas
• Mr. Alwyn Ignatius Vintcent
• ” Johannes Arnoldus Vosloo
• ” Egidius Benedictus Watermeyer
• Dr. Arnold Hirst Watkins
• Hon. Sir Thomas Watt. K.C.M.G.
• Mr. Daniel Hendrik Willem Wessels
• ” George Whitaker
• ” Carl Theodorus Muller Wilcocks
• ” Henry Wiltshire

By direction of Mr. SPEAKER.

The CLERK read a letter from the Chief Magistrate, Durban, dated the 29th. June, 1912, and letters from the Secretary to the Prime Minister, dated the 9th October, and the 14th December, 1912, respectively, reporting the election of the following members for the representatives of the Electoral Divisions stated, viz:—

1. (1) Thomas Boydell, for the Electoral Division of Durban (Greyville), in the room of the Hon. John George Maydon, resigned.
2. (2) Willem Wouter Jacobus Johannes Bezuidenhout, for the Electoral Division of Heidelberg, in the room of Sir Andries Stockenstrom, Bart., resigned.
3. (3) Jacobus van der Walt, for the Electoral Division of Pretoria District, South, in the room of the Hon. Genl. Christiaan Frederik Beyers, resigned.
4. (4) Frederick John Werndly van der Reit, for the Electoral Division of Albany, in the room of the Right Hon. Sir Leander Starr Jameson, Bart., P.C., C.B., resigned.

Mr. Bezuidenhout, introduced by Mr. Alberts and Mr. C. J. J. Joubert, subscribed to the oath and took his seat.

Mr. van der Walt, introduced by Mr. Wilcocks and Mr. du Toit, subscribed to the oath and took his seat.

Mr. van der Riet, introduced by Sir Thomas Smartt and Dr. Hewat, subscribed to the oath and took his seat.

Mr. Boydell, introduced by Mr. Creswell and Mr. H. W. Sampson, subscribed to the oath and took his seat.

Mr. SPEAKER reported that the House had this day attended the ceremony of the opening of parliament and that his Excellency the Governor-General was pleased to deliver an opening speech to both Houses of Parliament, of which, for greater accuracy he had received a copy, as follows:

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly.

I am glad to welcome you upon your return to the discharge of the high duties confided to your care.

It is with no little satisfaction that I am enabled to record a continuance of the national progress which bids fair to justify the hopes associated with the inception of Union.

Since the prorogation of Parliament my Ministers have entered, subject to your ratification, into a contract for the carriage of His Majesty’s mails between England and South Africa, and into certain other contracts for the carriage of Government freights and of South African products. These contracts, which involve considerations of wide importance to the welfare and development of the country, will be laid before you at an early date.

The Act passed during the last Session to make provision for the establishment by the Union of a Defence organisation in South Africa has recently come into operation. It has been received on all sides with the most gratifying approval. The people of the Union, conscious of the position which they have obtained as a nation and as one of the great self-governing Dominions under the Crown, are accepting their responsibilities with a readiness of happiest augury for the success of the new organisation.

My Ministers recognise the importance of the Naval Defence of South Africa and the protection of its maritime trade routes. They have considered the question of a fuller and more definite co-operation by the Union, but before submitting any definite proposals to you, they desire to have the advantage of further consultation with the Imperial Government.

The work of the last Session proved so ardous and protracted that my Ministers deemed it inadvisable to proceed with the Bill which they had introduced for the adjustment of the financial relations with the Provinces. You will be asked to deal with this important matter during the forthcoming Session, and a Bill to that end will be laid before you without delay.

Your attention will be invited to the necessity for regulating immigration into the Union. Legislative proposals on this subject were under discussion last year, but, for various reasons, were left in abeyance. A Bill will again be submitted to you, which, I trust, will receive your earnest consideration.

Notwithstanding the deplorable losses entailed by the recent drought, the public revenues have more than fulfilled expectations, and the finances of the Union are in a satisfactory condition.

You will be requested to deliberate further upon the consolidation of the laws in regard to estate duties.

An early opportunity will be taken to lay before you the reports of the Railway Commissioners and proposals for the construction of certain railway lines within the Union.

During the recess my Ministers have renewed their investigations of the problems surrounding the proposed foundation of a National University for South Africa. They have had further consultations with the representatives of the benefactors whose offer of a munificent contribution they gratefully acknowledge. They hope to be able to submit proposals for the establishment at an early date of a University worthy of South Africa.

A number of other Bills will be introduced in pursuance of the policy of coordinating laws which are still divergent in the several Provinces of the Union.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly.

Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure will be laid before you.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly.

It will, I am convinced, be your wish that, before I conclude, I should give expression to the appreciative thanks of the Government and people of the Union to Mr. Max Michaelis for the generous gift of a collection of pictures which will shortly become one of our most precious national possessions.

I now, in His Majesty’s name, declare this Session open, and I pray that your labours may be guided and sustained by the blessing of Almighty God.

Mr. SPEAKER appointed the Minister of Finance and Sir Thomas Smartt a committee to assist Mr. Speaker in regard to the Printing of the House in accordance with No. 268 of the Standing Orders.

By direction of Mr. SPEAKER.

The CLERK read a letter from the Chairman of the Provincial Council of the Province of the Cape of Good Hope, as follows:

The Hon. Sir J. T. Molteno, Kt., K.C., Speaker of the House of Assembly, Cape Town.

Sir, I have the honour to convey byway of respectful address to the Honourable the House of Assembly the request of the Provincial Council of the Province of the Cape of Good Hope that your Honourable House will be pleased to pass legislation at the earliest possible moment during the next Session of Parliament defining the financial relations between the Union Government and the Provincial Administration; and in doing so beg to transmit the following Resolution, which was unanimously agreed to by this Council on the 1st of July, 1912:—

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant,

ARTHUR GARCIA, Chairman of the Provincial Council.