NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE Kin opened Parliament on Tuesday with the old State ceremonial that had not been seen since the war began. The King's Speech expressed the hope that the Peace Treaties would become effective and that a trade agreement would be made with Russia. The Government would define their new Egyptian policy. The coming Conference with the Prime Ministers of the Dominions should benefit the Empire. The Estimates would show the Government's determinationto cut down expenditure. Heavy taxation was necessary, but it must be reduced to the utmost so that trade might revive. The criminal violence employed by a misguided section of the Irish people to set up an independent Republic could not promote Irish unity or Irish self-government. The Home Rule Act showed a better way, and arrangements for bringing it into force were well advanced.
