immediate attendance of this House in the
immediate attendance of this House
And
And MPs
And MPs are now obeying Black Rod who is leading them out
And MPs are now obeying Black Rod who is leading them out and behind
him another official, the Sergeant
of Arms and they will be walking
through the
of Arms and they will be walking through the Grand Hall where a group
has now positioned itself.
through the Grand Hall where a group has now positioned itself. The
Agent at Arms had O'His
shoulder the mace, a symbol of the authority of
the speaker. Traditionally, the mace
is a heavy club with a
metal head and spikes. It was a symbol of
the Sergeant at Arm's authority to
arrest, but today it is of
course the Speaker's authority and that of
the House. The present mace
was donated to the House in 1909 by the
then PM Sir Joh receive Ward and
his Cabinet. It is a replica
of the one used in the House of Commons. It is
weighs 8.2 kilos and is made of silver, guilded with 18 caret gold.
silver, guilded with 18 caret gold. MPs are filing out that door into
the Grand Hall where they have the
entertainment of the group as
they pass through. The Grand Hall is
rather splendid. It is 27
metres long and was restored in the 90's as
part of the
overall refurbishment of the house of Parliament. It has ate
lovely parking floor, panels and guilded plaster work.
MPs
MPs are
MPs are now taking their seat in the legislative council Chamber.
The
The Chamber is a room where New Zealand's upper house met until
January 1951 when the
upper house was abolished. The Chamber was
in regular use from 1865
when Parliament relocated from
Auckland regular
Parliament relocated from Auckland to Wellington. The original
legislative Council had its own
speaker and a number
of appointed Americans.
speaker and a number of appointed
members. When the Chamber was used the Grand Hall outI'd
was a members' lounge and where members
would retire
lounge and where members would
there was a billiard table there just to help them pass the time.
The
The Chamber is a very grand room. Surrounding on its upper floors
by galleries, similar to those above
the Chamber and the House of
Representatives. The room features
native wood and it also has
Italian marble pillars. The
woods are panelled and there are deep
red carpets across the
strong. It is one of the oldest groups in the country, approaching
its 80th anniversary.
groups in the country, approaching its 80th anniversary. Very
shortly
As
As you
As you can hear,
tunes. The group was asked to sing sons that MPs will be familiar with.
honourable memberS, PLEASE BE SEATED.
Very
Very shortly, the doors to the Legislative Council Chamber will be
symbolically locked. And
also another symbolic gesture
symbolically locked. And also
being roped into their seats to make sure they don't depart during
the speech from the throne.
Honourable members of
Honourable members of the
Representatives,