OTAGO.

Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 86, 22 March 1854, Page 3

OTAGO.

The Olago Witness of the 7th January gives an account of the opening of the Provincial Council of that Province, which took place on the 30lh December, when -lamks Macandrlw, Esq., was unanimously elected Speaker, his Honor the Superintendent highly approving the choice made by the Council. The address of the Superintendant is published by our contemporary, but the space it would occupy in our columns, compels us to confine our extracts to a few of the more important paragraphs, which will be found below. Mtt. Speaker and Gentlemen — After having been so long and completely 111 the dark i>s to tha erpction ot our Constitution, I trust you will apprcciate^my motive in having convened you on so •hurt a notice. The despatches which have enabled mo to do so will ho lniil before you. The powers, and the the funds which are thereby placed at our disposal arc certainly gratifying; and tho more so, from the state of neglect to which our isolatod position, and other circumstances, hod so long exposed üb. But on the other hand, it is .again evident that the Constitution Act, as a whole, is suspended. Provincial Governments arc set up, but the New /Cant land Parliament is not called, and its functions, both as to land and revenue, have been otherwise as»um»d, Objectors in other provinces have raised the question of illegality as to the disposal of public, revenue, but I humbly think our policy shomd be, to take all that is given and use it for the public good, but at the same time under protest ngninat every infraction or suspension of tho Constitution in all its fulness. After adverting to the necessities of the Province in relation to the maintaining of its roads, and observing on the appropriation of the land fund to that and immigration purposes the address proceeds — But my object in thus fir nlluding to finance it for the purpose of calling earnest attention to the rcnl resdunriibilities of our position. That all matters connected with the pcaoe, loyalty, and •awful deportment of tho people we have to deal with will be easily provided for, I have no doubt of whatever. It, iv fact, only requires that mt should sympathise and go along with them in their own fixed and cherished principles, lint in another sense our responsib litiei are grot. Much will be oxpectcd of u« under 11 Constitution so great and so good in itself, and under ihe fact that although ■uiipcndcd in ita higher element — the House of Representatives— so much of the public revenue has been assigned to our disposal. Be it observed, that the tendency under despotism is to look to Government for the Bupply of ovcry public want, for the carrying out of every public improvement, and that under a belief that, as iti powers are unbounded, so also, in some way or other, must be' its resources. Now n delusion like this is not easily got rid of, and many will continue to look to us precisely as they have been accustomed to do under a different regime. Already, and even think™ ing person" muy ho carried away hy the magnificentaspectof " two-thirdu of the general revenue," so as to adopt exaggerated expectations ol its ca~ pabilitics. Our duty U> ourselves, therefore, and the public— stretching that public moreover, to tho many eyes that arc upon us in Brim in itself, from the statesman' to the humbleßt kinsfolks of our thriving labourers— l would say, let us look with rigid attention for the development of our Province to the " wayn and means," and, by so doing—openly and candidly — to carry sympathy and intelligence along with us. The resouices of the Now Zealand Government bavo hitherto been— the general revenue, the land fnnd at a minimum of 20s. an acre (directly and indirectly), and large srantu (rom the HonieTreanury. All this is suddenly changed. Tho Treopury grants are closed, the lund fund is reduced to ml (alter paying tho expenses croated for its management), and the Provinces are left with twothirds of the general revenue alone, to do all for themselves, and as they best can. Should we, therefore, fall into any mistake, or lo vo room for public disßiitisfiction, it would be not only damaging to ourselves, but to the great cuusc of freedom and self-government. On concluding the Superintendent retired and the Council proceeded to take the address into consideration. It was resolved to print the same for the members, and — That the thank 0 of tho House bo given to hii

Honour for the oleflr statement of his views nibimtied 10 the ineenne. and that tlip Sncnuer be insti noted to assure his Honour thnt whilst the Colin . oil may not nurce with nil the views of policy which he has expressed, yet they will fnirly nnd honestly concider fvcry proposition stibmiited and to be submitted hy him to the Council, nnd will endeavour to co-operate wilh him in every thing that may appear to them calculated to piomototbo good of the Province, Our files of tho Witness reach the 21st of January. The Council have passed a Bill providing an Executive Council for the Superintendent, and a Gnzette announces the appointment of J. Macandrlw, Esq., and W. fl Cutten, Esq., as members of the same Council ; also, of J. T. Whitk, to be interim Treasuterj and W. 11. Cutten to bo Provincial Secretary. Rt solutions on different subjects had also been adopted by the Council, and various notices of motion on subjects of local interest among which are "A Bill to repeal so much of the Resident Magistrate's Ordinance, and other Ordinances as applied to Otago, and to make other provisions for the administration of justice."