CANTERBURY. WELLINGTON.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIV, Issue 1032, 19 May 1857, Page 3

CANTERBURY.

WELLINGTON.

The eighth Session of the Prorincial Council wa s opened on Wednesday, April 2, by the following Ad. dress from his Honor the Superintendent : — Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council, —In opening your Council for the last time I cannot forbear asking you to survey the four years which have elapsed since your duties commenced, and to examine what has been done during that time. You will remember that although almost unprecedented success had attended the settlement, which had then been formed less than thi.ep ypars, yet we commenced our duties in a community in which there were no existing establishments, nor even traditions of Government ; in which everj ching had to be created and orga lized from the beginning ; and with an exchequer &o absolutely empty that we had to borrow a snyill sum in order to make the fiist payments of salaries. The settlement was then at a stand. The operations of the Canterbury Association weie at an end—lmmigration had ceased— Public Work* had been abandoned - and there were looming in the distance questions, such as the settlement of our relations with the Canterbury Association and the adjustment of the Land quesuon, to which no one could look without some anxiety. I may indeed congratulate you on the change which has taken place since that time. Our population, our trade, and our Revenues are steadily increasing ; our exports ha\e inerea->ed so largely as to promise, and at no distant date, to balance the impors ; whilst in the formation of new homesteads, in the cultivation of the land, in the m«rpn*e of stock, in" thp accumulation of wealth, and ihe advancement of eiwlizati >n and comfort of e\ery description, the v\me rem.nkable progress exhibits uself in cveiy diiection. You may, without vanity, Gentlemen, claim a share of the crrdit due to the prospeiity of the Piovince for which you have legislated ; for however difficult it may be sometimes to trace the immediate influence of good or bad governmon' upon the social condition of a community, in some vespec's, at all events, that influence makes itself directly felt, especially in everything which affects the public credit. It is due to you, Gentlemen, that whereas when your Immigration Agent went to England three yeais ago, the Provincial Government was absolutely without any ciedit whatever, you are now in a position to raise without difficulty any sum that you may require, to carry on Immigration and Public Works, at the ordinary Colonial interest. In opening the first Council in 1853. I ventured to point out a line of policy tor your adoption, and I enlarged especially upon the nature and extent of the establishments of Government which would become necessary. You concurred in the opinions I then laid down, and the experience of lour years has but confiimed me in these views. The best mode of conducting the Provinciil Governments has naturiUv been a matter of constant enquiry and discussion in the several Provinces of the Col mv ; but it is obvious that all oui opinions on this subject must be modified by the policy of the General Government, and by the attitude which it is to assume towards the seveial Piovineial Governments. If the whole of what are properly called the powers of Government are to bo assumed and administeied bv the General Government, then the Provincial Governments will descend into meie Palish Boards, for managing local Public Works Rut thnt is not the ca°e at pnsent. It is undeniable that at present almost the ■\\ hole leal Government of the country is administered by the Superintendents of the Piovinccs ; and when I "look on the past four years, or look around me to what is going on at the present moment, I confess I see no reason to wish that this state of things should be altered. I am sorry to be compelled to say, that since I addressed this Council in September, 1853, scarcely a stop has Veen made in solving any one of the political difficulties in which this colony is involved ; and I do not hesitate to say that since the intioduction of Ministerial Responsibility into the Gencial Government those difficulties have been even greater than before. For you well know that there were certain great questions with which the General Government alone could deal, and in lespect of which the cr mplaints of the provinces have been loud, constant, and increasing. I will name some of these: — The confusion of the Finances of the Colony ; the deficient administration of Justice by the Supreme Court; the mismanagement of the Native Land Purchase Department; the conflicting jurisdiction between the General and the Provincial Governments ; the inconvenience of the Steam and Postal arrangements. Now, what has been done by the General Government towards the s?ttlement of any one of these great questions ? The Finances are conducted on a scheme which is still awaiting settlement by the Parliament of England; the deficiency of the administration ot Justice by the Supreme Court has never been greater or more oppressive than now ; the complaints of the Native Land Purchase Department are louder than erer; not even an attempt has been made to put an end by law to the mischievous confiietion of authority between the General and Provincial Governments, whilst the mode in which the Government is administered at present has tended to stimulate to the utmost that most unseemly conflict ; and lastly, the Steam Postal Service is about "to be ni ranged m a maivier both inconvenient and unjust towards the greatest pait of the Colony. Now, when I regard these things, and watch the progress of the colony during the past four years, I am bound to confers, and I believe there cannot be two opinions on this matter, that the whol'J of that prog) ess has been due to local enterprise, to Provincial action, and to Provincial Governments, and thai the General Government has either been absolutely inert in guiding or advancing the piospenty of the Colony, or has been positively mischievous in its action. In those depaitments which fall peculiar! v to the General Government, there is either no improvement or an absolute retrocession ; whilst the action of the Piovmcial Governments generally ha« been to keep pace with the increasing requirements and the t-tpandi.ig energies of the country. Gentlemen, I see no prospect of any alteialion m tint. :>tate of things for manv ye«ir« to conic ; and therefoie I do not wish to see the action of the Piovincial Councils in any way curtailed, ov their present powers contracted. It was in the anticipation that this might be the case that I counselled you to esUbh h your Provincial Gove-n-ment not like a mere Corporation, or Vestry, or Parish Board— forms of local Government indeed well adapted to the limited powers and petty interests with which they are invaiiably entiusted — but to regaid it as a Government in the u«ual acceptation of that word, charged with great power*, responsible, in truth almost solely lesponsihle, for the happiness and well being of the community, and therefore to be surrounded with so much of state, and so much only, as to secure its dignity, and encumbered with so much of form, and so much only, as should secure the patient and considerate use of those poweis You began by considering your Superintendent to be, although under another name, (as the late Sir W. Molesvvorth pointed out in the House of Commons he must of necessity be) the Lieut.Governor of the Province, having ten times more real power for good or for mischief to the people under his rule than the Governor of the Colony himself. You therefore adopted the form of Government in your Province which has been sanctioned by immemorial usage in the British Colonies — you constituted an Executive Council to advise the Supenntcßdent in the execution of his duties. But we did not think it advisable to pledge ourselves, as an invariible rule of government, to the full use of what is termed" Ministerial Responsibility. '' Indeed, it must be sufficiently apparent to thinking men, that it is impossible in the Provincial Governments to insist on having a "ministry" formed of the heads of departments, resigning office with every adverse vote of the legislature. Such an attempt in a small community, in which there are often no clearly defined political parties, and where the matters unt'er discussion are for the most part of a social «md local character, upon which individuals may agree or differ without respect to party principle — such an attempt is not only impossible in iUelf but is invested with an appearance

of absurdity to lookers on. But without going to the length of adopting all the forms and fashions of party Goveriiment, I maintain that you have enjoyed in this Province, even in a greater measure than most other parts of New Zealand, all the benefits of a real and practical responsiblity of the Executive to the Legislature, and through the Legislature to the people. I earnestly hope you <\ ill never consent to any liter itio'i in a f° r n°f g°vermnein which h,is secured this responsibility. You cannot oveilook the (act thai in that province where the doctrine of responsible government has been completely set aside, there p.uty has beo:i most violent airl go v uin r.ert moie unpopular and inefficient than any other. So t <r a- tiu- Executive g>>ver.i'n.jnt' of the provinces is created by the Provincial Legislature, the object to be gained is veiy simple. The Constitution Act, by giving to the Supetmtendent alone the right of issuing any public money, vntiully places the whole Execut.ve power of the pro-, nice into his hands. Your object then must be to secure a, harmony of action between the Superintendent and the Provincial Council, and to secure a responsibility to the Council for his acts.. I know of no practical way by which this can be acomplished, except by requiring him always to act by the advice of a Committee of the Provin- J cial Council, which must necessarily, if harmony between the Superintendent and the Provincial Council be attained, consist of the members of that body generally looked up to as its leaders, and who enjoj the confidence and esteem of tha community. That seems to me the best practical government which you can adopt in these communities. It is the least formal and expensive foim of government which can be trusted with the exercise of so great powers, and which offers sufficient guarantee for their moderate and prudent exercise. I am aware it has been thought by some few persons, that this form of government is costly. Those only can hold such an opinion who have neglected to study the public accounts. S ) essential do I think that there should be no mistake on the minds of the peop'e in this matter, that I have placed the accounts of the past year and the estimates for the present year before you, "in a form which shows the public expenditure on account of the Executive Government, the Legislature, the Administration of Justice, and so on, under separate heads. I find that the cost ot the Executive Govern* ment during the first half year, ending in March, 1854, was 25 per cent, of the whole expenditure ot the Province. In the three subsequent years, the cost of the Executive Government varied from 7% to 85 per cent, of that expenditure ; and on the expenditure of the current year, if the estimates before you are adhered Jo, it will be less than 4 per cent. So that out of the whole expenditure duiing the ensuing year, 96 per cent, will consist of expenses which may be incurred or not, as you please, but which have nothing whatever to do with the form ot government, and will equally be incurred under one fcam of government or another. I think, then, you will perceive, gentlemen, that nothing can be more fallacious than the idea that the form of government you ha\e maintained during the past four years is an expensive one Amongst the various subjects with which you have dealt, there are two to which I will specially allude, and upon which I am able to congratulate you on the r suit of your legislation. The first is the Waste Lands. Yon have had to make laws for the management of the Waste Lands, which should at once open the country to the small t.u mor anJ working settler, and at the sime time afford such security to the squatter as would induce him to puisne his luciative, though speculative hade. You had to s.rwfy claims and to protect mtelpsts often supposed to be hostile or incompatible. It must be admitted youi policy has been most successful Not only have none of the squatting settleis abandoned their pursuits, tut every acre of new country is applied for for pastoral purposes as soon as discovered ; whilst at the same time land is being sold in small lots for agricultural purposes, quite as quickly as the utmost w ants of the Province demand ; more quickly even than il can be occupied by the purchasers. I think I may s\v there is such a general sense of stability and spcuritv in the present arrangements, a feeling that the interpsts of the pastoral settlers are protected, whilst those of the agriculturalist are not in the slightest degree interfered with, a feeling that justice has been done to all p irties and interests, that we may anticipate the mamtpnance of the present laws, in all their main features, for many years to come. Whilst ad verting to the Waste Lands, I desire to draw your attention to a correspondence between the Superintendent and the Waste Lands Board, which will be laid before you. My chief object in this correspondence has been, that there should bo a clear undei standing as to the duties and position of the Waste Lands Board, and as to the rights of the public. The Waste Lands now praeti rally belong to the people. An applicant tor waste land does not go to the Board, asking as a favour to be allowed to purchase land, but demanding, as a right, to bo put in possession of land which tho law makes his own upon certain conditions. The Board sit there judicially, simply tn (Wide whether the requisite conditions are fulfilled, and to record the sale ; and there can be no doubt that any person who is wrongfully prevented from occupying land as a pastoral settlei or is a freehold purchaser, has an action against the Board for depriving him of his rights. I believe this state ot the law to be immeasurably the greatest boon which has been confoned upon a colonial community. It places at once the most absolute bar to all unfairness or land pbbing, because no man can be depmed of his right to land not already sold or reserved, and which he has once applied for I feel assured that you, gentlemen, will presenc for the people this great right which they h ive no.v acquired, and that you will agiee with me in thinking that this principle cannot be too clearly enunciated. In case an action is brought against the Board. I have b?en asked to give a general guarantee ot indemnity. I have of course declined to do so. The only funds out of which I could give such an indemnity are at your disposal, not at mine ; -md I could not take on myself to depart from a rule you have already laid down, and the wisdom of which seems to me indisputable, namely, that officers of the government who incur legal expenses through their own faults, must bear the loss themselves But Ido not mean to say that the Board should be compelled to pay all the costs of actions in which they may become involved by mistakes honestly made, after all due care on their part to do what is right. I simply assert that the Superintendent can give them no general guarantee, but that in every case of the kind it will become your duty to decide whether you will depart from the general rule you have laid down for the guidance of myself and my su-cessors, and will ord>r such costs to be paid. I shall leave it to your decision whether you think the case to be brought before you is one which ought to be treated as an exception to the rule. The second subject to which I referred is the settlement of the affairs of the Canterbury Association. It rarely falls to the lot of any legislative body to deal with'a question so full of difficulty and delicacy as that lam alluding to. Still more rarely does it follow that such matters can be arranged with perfect satis'.action to all parties concerned. The termination of our relations with tho Canterbury Association may be looked back upon, by all concerned, with unalloyed satisfaction ; and, as frequently happens with actions performed in an honorable and generous spirit, the burden which the Province assumed in undertaning the debt of the Association, has proved to be far less onerous than might have been anticipated, whilst the conduct of the Province in the matter has tpnded more than anything else to establish its credit in England. 1 desire to warn you, however, that this result will still depend solely on theimnnei m which the Association's estate is managed, and on the punctuality with which the rents are collected in the colony. If this be not attended to, you will be called on for heavy advances from the revenues to pay the dividends on the loan, which must of course be punctually paid in London at all sacrifices. I would further strongly counsel yo-i to expend all t'le mon.ys arising from the sale of poitions »t the estite to piy off those debentures. As a matter of honor and credit, I think the proceeds of this estate ought to be devoted to the same purpose which it would have been had it remained in the hands of the Association. I shall therefore ask for a vote this session to enable me to discharge five hundred pounds ot the debt, tor which moneys ate already, or will shortly be in hand. JTull accounts of the management of the estates will, of course, be laid before you. Whilst referring to our relations with the Association, I cannot but again remind you how much we owe to the continued attachm°nt of its members, especially Mr. Godley and Mr. Selfe, to the interests of this Province. The Council are aware that these gentlemen have again advanced considerable sums to induce Messrs. Willis to continue the immigration, and that these debts have not yet been all discharged. The papers on your table « ill inform you that they were piepared to guarantee the interest due in July last, had not the funds arrived in time. Although the necessity did not occur, still the Province is under no small obligation to gentlemen, who, without any hope of pecuniary reward, have been so generously ready to afford pecuniary assistance, rather than that the interests or credit of the Province should suffer. I think some special acknowledgment of the services of Mr, Selte and Mr Godley ib due lion the Government of this Piovince. I may further congratulate you upon the completion of the purchase of all the native land within the Province, and I cannot but advert to the agency by which this has been accomplished. It was one of the objects of my journey to Auckland last y«*r, and I cannot too

highly acknowledge the immediate and kind attention with which his Excellency the Governor met my application v)ii the subje -r. Still you nut observe that it iw'wnot thro i*h the Land Purchase rhpar'ment that these tr.vible* itne q i^stio n wei.> «ettl<>d. A itonunUsioner w is .soiir down hero last o mi -r, who. il't re maininsj some tune, w.w compelled to return to Auckland, having no sufficient instructions to enable him to act. But when at Auckland, I begged that Mr.Hannl- | ton might be appointed to act as Commissioner ; and I offered to advance all the cost of the service, although I was awnrp that the charges ought not to come and will i not ultimately come on the Province The result has been that these questions, which have not been settled by the General Government for four years, and would not have been settled, in all probability, in as many more, were settled in a few weeks by local agency. It is one instance, in the many which occur all over New Zealand, proving the necessity of lea\ing to the Provincial authorities the duty of purchasing the native lands. But I turn from matters of congratulation to those of \ a contrary character . You may not have forgotten that, 1 at the first opening of the Council, I urged upon you ! most strongly the necessity of some permanent provision for the education of the people. It is with the deepest regret that I shall be compelled to resign the Government, leaving nothing of a permanent nature done in this matter. The system at present in operation is the verv worst which can be adopted. It is a system of giving just enough assistance to paralyse all independent exertion, without giving enough to establish a thoroughly efficient system ot education ; and its worst feature is that it offers no prospect of perma1 nence, the salaries of the masters being dependent from year to year on the political views and sympathies of the party in power. I have abandoned the hope that any general system ! will be adopted by this Council, and I "ant compelled to confess, with much disappointment, that on this subiject, which has always seemed to me of infinitely greater moment to the future welfare of the country than any other which you can consider, there is a feeling of lukewarmness and indifference, not so much in your Council as among the people generally. Unsatisj factory as are the schools in many respects, the people have not availed themselves of them as they might have done, for in no respect are they more unsatisfactory tnan in the Bmallness of the number of children in attendance, in prupoition to the sums expended by the Government. A correspondence will be laid before you with the Bishop of Christchurch and the Presbyterian and Wesleyan Ministers, and the report of the Inspector of Schools will be in your hands. There are however some things, gentlempn, which in the absence of a general law for providing schools, I think we might effect in the present Session. The first is to set aside a reserve of land for every district, sufficient to support a good school, so soon as the land shall obtain its nominal value. Ido not think five hundred acres of land for Lyttelton, a similar reserve for Christchurch, two hundred for Kaiapoi, and two hundred for every other distiict, would he too large a quantity. If you should approve of such a plan I would proceed to make such reserves without delay, leaving the question as to how the proceeds of the lands were to be dealt with to a futuie occasion. The next thing I would ask you to do is to make your vote for educational purposes for five years, instead of for one year. Thus will give a certain degree of permanence to the svstem, which will have the best effect on the schools generally ; and I think you might look to the Revenues being in a great mea-ure relieved from the charge of education by the land endowments at the end of that time. And the third thing is to sanction the payment of a fixed salary for that time to an Inspector of Schools. Without such an offict-rl am quite persuaded that the money you vote will be, comparatively speaking, wasted. You will perceive that the Bishop of Christchurch would prefer the grant for Church Schools to be made in one sum, leaving it to his discretion to apportion it. I think, this would be a good plan, but I would suggest at the same time whether it would not be wise to affix a condition to all grants for schools, that they should be made to depend on the sum raised by the inhabitants of the district. I do not know how else you can thoroughly enlist the co-operation of the inhabitants in the maintenance ot the schools, and without that co-operation I am persuaded the m^ney will be wasted. Without adopting any general system of education, I should be very glad if one General School coul I be established in Christchurch, to which parents of all denominations could send their children, and another of the same kind in Lyttelton ; — the clergymen ot the several denominations giving religious instruction to the children of their own congregitions at specified times, either in a class-room, or what would be »till better, in their churches. You will see by the corresp mdence that all denominations wo ild gladly agree to such a plan. To carry it put it will l.e necessary to build and furnish a school-room in Christchurch, a thing greatly needed, for one great drawback to both the schools here is the want of a sufficient school-room, and of proper scho.,l-room furniture. I think such a s' hool. properly conducted, would do much towards pieparing the public mind for some general system of education in a future year. I now turn to the immediate business of the present session, and T am happy to inform you that your duties will be very light. The only bills to be laid before you on the part of the Government are two hills of a local n iture, involving no matters of principle. The one is for making a road through Cathedral Square, and enabling the Government to recover possession of the centre plot of land, by exchanging Waste Lands for it. The principal items ot discussion will be the Estimates tor the year, and those especially showing the E<traordinary Expenditure. lam glad to be able to state that your revenues this year may be estimated at £28,000, which, with he loan of £30.000, will enable yoa to spend £58,000 in the course of the ensuing year I lost no ti.ne at the close of the extraordinary Session of last spring in putting in hand the various Public Works, for which you had voted supplies, and in negotiating for the loan which you have authorized me to raise. But the increase in the revenues, through sales of land, and the necessity of suspending the works during harvest, rendered it unnecessary for me to borrow money, the balances in the chest more than providing for all the works which I could execute in the time, with all the labour available. The whole of the Loan will therefore be at your disposal for the present year. And I would urge upon you* to devote au-mci eased portion of it for immigration. The neighbouring Provinces of Wellington and Otago are voting large supplies for immigration purposes, and I think it would be a wise policy to work in harmony with them in this matter. I do not think it would be right to incur any larger debt at present. I entirely agrpe in the policy of borrowing for purposes of immigration and public works, but Ido not think it wise to incur so large a debt that the annual interest should bear more than a certain relation to the annual resources of the country. If the experiment of borrowing succeeds this year, it may, and probably will, be quite wise to borrow again next and every succeeding year ; because the in teiest on one or two hundred thousand pounds a few yeais hence may bear a smaller proportion to the then revenues than the interest on £30,000 does to our present revenues. The only thing to be guarded against is borrowing to such an extent as to cripple the credit of the country in any temporary depression which may occur, .and to which all countries, but especially young countries, are periodically liable. But in discussing the Estimates, gentlemen, a subject will come before you of the greatest importance. Referring to the expenditure on behalf of the Resident Magistrates' Courts, a correspondence between the General and Provincial Governments will be laid before you, and you will be called on to say what course the pi ovince should take in reference to the present state of affairs. As this is the time and place for me to justify what has been done by the Provincial Lrovernment, I will ask your attention to this matter for a few moments. I entertain no doubt as to the full light of the Superintendent to appoint Resident Magistrates, for the following reasons :—: — The office is one created by a colonial ordinance, and the person selected to fill it must be already one of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, and the Governor is empowered to appoint to it "provisionally, until her Majesty's pleasure be known." This power of the provisional appointment is not delegated by the Crown, but is given by a local ordinance, one which may be altered or repealed by a provincial ordinance. The Constitution Act alone li nits the powers of the Provincial Councils ; but the Constitution Act only debars the Provincial Councils from interfering with the Supreme Courts. No one can read the second matter excluded from the provincial powers, " the establishment or abolition of any Court of judicature of civil or criminal jurisdiction, except Courts for trying and punishing such offences as by the law of New Zealand are or may be made punishable in a summary way, or altering the constitution, jurisdiction, or practice of any such Court, except as aforesaid," without inferring that the Pi ovincial Councils are specially empowered to alter the constitution of any Court of summary criminal jurisdiction; that is the plain meaning of the words. Now the Resident Magistrates' Courts are Courts of summary criminal jurisd ction. Their constitution may therefore be altered by the provincial laws. lam qui'e ai a loss to conceive what argument can be setup against the plain and manifest intention of the Constitution Act to place the Courts of summary jurisdiction under the Provincial Legislature. Under your first Empowering Ordinance the right of appointment of Resident Magistrates was vetted in the Superintendent* That Qrdintnct w*» disallowed by th«

Governor, under the advice of the Attorney* General ; but t was re-enacted with the alterations suggested by the Governor. We are at liberty then *o consider that art .Ordinance which Was disallowed by the General Govern'ment had been carefully considered ; and yet this power now in question was not objected to by her Majesty's thett Attorney-General. We have then almost the highest legal authority in this colony for saying that the uowrt of th? Superintendent to appoint is not to be questioned. Not only so. but the same power wm exercised by me, an I the right 10 to exerc'se it fully recognised by Mr. Whitaker the prevent Attorney-Geueral, when the Acting Attor.rjyGeneral, in 1855. But I am prepared to say that without any E npowering; Ordinance at all, the power of =»ppninting Resident Magistrates, and performing all other functions of govern meiit, is fully and entirely vested in the Superintendent by the "I"terpretation Ordinance" of the late Legislative Council* Session XI, No. 3— aud which has not beeu objected to by the Law Officers ot the Crown in England. The doubts Which have arisen upon this question are not derived from legal opinions by competent lawyers, but I from vague expressions arising on the debates in the General Assembly, and dictated mofe by a regard to the policy, than to the right of such appointments. But in such grave questions as the jurisdiction Courts, t'lere ought to be no doubt whatever • and I confess I neVer was more astonished, than when, upon applying to the General Go* vernment to give its aid in support of the authority of the Courts of Law, I heard that the vague doubts to which I have referred were adopted for the first time by his Exellency's advisers aud thrown into the scale to bring the administration of justice into disrepute. You will perceive that I have stated, in the correspondence, that no expenses would be paid after Ust month on behalf of the Resident Magistrates' Courts. I thought it my duty to state this, because this Council laid down as » general principle at starting, that 110 departments should be maintained out of Provincial Revenues which were not placed under Provincial jurisdiction, I have alway* scrupulously adhered to the resolutions which have beeit passed by the Provincial Council for the guidance of the Government, especially in matters of important principle. I have, however, placed the departments on the estimates, and I shall be ready to concur with you in any course you may finally adopt. It now becomes your duty, gentlemen, to act promptly for the well being of theProvince in this emergency, an! it seems to me thnt the proper and dignified course for the Province to assume is to assert the validity of its own acts, until there is valid ground for believing them to be illegal. The present state of affairs ought not to continue an hour ; and although I could not guarantee the Resident Magistrates against legal consequences without your sanction, yet I will readily concur with you in such a guarantee. If you will give me the necessary authority, I will issue fresh commissions, and I have not the smallest doubt but that I am cor* rectly advised that those commissions could not be successfully attacked in law. It will then be left for the General Government to pursue its own course, or to the Province to reconsider its course at any future time. But the existing embarrassment, which is immeasurably greater at thi» time of the year than at any other, will be removed at j once. I will not occupy your time, gentlemen, by alluding; to any particular items in ihe proposed expenditure on Public Works, except to two ; one is that proposed for Timaru. Next year there will be more than £30,000 worth of produce exported thence. If there were heavy moorings laid down there, a large ship could load, and the exporters would save a very considerable sum in the way of freight. If there be a Government agent on the spot, a town will soon spring up, and town land will be sold, and probably much of the rural, land in the neighbourhood also With some preparations, it may be quite worth while to land a body of immigrants direct from England, at that place, next year. I would strongly urge upon yon the expediency of opening that country for agricultural settlement, for which it is peculiarly adapted. The large squatting population of the district (a district which is daily extending by fresh discoveries of country further inland) will afford a good market to a considerable agricultural population ; so that the community might become in a great measure self-supporting ; whilst wood, of which there is a scarcity, could be supplied from Akaroa, with equal, if nor greater facility, than it is now supplied to Christchurch. The only other item to which I will allude is that for building Government Offices. This is a work which you cannot longer delay, in common justice to the gentlemen you employ in the Government. I have forborne, whilst I continued to hold the office of Superintendent, to remind you that I have never been provided with an office or office conveniences of any kind whatever. In justice to my successor, I must press upon you that such a state of things is not right. The pre~ sent offices for the clerks cannot be occupied without danger to their health. Now that funds are to be obtained, these evils ought to be at once remedied. The Government Offices alone would not cost above £1500 ; £3000 will build the Offices and Council Chamber in addition ; and, if you vote money thii session, theCouncil Chamber will only then be completed by the time the lease of your present Chamber is expired. The last subject to which I will refer is one which I can also press upon you without reserve, as I am shortly about to vacate the office of Superintendent. It has always appeared to me a very unseemly and dange-. rous proceeding that those charged with the expenditure of the public revenues should vote money to themselves. The salary of the Superintendent, and the expenses of members of the Council, ought to be settled by a permanent act instead of by annual vote. I would suggest to you that the present is the best time for passing such, an act, and if you will acq aint me by a resolution that you coincide in this view, I will send down a bill for the purpose. The main business of the session, however, will con-, sist in appropriating the revenues to the public works . and undertakings. If the colony continues as prosperous at present, this will always occupy the most prominent place in your debates. I have no doubt but that the present proposals of the Government will meet your best attention. I have now to declare this Council open for thej despatch ef business.

By the " Daring, " we have Wellington journal*; to the 2nd instant, from which we extract as follows : — General Convention ov the Chukch of England. — The steamer Zingari, which left this port yesterday,, is the bearer of the Church of England lay and clerical representatives from Canterbury and Wellington, in-, eluding the newly consecrated Bishop of Christchurch in the former Province, on their way to the first General! Convention of the Church, shortly to he held at St.. John's College, Auckland. Fiom Canterbury, the R*T.. J. Wilson, and H. Tancred, Esq., are deputed to repre-. sent the two orders of Churchmen in that district ; from t Wellington the Ven. Archdeacon Had field, and Dr.. Prendergast, who is now resident at Auckland. The deputies from Nelson, we understand, are the Ven. Archdeacon Paul, and Mr. E. W. Stafford, the Colonial Secretary. Of the other settlements we have received! no leliable information. We presume that the matn<. business of this primary Convention will be simply pro-. \ isional and initiatory, and will principally be directed!, to the consideration and final amendment of the model I Trust Deed, (of which a draft has been long ago laid t before the public, and may be found in the appendix ofj the ' New Zealand Quarterly Review,') previous to its* adoption and execution. In this document is involved,, sufficiently for all practical purposes and with a legal} force, the essentials of a Church Constitution, such as, we have often advocated in these columns, and which,, being limited as far as civil cognisance is concerned to, matters of Church property, is free from the inconve-. nience of doctrinal questions and theological definitions, of Church membership. The representatives from t Wellington go charged with instructions embodied in a t resolution ot the (general Meeting of Church members, held at the beginning of the present year, to assent to, the model deed, as to its principles without exception,, though of course subject to modification in its details . by the Bishops and their assessors. A Deed of Foun-. dation and a Declarative Act of the Civil Legislature, have also been suggested as adding dignity, if not validity to the proceedings of the convention. To us.these. appear idle and unnecessary occasions of delay. Beside*,, to apply for permission to act, where a liberty of action^ a I ready' exists by unquestionable privilege, common to, the Church of England and all other religious sects, is t not merely reprehensible as being illusory and » waste, of time, but as implying almost a concession of the,, right to interfere, which hereafter it may not be so easy.a matter to repudiate. The most effectual Deed of Foun-. dation is to proceed at once to act, and by initiatory measures to assert the right of Action. Alter ten years study of the question with all its difficulties by th« Bishop of Npw Zealand, and the approval of his model, deed by some of the most eminent lawyers and,churchmen in this and' the Mother Country, including Chief, Justice Martin, and Sir John (late Mr. Justice) Patteson. we should exceedingly regret if further obstacles were raised to its immediate execution, by a fastidious and unpractical tampering with its present form, or the. renewal of frivolous objections over and over, again diiposed of. In so writing, we believe that we are but.., fairly giving expression to the universal opinion, off Churchmen in. thU settlement ,—Wettikgtoi. Spictator^ t