WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 991, 10 May 1862, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

[From the 'Independent,' April 29.] THE SUPERINTENDENT'S SPEECH.

The Speech delivered by His Honor at the opening- of the Provincial Council, on Friday last, will be read with great interest. Its only drawback is its length. A great book is a great evil, said Johnson ; along1 speech is often an evil also, its very length deterring many persons from even beginning to read it. And yet we scarcely know how this fault, if under all the circumstances it be a fault, can be remedied. The vagueness and brevity of royal speeches, with their cautious and well rounded sentences, would be altogether out of place in elected governments; and the verbosity of a President's message, arguing every position advanced, would be equally so, where there is an Executive sitting in the Council to explain arid enforce the views entertained by the head of the government. Elected by the province, and responsible directly to it, there is no means by which the Superintendent can better enunciate the progress he is making in the work he was elected to perform, than by thus from time to time detailing, more or less fully, what he has done and what he still proposes to do. When the reader has reached the conclusion of His Honor's speech, he will be unable to point to any paragraph which would be improved by being shortened, or to any one subject which it would have been better to have omitted.

On the contrary, there are, no doubt, some subjects on which we should all like fuller information, but for which we must wait until it is given to the Council by the Executive in the regular method—in explanation of the motions to introduce the several bills indicated by his Honor. Perhaps there is no subject more vitally affecting" the well-being' of this province (always excepting- that of peace) than the quantity of land available for sale and settlement. "The appointment of his Honor as Land Purchasing1 Commissioner, is a matter therefore of the greatest congratulation. No one in this province doubts the anxiety of the Superintendent to advance its interests. There may be a difference of opinion as to whether the right method is pursued in some few instances ; but that the Superintendent's whole ambition is concentrated in the welfare of the province, not one amongst us will for a moment hesitate to affirm. That his best exertions will be used to purchase " fresh fields and pastures new" we need not doubt; though the difficulties in the way of so doingare, at present, such as will not justify the belief that the work of acquiring land from the natives will proceed otherwise than very slowly, until the policy which Sir George Grey is now initiating- has taken root firmly. The Fox Ministry deserve well of this province for thus placing in the hands of the Superintendent the land purchasing powers so often asked for, but heretofore so steadily and injuriously denied.

Omitting all reference to-day to the census returns, we are glad to note the other signs of progress which the Superintendent indicates. Our customs revenue lor the year ending 31st March last shows an increase of upwards of £4000. From Otago there have been remittances through two banks of nearly £70,000, and to Otago there have been exports of a very much greater value than any of us had any idea. Of our own local produce, £17,500 was exported thither last year, besides other articles to a slightly larger amount. Cattle and sheep, of course, enter largely in the category, but other articles, such as butter (£4600) form a respectable proportion. Unusually large, however, as were the exports of local produce last year, those of the past three months nearly equal them, amounting to no less a sum than upwards of £15,000. As we have remarked on a previous occasion, business cannot have been dull lately, though it may have been very quiet. The whole tenor of the Superintendents speech is indicative of provincial progress, proving that Wellington has been steadily advancing, notwithstanding" the checks thrown in the way by the late unsettled state of this Island, and the dullness which newspaper editors especially have found so trying.

Our space warns us that our further notice must be brief. There are several points which deserve to be brought forward, to only one of which we can, however, now allude. The proposal to form a sinking fund is in itself a wise measure, but we see most objectionable grounds against loaning the fund on local mortgage. The difficulty of recovering money due to Government, and the evils resulting from having a large class of debtors to the Provincial Treasury, are so great as to lead us to hope that the Council will consider the propositions with more attention than is ordinarily required. What the precise nature of the mode of managing the proposed sinking fund muy be, we have yet to learn, but on the first blush, the principle of lending money by a Government elected by such an ample suffrage as ours is, appears to be so hedged around with evils, as to induce the belief that the proposal of the Superintendent will require much deliberation before it can be so settled as to make it work well in practice.