PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume XVII, Issue 1746, 26 April 1862, Page 3

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

The opening of the second Session of the third Provincial Council took place yesterday. There was a numerous attendance of persons in the space allotted to the accommodation of the public, and several ladies were also present, though not so many as we have observed on former occasions. The following members were present. The Speaker, Messrs. Brandon, Woodward, Fitzherbart, Johnston, Smith, Barton, Allen, Carter, Taylor, Wallace, Spinks, Fawcett, Buck, M'Ewen, Whitewood, Wright, Rhodes, Duncan, Stokes, Borhtse, Crawford. The Speaker having taken the chair, his Honor the Superintendent shortly afterwards entered the Council Chamber, and proceeded to deliver the following— ADDRESSMr. Steakeii and Gentlemen or THE Provincial Council, — In your last Session you passed an address to the Representatives of this Province in the General Assembly, in which, after thanking them for the course they had pursued in reference to the Taranaki war, you urged them ** to use their utmost exertions to obtain the establishment of such a wise, humane, and equitable policy by the General Government towards the aboriginal inhabitants of these Islands as would ensure the continuance of peaceful relations between the two races, and the future prosperity of the Colony.” It will scarcely be expected that I should open this Session without offering you my heartfelt congratulations upon the changes that have taken place since we last met —upon our having escaped the dangers that then impended over us, and upon the prospect there now is of your hopes being fully realised. Though at the time you voted that address a truce had been arranged between the Government and the Natives, still no change had taken place either in the policy or intentions of the then Governor and his advisers. They agreed to-a suspension of arms in a moment of panic, and only waited for reinforcements and the sanction of the Imperial Government to make an aggressive movement, which must at once have brought on a general war—a war which, according to their own . admission, must have swept away the hard earned fruits of twenty years of colonization, and could only have been brought to a dose by the extermination of the Native race. The dangers to which you, in common with the whole population of this Island were then exposed, will only be fully understood and appreciated when the correspondence between the late Governor and the Home Government, and the resolutions of the Secret Committees of the two Houses, have been made public. But nevertheless, when you remember that the war was commenced when there was only a force of a few hundred men at the disposal of the Government—that even when the force (military and naval) bad been augmented to above 5000, the Governor and his Ministers found themselves too weak to fire “ that shot -in the Waikato country which was to be the signal for a general rising of the Natives,” —that they still begged and prayed for further reinforcements; and when you further consider that upon your Representatives protesting against his striking the blow he was meditating until at least some sort of protection to the settlers had been provided, the late Governor admitted, that even if he had 20,000 men at his command, he could not do more than defend the three or four centres of population ; and that therefore all the settlers beyond the precincts of the garrisoned towns must be prepared to submit to the sacrifice, if not of their lives, at any rate of their properties,—when you bear in mind such admissions as these, I am surely justified in congratulating you upon this Island having escaped dangers as great as ever threatened any one of England’s numerous dependencies. Nor am I less justified in congratulating you upon the prospect there now is that the hopes you breathed in the Address to which I am referring will be most completely realized. The dismissal of the late Ministry, and the substitution in its place of one holding entirely different views and advocating a wholly different policy-—the recal of Colonel Gore Browne, and the reappointment of Sir George Grey—the man of all others in whom the Natives ever have had, and still have the greatest confidence,—at once changed the whole aspect of affairs. No sooner did these events occur than a firm conviction seized the minds both of Europeans and Natives that there was an end to the internecine war contemplated by the late Administration. How far this conviction has been borne out by subsequent events—-the present position of the Colony contrasted with what it was a few months since—-the restoration of public confidence—the revival of every branch of industry—the employ’ Went of the Military, not in war but in making roads

adn it;n ,an r ed i att^ ud( : 0f . 11,e Natives, their eager offered l . nBlitu . tl ,°? s of self-government most Infl th . e T“J l . he f w»Hidrawal of some of the ™o®t mfluentml chiefs from the king confederacy fnl f 7;i C ° nf, T cd lo y. a,t X of ma ’»y the must powerim tribes—the unmistakeable wavering displayed iu ranks of the king’s adherents,-these and othir palen f to . sufficiently testify and declare. iviy o wn belief, however, in the establishment of a permanent peace, rests not so much on the change 01 n,s !p y or tlle re-appointment of Sir G. Grey, or the oiler to the Natives of the institutions for winch they have long been craving and striving after, as upon the simple fact, that his Excellency and ins Ministers by their offer to refer the question of the Wai’ara purchase to arbitration, have had the moral courage to proclaim to the Natives —that the same principles of justice which guide men in their private transactions shall be observed between her Majesty’s Government and her Majesty s subjects—that if wrong has been done even by her Majes’v’s Representative that wrong shall not be persisted in, but as far as possible repaired. Had this avowal not been made a deep and keen sense of injustice, rankling and festering in the minds of the whole Native population, must have rendered a solution of the Native difficulties wpII nigh if not altogether hopeless. Without that offer of arbitration, Peace was barely possible; (hat offer made, te my mind, War is barely possible’. The discovery of Gold Fields in the Province of Otago, which have up to this time proved as remunerative, if not more so, than any in Australia, has already had an influence on this province second only to that produced by the general impression that peace would be established. That such a discovery by drawing off a considerable number of our male adult population, and by unsettling men’s minds should have caused a temporary stagnation to trade and commerce, ought not t > have excited the slightest surprise, for such ever have been the first effects of the discovery of a paying gold field upon the countries more immediately adjoining them. But when it is stated that since the discovery of gold in Otago, from the returns furnished to me by two Banks—the Union and the New South Wales—that nearly £70,000 has been remitted from Otago to this Province—that the Custom House returns shew that during the year ending the 31st December last the value of the Exports from this province to Dunedin was £35,159, and for the quarter ended the 31st March last £18,485, and further that the value of stock, timber, and other articles, the produce of the Province, was for the same quarter £15,343, it can scarcely be doubted that this Province has probably reaped greater advantages from the gold fields of Otago than any other Province.

The discovery of gold in different districts of this Province has very naturally caused a belief that paying gold fields may yet be discovered, and consequently a desire thatno time should be lost in ascertaining how far the impression is well founded. You will therefore not be surprised that the Government have not hesitated to anticipate your wishes by intimating to Sir R. Murchison that they accepted his offer, conveyed through Mr. Mantel), to select and send out a Geologist thoroughly competent to explore the mineral resources of this Province. But in order to avoid any charge of apathy in regard to a matter in which the whole Province manifested so deep an interest, the Government gladly availed themselves of the services in the mean time of Mr. J. Coutts Crawford. The reports furnished by that gentleman will show thatin the short space of three months he explored a great portion of the West Coast territory; and the information contained in them both in regard to the geologj' and the agricultural and pastoral capabilities of the country he traversed, will bear ample testimony to his competency for the work he undertook and to the valuable services he has rendered. Though no discovery of available mineral wealth rewarded his explorations still he has paved the way for the researches of future geologists and has already indicated the localities in which minerals may most probably be found.

You will be gratified to learn that this Province has at last been relieved, both of the heavy expense, and of the mischievous obstructiveness of the Land Purchase Department—His Excellency the Governor having been pleased to devolve upon myself, as Superintendent, the duly of purchasing such lands as the Natives may from time to time be disposed to alienate. Though fully alive to the responsibilities attached to the appointment, I have not hesitated to accept it, as I conceive that very great advantages mav accrue, especially in the present state of the Native mind, from the Superintendent being placed in such dose and intimate re’ations both towards the General Government and the Natives, as the office of Land Purchase Commissioner implie-’. There will no longer be that antagonism between the General and Provincial Government in regard to land purchases so calcula'ed to impair and destroy the influence of both. The subordinate officers of the Land Purchase Department will no longer be political agents employed for party purposes to engender distrust of the authorities and to foment rather than to adjust disputes with the Natives about Land. The Superintendent from the constant and intimate intercourse which will thus be established between him and the Natives in every part of the Province and from the influence which office as Land Purchase Commissioner will edly give him, cannot fail to acquire an accurate knowledge of the feelings, wishes and requirements, of the Natives, and thus be enabled to second far more effectually than he otherwise could do, his Excellency’s Government in their endeavours to remove existing causes of irritation, and to revive that confidence in the Government which has been so grievously impaired by the proceedings of the late Administration. While on the one hand there will be no solicitation— no teasing of the Natives to part with a single acre of their lands, yet on the other hand, they will know and feel that in the event of their wishing to sell, they will not be subjected to the vexatious delays hitherto occasioned by the necessity of referring every negotiation to a distant authority—but the terms of purchase arranged, and the boundaries of the Block offered for sale after due notice publicly defined and marked out, the purchase will be at once completed. While I am anxious to avoid raising any undue expectations from the change thus made in the Land Purchase Department, I have reason to believe that no long time will elapse before valuable Blocks will be freely offered for sale to the Government.

With respect to the funds by which purchases are to be effected, I am not in a position to state how much of the Land Purchase Loan remains unexpended; but I fear that when the accounts are rendered it will be found that of the £27,000 allocated to this Province, the whole, with the exception of a few thousands, has disappeared, and that some 30 per cent, of the amount has been frittered awayintheexpensesofthe Department. Asit isimpossible to give even an approximate estimate of the sums that may be required, 1 shall simply ask you to authorise me by resolution, in the event of other funds not being available, to raise temporary loans from the banks, an operation which there will he no difficulty in effecting, as the Union has on former occasions made similar advances to a large amount, and as the New South Wales Bank a short time since, when I hoped that Mr. M‘Lean might purchase certain blocks, involving heavy payments readily consented to place at my disposal whatever amount might be necessary. Such advances it will be understood, will have to be repaid out of the first proceeds of the sales of the purchased blocks.

You are aware that the two Bills, the one repealing the clause of the Land Revenue Appropriation Act of 1858, under which one-sixth of your Land Revenue was authorised to be retained by the General Government; the other compelling a refund of the amount so impounded, which were passed,by the House of Representatives in 1860, and rejected by the Legislative Council, were again introduced last session, and agreed toby the House of Representatives without a division, but that the Legislative Council again threw them out. It is satisfactory to know that before next session the Legislative Council will be so far reformed by an addition to its numbers, that it will scarcely be in a position again to defeat the repeated decisions of the House of Representatives on a money bill, with which it has constitutionally no right to-in-terfere.

In the meanwhile the present General Government has advanced to the Province as a nominal loan, the, whole amount of the “Reserved Sixths” received up to October last, on the security of a portion of the land in process of reclamation, and I have no doubt they will continue to hand over the accruing sixths as often as we may ask for them, especially as under the change just mentioned in the Land Purchase Department, the onus of providing the funds for land purchases will devolve not upon the- General but the Provincial Government. During the last session of the General Assembly the Representatives of Hawke’s Bay and of this

Province, after repeated conferences upon the subject of the apportionment of the Public Debt, agreed to submit the case of their respective Pro vinces to the Auditor General, not as an arbitrator, but with the view of obtaining his opinion as to conditions and principles, by which in the event of an arbitration being agreed to the arbitrators should be guided, and upon the understat ding that the report should be laid before the Provincial Councils of the two Provinces for their sanction, previous to any further action being taken in the matter. The Auditor General, after hearing the statements of the two parties, and fully considering the whole question, ultimately gave it as his opinion, that the permanent debt of the original Province must he taken at the date of separation at £100,000; and that the apportionment should be based on population, rather than territory; and accordingly recommended that Hawke’s Bay should be charged with £25,000 of the £lOO,OOO Your Representatives at once offered eiMerto adopt the Auditor General’s recommmendations, provided the same principle of apportionment was applied to the Land Purchase Loans, or to adopt the territorial basis of apportionment for the £lOO,OOO, or finally, by way of compromise, to accept the sum of £35,000; but the Hawke’s Bay Representatives did not feel themselves justified in agreeing to any of these three proposals. It is under these circumstances that in redemption of a pledge given to the House of Representatives, I shall submit a Bill appointing commissioners wdh full powers to adjust the debt with the Hawke's Bay Government. Without expressing my entire concurrence in the conclusions arrived nt by the AuditorGcneral, I yet willingly admit that he has so far cleared the way for a settlement, that I do not apprehend that there will be any serious difficulty’ in satisfactorily arranging this vexed question, if the Hawke’s Bay Government is prepared to enter upon the proposed negotiations in the same spirit as we do.

The shortness of the last Session having precluded the possibility of your examining the claims preferred against this Province by Messrs. Gladstone & Co. in respect of the Ann WVson's immigrants, I must again ask you to take the matter into your consideration, with the view’ of enabling the Government to give a decided and definite answer to Messrs. Gladstone & Co. From the correspondence which has already been published you will perceive that the two questions submitted to her Majesty’s Emigration Commissioners were, — Ist. Whether the Provincial Government was at all liable for payment of the passage-money of the immigrants by the Ann Wilson? and 2ndly. If liable, whether large deductions ought not to be made on account of the breaches in the Passengers’ Act, and the conduct of the Captain and which have forced the Provincial Government to forego, as far as it is concerned, any attempt to recover the passage-money on the promisor? notes of the immigrants.” The Commissioners decided that the Government of Wellington could not be compelled to pay for the immigrants by the Ann Wilson, but they nevertheless concluded their report with a recommendation that it should pay the whole amount of the passage-money, less the sum of £OOO on account of the non-issue of the legal allowance of water. Now as the second question was clearly contingent upon the answer given to the first, which was given in favor of the Government, I have always contended that the Commissioners exceeded their powers in even entering upon it—that in short, having decided that the Provincial Government was not liable, ’.here was an end of the reference. Nevertheless, seeing that noblame really attaches to Messrs. Gladstone & Co., that they appear to have taken the usual precautions to ensure the comfort and health of the passengers by the Ann Wilson; and having regard to the admirable condition in which the other emigrant ships despatched by them arrived in this port, it would not redound to the credit of the Province if the whole loss was thrown upon them, and I therefore feel assured that you will meet their claim in a fair and liberal spirit. The census recently taken by the General Government presents some interesting results, which will shortly be made public in a*report drawn up by Mr. Woodward, who acted as the chief enumerator. The total population is stated at 12.566, the increase over that of 1858 being only 7 per cent. The smallness of '.his increase is to be accounted for part yby there having been no Government immigration for the last few years, but chiefly by the.absence of a large number of our male population at the Otago diggings, a fact which is proved by the disproportionate amount of females as compared with the males; and further, by there being an excess of married women over married men, the number of males between the ages of 21 and 40 being given as 414 less in 1861 than in 1858.

The Education returns shew that out of a population of 6371 above 16 years of age, there could read and write 5585 could read only 328, could neither read nor write only 369. The number of children at schools is 1688, of whom 394 attend schools receiving Government aid, end 1294 are at private schools.

The number of horses is given at 5117, being an increase since 1858 of 60 per cent.; of horned cattle 49.323, or 35 per cent, increase, of sheep 247,910, or an increase of 59 per cent. With regard to land and cultivation the returns show that there are 76,611 acres fenced in, being an increase since 1858 of 87 per cent., and 55,313 acres under crop, being an increase of 1126. Though these returns are in some respects not very flattering, yet upon the whole they show’ that the Province has, in spite of great disturbing causes, made a very considerable progress, and justifies us in indulging the expectation that its future progress, the obstructions removed, will be much more rapid.

Unsatisfactory as were the steam arrangements made some years since with the Coleman Company, the modification of them recently’ proposed by the Postmaster-General does not seem to have met with the approval of any one of the Southern Provinces. As far a I understood the scheme of the Postmaster-Gen-ral it was this—-A steamer was to leave Sydney on the arrival of the English mails from Auckland ; two inter-provincial steamers were to keep up a fortnightly communication between Auckland and the Bluff, calling both going and returning at the intermediate ports; and another inter-provincial boat was to run once a fortnight between Manukau, Taranaki, Nelson, and Wellington. The English mails for Napier, Taranaki, and Nelson were to be brought by the Sydney steamer to Auckland, and forwarded on by the inter-provincial boats; the mails for the other Southern Provinces were to be sent from Melbourne to Otago, and forwarded on also by the other interprovincial boats; the insuperable objection to that scheme was, that it deprived all the Provinces except Auckland of direct steam communication with Sydney. This objection has, however, to a certain extent been removed; for it is now proposed to run a steamer once a month and back between Sydney and any two of the three Provinces of Nelson, Wellington, and Canterbury, which shall join in giving a subsidy of £3OOO a-year, to be supplemented bv the General Government with a further sum of £2,000. Admiting the force of the objections urged to the scheme as thus modified, by the Chamber of Commerce, and others, still, as it virtually makes Wellington the Head-quarters of Steam, and as it is most important not to merely maintain direct Steam with Sydney, but especially during the Meeting of the General Assembly to keep up frequent communication with all the other Provinces, I think it would be unwise in us to decline joining either Nelson or Canterbury in the proposed subsidy, even though I deemit excessive, considering that the line between Sydney and Cook’s Straits pays the Company better than any ■ other. I shall have peculiar pleasure in laying before you the Reports of the visiting Justices of the Gaol; for, fiom them, you will gather, thanks to the zealousandjudicious superintendence of the visiting Justices, and also to the faithful manner in which their instructions have been carried out by the Warden, how different is the state of the Gaol to what it was a few years ago. The discipline is so much improved that whereas formerly most of the Prisoners were kept in irons there are now only two. The classification is so far improved, that debtors are no longer obliged to herd with prisoners, and the penal servitude men are kept seperate from the hard-labor men. Additional accomodation is, however, required for females, and for men awaiting trial. This it is proposed to provide, by adding on to the N. W. Wing. What, however, is wanting, is the establishment of certain rules and conditions under which prisoners can by good conduct in the Gaol, win for themselves a remission or mitigation of their sentences. As long as no such hope is held out, the heavier the sentence, the less inducement to reform, the stronger their desire, at any risk, to escape. Under the present system Justice simply defeats itself.

Nor is the slate of the Lunatic Asylum less satisfactory. From the Reports both of the late and of

the presen ledical Officer, you will learn that restraint ls ( j otn j ia j recourse to—that however violent pat ts may be when admitted, they scon, owing to l lenient and judicious treatment now pursued, hinie quiet, and render the most imthose in charge of the Asylum. ‘iy a visit «the Asylum and you will probabß unu Us residits engaged in carpentering, garden•ug, cu , ll * n g cv’«»od, or some oilier useful occupaton. Ihe tiding, however, being too small to allow of auy'assification, I have placed a sum on the Estimate to build an additional wing. 1 he nattirof the remarks I made last session respecting thwant of engineering skill displayed in the constr|tiim of our Bridges, has been, I regret to say, fily confirmed during the last year. 1 lie past expkd’tiire on Bridges has in a great measure beenU much money thrown awav. Even wnhm the weeks some 4 or 5 Bridges 1 ave Jccn swept nay, involving a very considerable outlay to replie them. Though it may be necessary to replacwome of these, as some of them are absolutely nehsary fer the purposes of traffic, v? 1 ’ ?’• w ‘ l, ‘ your sanction, to consult I'Jtzgibbq of Nelson, who has already given a sulhcient prof of his engineering abilities in thp construction < the Dun Mountain Railway, and who has had 1 contend in America with precisely ne same diffinlties which present themselves here, it appears to ie inexpedient to incur any larger expendjture thn we can possibly avoid, either m Bridges, wjch are scarcely completed before they are swepipway, or in attempts to prevent the treaks and encoaclnnents of our rivers andmoun,orrvnts» inti) we have obtained either his aavice or that some other competent engineer, make this reommendatiun the more readily’ because Mr. Fitz'ibbon has had great experience in the erection ofjron Suspension Bridges, which I Understand hap been thrown over a span of 1< OO feet, at a cost (f about £8 a foot. If such is the c ase, an Iron fuspension Bridge could be thrown over the Wanginui River at considerably less cost 1 ian a wooden ine. And here in order to explain the omission of tht Wanganui Bridge from the Estiniates after ha*ing stood there so many years, I may as well nention that Mi. Fitzgibbon has already declared his willingness to report upon the practicability of dirowhig a Bridge over the Wanganui.

1 he reasons winch induced me last session to recommend the erection of a'['oil-gate at Kaiwarra nave acquired additional weight. For the repairs of the two great Trunk lines cost last year £4183, an expenditure which will be very materially exceeded this year. The unfairness of devoting so large an amount of your revenue to such pu’poses, while those whose property is mainly benefited by the trunk roads not only contribute nothing either to their construction or repairs, but also generally escape all taxation for District Roads, seems admitted by nil parties. It will be for you to consider whether a Toll-gate at Kaiwarra will meet the J us t*ce and requirements of the case ; or whether in audition to a toll levied upon all who use the Trunk Koads, a lax should not be levied on all lands abutting upon them, and which are not taxed for District roads.

S r ?v Vn & ran | s °f the Town Belts of Wellington and Wanganui and also of (he Reserve known as the Canal Basin, having been issued to the Superintendent. Bil’s will be submitted to you, vesting the management of the Town Belt of Wellington, in a Board of th re? Commissioners, who will be empowered to lease it in moderate size allotments for a term of 21 years, and to apply the rents to such town improvements as they may deem expedient ; unless you should specify in the Act works which the Commissioners shall be bound to carry out.

rhough the Canal and Basin will be vested in the same Board, yet it is provided in the Bill that they’ shall be reierved as a Public Park, a certain portion of which is further to be set apart as a Cricket Ground. A similai Bill will be required for the Town Pelt of Wanganui. While providing a Public Park at Te Aro, it seems only fait to make a similar provision for fhorndon, and as it is desirable for several reasons to purchase the acre in front, I would suggest the purchase of the two or three acres bebinef ° with a view of having the whole block planted and laid out, part being made a Botanical Garden. It having bem determined that the next session of the General Assembly shall be held here in June, it will in all probability be necessary to build one or tvo rooms in connection with “ Bellamy’s,” and io provide additional furniture. Although the General Assembly may be willing to defray these expenses, still it appears to me so wholesome a rule to lax down—that any Province which seeks fcr the meeting of the General Assembly at its capital sheuld take upon itself the sole burthen of previding the buildings and accommodation which a compliance with its claims entails, that I shall no; hesitate to ask you to vote whatever sum may be-necessary to meet the requirements of the General Assembly, of which I shall in all probability be advised by the next mail. I shall again, ask you for the appointment cf a committee to receive and report upon the claims to compensation of those parties who complain that they were prevented by a variety of causes from preferring them within the time prescribed by law.

.A block of land at Manawatu estimated to contain some tweniy-five thousand acres has been recently’ handed ever to the Provincial Government, but as the portion of this is swamp, which in the hands of individuals would be comparatively useless, it is proposed that the Government should undertake to dnin it before it is thrown open for purchase; the Engineer’s report as to the practicability of drainng it is being just obtained. A Bill authorising this will probably be necessary.

Under the Provincial Audit Act of the General Assembly (1861,) it is necessary that the Provincial Council and Superintendent should concur in the nomination of an Auditor and Deputy Auditor of the accounts of the Province, who will then after such nominatioi be appointed by the Speaker, and further, that provision for their’ salaries should be made by a Provincial Act. While I shall readily concur in your nomination, I yet feel bound to submit, that, considering the faithful and efficient manner in which the present Auditors have for several years discharged their duties, and their entire independence both of flie Executive and Legislature, it will be difficult ip find others so well qualified for the offices, and therefore, unwise to dispense with their services, if they are willing to continue them. It was my intention to have proposed some Amendments to the District Highways Act. But the opinions of who have had experience of its working are sp confiding that I deem it expedient before any Further legislation be attempted, that the whole subject should be referred to a Select Committee—in order that the evidence of members of the various Boards of Wardens may be taken. The anticipations we indulged in last year as to the effect of increasng the Grants in aid, from an equivalent to two-thirds have been fully realized. The amount paic into the Treasury during the past year for the purpose of obtaining Grants in aid having been mote than double the amount of any previous year. I am glad to say that the state of your Finances vill permit of your continuing to contribute at tie same rate during the present year.

As it is essent.nl that the Custom-house should be as close as possible to the Custom-house Wharf, I felt it my dut; to lose no time after the contract for the wharf hid been taken, in having plans prepared fora Custim-honse,and also for a Post-office, in consequence of the Postmaster-General having authorised the ’ostmaster to secure at once a more suitable buildirg. These plans having been approved by the Commissioner of Customs, tenders were called for and one has been accepted, subject to your sarction. It being desirable that these buildings shou'd be ready for occupation by the time the wharfis completed, you will, I trust, intimate your decision with as little delay as possible. But these are not the only public buildings which are required. By the last mail I received a communication fron the General Government, pressing upon me th? desirableness of making provision net only for these buildings, but also fora Supreme Court by a loan with a sinking fund, to which his Excellency will be prepared to assent; at the same timeintimatingthat the ‘‘ General G we-nmentisso deeply impressed with the necessity of making provision by a loan for these objects, that unless the Provincial Legislature will make such provision by a loin, Ministers will feel themselves called upon to propose to the General Assembly, in its next session, to sanction the necessary expenditure, the anniint being brought to account as a local charge ajainst the revenue of the Province.” I not only coiicicle in the opinion thus expressed, as to the necessiy of the buildings in question, but I am anxious that you should also sanction the building of aPolice Court and Station—also to be included in the loan. The site proposed tor the Supreme Court and Police Court is the reserve near

the Scotch Church. I need not point out that by erecting the*e.public buildings either on or in the immediate vicinity of the reclaimed land, you will materially enhance its value, and ensure a speedy demand for it. Considering the large sums thus proposed to be expended in this city during the current year, the many public woiks which are tequired in different parts of the country, the inroad already made upon the revenue by the damages recently dune to public works, the fact of the cost of the Lighthouse having been defrayed out of the revenue, instead of, as was intended, out of the loan of £25,000 disallowed by the late Ministry, and especially the probability that large funds may be rfquucd for land purchases, f feel that it is only fair and reasonable that the cost of the Customhouse \\ liarf should, equally with the buildings just mentioned, be provided for by loan. I accordingly intend laying a Bill before you, authorising a loan of £25,000. Lest any objection should be urged against increasing the public debt, it is perhaps right to remind you that at the same time that the permanent annual charges are increased fresh sources of revenue aie created. Assuming that the proposed loan will entail an aunnal charge of £2,000, still estimating the wharfage dues at £1,500 a-yetir, the road tolls aso at £1,500, and the light dues (the levying of which will it in expected be authorised by the General As.-embly in the ensuing year) at £ooo, you have an addition of £3,500 a year to Q nc<Hne to ,neut an increased charge of

But while thus proposing to increase the debt of the Province, I am anxious that steps should at the same lime be taken, for providing a Sinking I*und for the extinction, not only of the Loan now proposed, but of the whole public debt. You may remember, that in a previous session I threw out a suggestion, that a portion of the public estate shou.d be set apart for that purpose, but after more maturely considering the subject, I readily acknowledged the validity of the objections urged to the suggestion then made; and 1 now propose that each year, a sum (say) of £200:) should be paid over to Commissioners, to be termed Commissioners for the extinction of the Public Debt; that these sums and the interest accruing thereon should be inrested in mortgages on Freehold Land within the Province; that such payments should be a first charge upon the Revenue of the Province, after paying interest on Loans; and that the monies and accruing interest so invested should be applied by the Commissioners at stated periods, or from, time to time, to redeeming a portion of the public debt.

I he advantages of such a scheme are sufficiently obvious—the annual charge would be trifling—the Province would receive a higher rate of interest on the money it lent, than it paid on the money it borrowed ; —its sinking fund instead of being sent out of the Province to be invested in foreign securities, would be employed in developing the resources of the Province—and in the event of the Province requiring further loans, it would go into the money market with much higher credit, than it would do, were no provision made for the liquidation of its previous debt. To show the operation of this S'heme—if the public debt was .£lOO,OOO, it would be extinguished within 19 years ; but it is not proposed, that the sinking fund should go on accumulating for 18 or 19 years when it would be equal to the amount of the debt of £lOO,OO0 —but that the Commissioners should from time to time apply the whole or a portion of it to redeeming a portion of the Public debt. Should this proposal of a Sinking Fund meet with your approval, a Bill giving effect to it will be laid before you. The Audited accounts up to the 31st oflast month will at once be laid before you. From these and also certain other Heturni, you will find that with three or four exceptions, all the Works for which you made Appropriations last year.have either been completed or are in progress. With reference to the proposed expenditure for the current year, you will necessarily find many of the Appropriations of last year on the present Estimates. Taking the expenses of the Ordinary Departments of the Government at £T4,000 ; of the Surveys and Roads Departments, at £5OOO ; the permanent charges (i.e , Interest on Loans) at £9,500, you will find on the Estimates under the head of Sundry Undertakings, the following items proposed: for Education, £l/50 ; Council Library, £l5O ; Explorations and Geological Survey, £1100; Subsidy to Local Steam Navigation Company, £1000; for Inter-Colonial Steam, £1,500 ; for Repairs, Insurances, Furniture, International Exhibition, &c., £950 ; making a total expense under the head of Public Undertakings of £5340. Under the head of Bridges, you will find: for the Pakuratahi £825 ; for the Silver Stream, £129 ; for the Boro: kiwi, £B5 ; for the Wangaehu, £1000; for the Hutt, £3OO ; the Taueru, £629 ; the Pahautanui, £B3 ; the Porirua, £203 ; the Tutai Nui, £l5O ; making a total expenditure on Bridges of £3,400. Under the head of Roads, the following votes are proposed: for repairs of the two trunk lines, including Nghauranga and the Hutt Gorges, £4,700 ; for the Beach road, Wellington, £lOO ; for the Rangitikei-Wanganui trunk line, £3,000 ; for No. 3 line, Wanganui, (inclusive of the appropriation of last year) £lOOO ; (and the following votes all include balances of previous appropriation, unexpended on the Ist of January last): for Featherston to Masterton, £1,000; Featherston to Te Kopi, £250 ; Masterton to Castle Point, £750 ; Belmont Road, £310; Wai-nui-o-mata, £SSO ; Rcmutaka, £650; bridle track to Mungaroa, £300; Upper Rangitikei to Turakina, £5OO ; Karori diversion, £5OO ; and grants in aid, £4,500 ; giving a total proposed expenditure on roads of £18,130. Under the head of Buildings and Sundry Works, votes are proposed,—for reclaiming land, £3000; Piling bank of ■Wanganui river, £200; Meteorological Observatory and Instruments, £2OO ; for additions to Gaol at Wellington, £750; to Gaol at Wanganui, £500; to Lunatic Asylum, Karori, £4OO ; for purchase of three Acres adjacent to Government Offices, £1,600; for toll-bar at Kai-warra, £350 ; contingencies for public works, £2,000; Deep Wafer Wharf (including metal sheathing, cranes, and plant), £lB,OOO ; Custom House and Post Office (including sheds, warehouses, and furniture), £3000; Supreme Court, £3OOO ; Police Court and Station, £2000; making (with a few other items) a total expenditure on public buildings and sundry works of £36,500.

The total expenditure proposed for the year being £91,880, but it must be understood that this expenditure on public works, &c., is intended to extend over the period, commencing on the Ist of last January and ending on the 31st of March, 1863. For in making my present statement I am placed in this difficulty, in consequence of your having decided upon April as the most convenient month for holding your session, and sanctioned an expenditure in your last Appropriation Act for the first four months of the present year ended the 31st December last, but without making any specific appropriations for these four months,and without changing your financial year, I am necessarily obliged to make a financial statement for the year ended on the 31st of December, instead of for the year ending the 31st of next March. To obviate this difficulty (which practically is not of the slightest importance, for your financial position — both as regards revenue and expenditure, as you will see by referring to the audited accounts—was almost precisely the same on the first of this month as it was on the first of January, I propose submitting to you two Appropriation Bills— one covering the actual expenditure of the last three months already sanctioned, and the other for the year commencing the Ist of April and ending the 31st of March next.

With regard to the means of meeting the large expenditure proposed I apprehend you will see no difficulty. On the Ist of January (and it is the same now) the balance in the hands of the Treasurer was £17,605; balance due on account of reserve sixths, £2,881 ; balance to the credit of the Province in England, £3,925 ; interest due from Hawke’s Bay, £2,500; I estimate the 3-Bths gross customs at £14,500 ;. licenses, auctioneers’ and publicans’, at £1,900 ; pilotage, £5OO ; assessment on sheep, £250; Hospital and Lunatic Asylums (subsistence money) £250 ; Incidental receipts, £lOO : Immigrants’ Promissory Notes, £2,000 ; Rates on Land and Contributions from Grants in Aid, £2,000; ' Pasture Licenses and Rents, £1,000; Land Sales, £25,000; Proceeds of Reclaimed Land, £6,000; Refund of Reserved Sixths, £4,000 ; making the total Receipts £84,361, to cover an estimated Expenditure of £91,880, exclusive of any liability on account of the Ann Wilson s immigrants, and of additions that may possibly be made to the Estimates before they are finally passed. This apparent excess of expenditure over income has already been explained by the intuition that £25,00i) of“it is to be provided by loan. Having thus explained to you the present of the Province, and brought before you the mattefb which appear to me of the most ituportance, it simply remains for me to assure you of my readiness to cooperate with you in any other measures you may deem calculated to promote its interests, and to express my earnest hope that, recognising, ns I believe we all do, the critical period through which we have passed—the imminent dangers we have escaped—and the brighter prospects opening before us—we may not forget how

much the ultimate success of that wise and uacifi weare all so deeply interested, and which in spite ot the predictions of disappointed men an ... le B, mstee influences of unseen opponents, is Cm? 3 mak !''" lts Wl ‘y—depends upon the Provincial Councils and Governments of tins Island, not merely giving to it a passive, lukewarm, lifeless adherence — but upon their avad.ng themselves of every possible opportunity to declare their approval of it, and their determination to give it their cordial and ac.ive support. Several notices of motion were given by different members, after which the Council adjourned on the motion of the Provincial Secretary to Tuesday next.