BRITISH AND FOREIGN STATE PAPERS. SPEECH of the King on the Closing of the British Parlia.ment.-Westminster, March 7, 1913. My Lords and Gentlemen, AFTER a prolonged and exacting session, I regret that you should enjoy only a nominal period of release from your labours. It is, however, necessary to call upon you again within a few days to consider the provision required for the service for the coming year and to renew your deliberations upon public affairs. I shall then have occasion again to address you in the ordinary course. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, I thank you for the liberal supplies which you have granted in order to maintain the full efficiency of the public service in its various branches. My Lords and Gentlemen, I have assented to an Act which enables effect to be given to the administrative changes in India which I announced at my Coronation Durbar. I have sanctioned a number of statutes dealing with domestic reforms, from which I anticipate beneficial results. It is my earnest prayer that the blessing of the Almighty may rest upon all your past and coming labours. SPEECH of the King on the Opening of the British Parliament.-Westminster, March 10, 1913. My Lords and Gentlemen, TO-DAY being the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of my parents, I cannot forgo the opportunity of expressing for my [1913. CvI.] B dear mother and myself our grateful sense of the devoted affection of tire nation, which it has been her happiness to enjoy for So many years, and which remains to support and console her in her abiding sorrow. My relations with foreign Powers continue to be friendly. In December last an armistice was arranged between the belligerent Governments in South-East Europe. They chose London as the place in which to conduct their negotiations for a peace, and I welcomed the delegates who were sent for that purpose, and gave to them every facility that was in my power. I much regret that, owing to their failure to come to an agreement, the war still continues. The possible developments of the war, and the changes that must result from it, cannot be without interest for the Great Powers who are neutral, and were parties to the Treaty of Berlin. All these Powers earnestly desire to prevent the war from spreading, and to see it terminated as soon as possible. My Government have, especially by means of the Ambassadors in London, kept in close touch and co-operation with the other Powers in the endeavours, in which all have shared, to preserve concerted view and action, and to establish agreement on all points on which differences might arise between any of them. In this a large measure of success has been achieved. Agreement has been reached in principle on matters of the greatest importance, and though some points are still under discussion, I am hopeful that the consultations between the Powers will enable them, not only to secure a complete understanding amongst themselves, but to exercise a beneficent influence in hastening the conclusion of the war. My Government will continue to co-operate with the other Powers, with the most earnest desire to secure the peace of Europe. During last year, the Prime Minister of my Dominion of Canada, and several of his colleagues, visited this country in order to confer with my Ministers here on matters of common interest, especially those relating to naval defence. The Minister for Defence of my Dominion of New Zealand has lately arrived for a similar purpose. I am confident that such an exchange of views between members of its responsible Governments will promote the solidarity of the Empire. The recent gift of a battleship by the Malay States, the ready consent of the New Zealand Government to the retention in the North Sea fleet of the battleship contributed by them, the steady progress towards the establishment of the Australian fleet, and the discussions now proceeding in the Canadian Parliament on matters of defence, testify to the universal desire within the Empire for the maintenance of common safety. In my Indian Empire, on the 23rd December, at the ceremony of the State entry into Delhi, a wicked attempt was made on the life of my Governor-General and Viceroy. Through the mercy of Divine Providence the plot failed in its full intent, but I deeply regret that innocent lives were sacrificed and that the Viceroy was gravely wounded. The fortitude of the Viceroy and Lady Hardinge, and the disciplined courage of all the officers of Government, have my warmest admiration. I gratefully acknowledge the expressions of sympathetic loyalty which the crime has evoked from the ruling chiefs, and from all classes of my Indian subjects. My Commissioners appointed to report on the requirements of the public service in India have commenced their labours, and have taken evidence at various provincial centres in India with regard to the Indian Civil Service and the Provincial Civil Services. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, The estimates for the service of the ensuing year will be laid before you without delay. I commend them to your favourable consideration with the more confidence in view of the sustained prosperity which, as reflected in the statistics of trade and of employment, I rejoice to see that my people continue to enjoy. My Lords and Gentlemen, The attention of Parliament will again be asked to the measures in regard to which there was disagreement between the two Houses last session. In view of your arduous labours during the past year, the further legislation which you will be invited to consider will necessarily be restricted within narrow limits. A measure will be brought forward to facilitate the progress and secure the completion of land purchase in Ireland. You will be asked to authorize a guarantee from the Imperial Exchequer of a loan by the Government of the Soudan for ensuring the prosperity of that territory, and the development therein of the industry of cotton-growing. You will be invited to give renewed consideration to proposals for the better care and control of the feeble-minded, and for the further restriction of the industrial employment of children. A Bill will be introduced for the prevention of plural voting at Parliamentary elections. Proposals will be submitted to you for the development of a national system of education. Your labours upon these and all other matters I humbly commend to the blessing of Almighty God. SPEECH of the King on the Closing of the British Parliament.-Westminster, August 15, 1913. My Lords and Gentlemen, THE recent visit of the President of the French Republic to my capital was a source of great gratification to me, and the manifestations of goodwill to which it gave rise afford a fresh guarantee for the continuance of the cordial friendship which unites the two countries. The special mission sent to this country by the President of the Argentine Republic to convey to me the thanks of the Argentine people and Government for the warm interest manifested by my beloved father in the recent commemoration of the first centenary of the Argentine Republic, cannot but strengthen the good relations which have happily existed so long. The conference of delegates of the States at war in the Balkan Peninsula resumed its sittings in London earlier in the year, and agreed upon the terms of a treaty of peace. I much regret that hostilities between different nationalities again created a state of war, accompanied by many deplorable incidents. It is satisfactory that the conference of belligerents at Bucharest has led to a cessation of hostilities, which I hope will be permanent. It is a cause of great satisfaction that the Great Powers have kept constantly in touch with each other, and my Government has done all in its power to facilitate the interchange of views and co-operation in action through the Ambassadors in London. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, I thank you for the liberal supplies which you have granted in order to maintain the full efficiency of the public service in its various branches. My Lords and Gentlemen, I view with satisfaction the passing, by agreement between the two Houses, of a Scottish Temperance Act, which will, I sincerely hope, advance the cause of temperance in that country, and thereby conduce to the general welfare of the community. I have watched with sympathy the passage of measures, which have now been placed upon the statute book, for making further and better provision for the care of feeble-minded and other mentally-defective persons. The National Insurance Act has been amended and supplemented in some of its provisions, where experience showed that alterations were desirable. I have had pleasure in assenting to the Bill guaranteeing from the Imperial Exchequer a loan by the Government of the Soudan, which will, I confidently hope, not only add to the prosperity of that territory, but also afford increased sources of supply to the cotton industry of this country. I have sanctioned the Appellate Jurisdiction Bill, which will ensure that the Supreme Tribunal of the Empire will be fully and adequately constituted so as to meet the growing requirements of my Indian Empire and of my Dominions overseas. Important measures have been passed dealing with the public health, the employment of children abroad, and other domestic reforms from which I anticipate beneficial results. It is my earnest prayer that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon all your labours. ACT of the British Parliament to amend "The Aerial [2 & 3 Geo. V, c. 22.] [February 14, 1913.] BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1.-(1.) The purposes for which a Secretary of State may make orders prohibiting the navigation of aircraft over prescribed areas under "The Aerial Navigation Act, 1911," shall include the purposes of the defence or safety of the realm, and, where an order is made for those purposes, the area prescribed may include the whole or any part of the coastline of the United Kingdom and the territorial waters adjacent thereto. (2.) The power of the Secretary of State under the said Act shall include power by order to prescribe the areas within which aircraft coming from any place outside the United Kingdom are to land and the other conditions to be complied with by such aircraft, and, if any person contravenes any of the provisions of any such order, he shall be guilty of an offence under the said Act, unless he proves that he was compelled to do so by reason of stress of weather or other circumstances over which he had no control. 2. If an aircraft flies or attempts to fly over any area prescribed under this Act for the purposes of the defence or safety of the realm, or, in the case of an aircraft coming from any place outside the United Kingdom, fails to comply with any of the conditions as to landing prescribed by an order under the last foregoing section, it shall be lawful for any officer designated for the purpose by regulations made by the Secretary *Vol. CIV, page 206. |