PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1478, 22 November 1872, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

.©. The Session of the Provincial Council, was opened to-day at 2 p.m., with the usual formalities. ins honor's speech. The following is his Honor's speech : — Mr Speaker and Gentlemen, — When .1 met you in the month of April lasfc, ifc was my jn'ivilege to be able to congratulate you upon the prosperous condition of the province. The maintenance of the high price Of wool, tho extension of our railways, the increase of tho area of cultivation and settlement, continue to justify tha hopes I then entertained, aud to establish a confidence in the minds of the pu'Vlic which is showing itself in tho improved value of property, and in the largely increased sales of the waste lands of the Crown throughout the province. In wool alone, the value of the amount exported during the past year from this province reached £G6G,195, as against the value in tho previous year of £39'J,902 ; while the value of the export of grain for the year 1871 was £130,801; the total exports from the colony of this commodity amounting in value to £179,469. The return from land sales for the past year to date amounts to moro than £170,000, and il. would appear that a great portion of tho hind cold has been taken up for v the purposes of bona ftde occupation and settlement. , . The; prospect of a continuance of the purchase of waste lands, tho amount of funds which has accrued from the sales which have already taken place, hi excess of what was estimated, the increase of the amount to accrue from, pasturage rents in Slay next, and tho general accession to the revenue from other sources, will justify your making appropriations ou a much larger scale than has been the case for some yeara past. .■ Carefully prepared estimates of receipts and expenditure will be submitted to you. The prompt expenditure of tbe funds in Jiand, aud tho execution of works facilitating tho occupation of land in the now outlying districts cannot but re-act favourably on the laud sales. You will, therefore, be asked to make considerable appropriations to tho Road Boards, especially in those districts whore the largest amounts of-land have been sold. The colony having undertaken tho construction of tho arterial lines of communication, you will, I thiuk, agree with mo that no more profitable .expenditure can be made, with a view to the .developing of the resources of tho country, .than the construction of roads and bridges leading to the main lines of railway. ■:- In making appropriations under this head, . -you will no doubt be further influenced by a .'consideration of the responsibilities and liabilities to fche purchaser, which aro involved in. the price per acre paid for our waste 'fflnds. The requirements in respect of surveys have j * becti considerably increased, but satisfactory l

progress has been made in the work of the i department. - Reports on this and other branches ot tho public service will be laid before you. The result of the negotiations which were entered upon with the Cathedral Commission, for the purchase of the Cathedral site, as desired by you, will bo communicated to you, and the question of whether this, or ono of the other available sites, should be taken for fche purpose of public buildings will be submitted to your decision. It is desirable, on every account, that there should be_ as little delay as possible in determining this matter, especially as an appropriation for the erection of the buildings has been made by the General Assembly. You will be asked to vote a sum for the completion of the Supreme Court buildings. Its present unfinished state is a source of inconvenience to the Court, and ifc3 appearance not such as befits the purpose to which the building is devoted. Additions have beenmade during thepastfew years, from time fco time, to the hospitals, gaols, Orphanage, and Lunatic Asylum of the province. The limited amount of funds hitherto at your disposal, has rendered ifc necessary to proceed more gradually with these^buildings than was desirable in the interests of these institutions. I hope yon will agree with me thafc the present is a fitting occasion on which to devote larger sums, to render more complete tho buddings and appliances in these departments. In view of the large natural increase of the population of the province, and of the numbers who will be attracted to it by its resources, and considering the probable effect of fche colonial s'chemo of immigration, I would urge upon you to make full provision to maintain the efficiency of those social and educational institutions which have hitherto been a credit fco the province, and on which, no less than on its commercial and material progress, its welfare is dependent. The subject of education will be prominently brought under your attention by the very valuable and interesting report of the Board of Education. From this it appears that the number of public schools, which in September, 1868, was 51, hasmow increased to 77. That fche number of attendants in the September quarter, 1868, was 2663, while that in tho same quarter of the present year was 5975, and the increase during the past year under the operation of the new Ordinance has been still more striking ; the number of attendants during the September quarter of this year being 1879 in excess of those in attendance during the same quarter of last year. You will be asked to give effect to the recommendations of fche Board, by making further provision for more effective schools in fche largo centres of population, and also for a training establishment for teachers. It will be through this means that a more completely organised system of education will be established, the benefits of which will be felb throughout the province, graduating from the rudimentary teaching of the infant school to the higher branches of teaching in the high schools and colleges. The success which has attended the Collegiate Union indicates thafc the time has arrived when more full and permanent provision should be made for rendering the benefits of tho highest education accessible to all classes of the community. I shall ask you to make appropriations and endowments for the promotion of superior education in a college oi colleges in the province, by the establishment of professorships and scholarships. I cannot leave this subject without expressing my sense of great obligation under which the province rests to the Board of Education for the. timo and labour which it has so successfully bestowed in the performance of the duties assigned to it under the Education Ordinances. - On several previous occasions 1 have called your attention to the necessity fcr increasing wharfage accommodation in Lyttelton if we are to expect to derive the full advantage of the extension of our railway system. • Two berths for large vessels will shortly be completed on the breakwater, but a more ample provision is necessary to meet the growing requirements of fche Port. • An Act was passed in the General Assembly i iv its last session giving power to borrow £100,000 for the purpose of completing an effective system of wharfage as soon aa possible. I hope that you will see fche advantage of the province availing itself of the provisions of this Act, and a resolution, affirming the desirableness of its adoption, will be submitted for your consideration. The Rakaia bridge will shortly be open for traffic, simultaneously with the opening of the railway to thafc point;. The successful completion of the Rangilata bridge is also a subject for congratulation. I am informed that it is the intention of the Colonial Government to press on the construction of the main lines north and south ; to the Kowai and across the Ashburton rivers. I am further informed that all tho branch lines authorised by tho General Assembly will bo proceeded wifchjsiiaultaneoualy, os rccom- , mended by you, and as rapidly as may be war- ; ranted by advices of shipment of permanent i way and material from England. The opening of telegraphic communication between the , United Kingdom and the Australian colonies, ! the importance of which on other grounds can ! scarcely bo overrated, will no doubt greatly , facilitate the operations of the Colonial • Government, both in this respect and in regard to their arrangements for immigration. , The plans for the Timaru and Temuka Railway are, I am advised, in a forward state, aud the line will shortly bo advertised for coni tract. ; A letter from the Minister for Public Works, shewing the progress of the lines of railways s and the surveys will be laid before you. ' I A Tery clear and able report on tho returns

and condition of the lines pf railway now in working order in fche province will be laid before you. The result shown is a netfc return of receipts over expenditure for the year ending Sept. 30th, 1872, of about £20,000 ; the receipts being, in round numbers, £60,000, and the expenditure on maintenance and working expenses being, £40,000. A comparative statement of the annual gross returns from traffic, from fche Ist Oct., 1867, to the present date, shows an increase on the Lyttelton line in passenger traffic from £7667 9s 4d in 1867-IS6B to £8017 13s lOd in 1871-18/2, and on the Southern line from £3687 lis 5d in 1867-1868 to £6153 7s 2d in 1871-1872; and m goods traffic on the Lyttelton line from £15,896 10s 4d in 1867-1868 to £32,748 6s 4d in 1871-1872, and on Southern line from £5839 lis 9d in 1867-1868 to £5837 4s 5d in 1871-1872. These returns speak for themselves, and need no comment from me. An offer to construct a water-race from the Pareora to Timaru will be laid before you, and you will be recommended to authorise its acceptance. Should tho construction of this water-race prove successful, there is good reason to believe that ifc would lead to the construction of similar races over portions of the plains wliich are now unavailable for general settlement from the want of water. There aro large tracts of country on the plains j abutting on the Ashburton River which are of this character, and I would submit for your consideration the advisableness of obtaining the fullest information, by careful survey, as to how far a system of water supply, if not of irrigation, could be initiated in this district. I am of opinion that, sooner or later, this work will be undertaken by private enterprise, if not by the Government, and that ifc would be much facilitated by the obtaining tho necessary information, and making reserves for the purpose. An Act was passed during the late session of the General Assembly which, if adopted by you, will give greater powers of management in respect of public domains in this province. I shall ask you to pass an Ordinance bringing it into operation. The Museum buildings authorised by you in a previous session are now complete, and the general usefulness as well as attractiveness of the institution has been largely increased during the past year. You will be glad to learn thafc the General Government has determined to authorise the endowments made for a school of technical science on the conditions prescribed by you. Gentlemen, I have referred to the principal subjects which will be brought under your consideration by the Government. Though those subjects do not involve to any great extent what is generally understood by fche term " questions of policy," there has been no occasion during the period that I have held office when you have had greater means at your disposal, or greater opportunity of affecting the future welfare of the province by your deliberations. While I have indicated generally my own views and those of my Executive Council, it will continue lo be my endeavour to carry into effect, to the best of my ability, fche decisions afc which you may arrive on fcho questions which I shall submit to you. I now declare this Council open for the despatch of business. Wm. Rolleston, Superintendent.