On Friday week the Duke of Connaught opened in state
the first Parliament of the Union of South Africa at Cape
Town. The ceremony took place in the House of Assembly, a wing modelled on the House of Commons which has recently been added to Parliament House. The parties were for the occasion mingled, General Botha, Dr. Jameson, Mr. Merriman, Lord de Villiers, and others being together on the Treasury Bench. The Judges, Administrators of the Provinces, heads
of Departments, soldiers and sailors, leading clergy, the Consular body, and distinguished visitors were also present.
The Times correspondent says that when the Duke of Connaught had read the Message from the King constraint
vanished, and the whole company broke into loud cheers. The Duke of Connaught's own address was admirable,—full of good feeling and good sense, but also simple. In the course of it he said
"His Majesty well knows that you have passed through the fire of sorrow and trouble, and that misunderstanding and conflict have brought calamity upon the land. But all this is now peace- fully buried with the past. He recognises, too, that here as else- where there must always exist marked divergence of political opinion. Such divisions, indeed, of thought and action are of the essence of full, flee, and responsible government,—the government which you now enjoy."
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