AUCKLAND INTELLIGENCE.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 47, 21 January 1846, Page 1

AUCKLAND INTELLIGENCE.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Friday, December. 12. Pre»ent.—The Lieutenant Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Colonial Trea-urer, Frederick Whitaker, Etq., William Donnelly, Esq. The Rev. J. F. Churton, Colonial Chaplain, having read prayers. The Governor addressed the Council as follows:— Gentlemen,—l have assembled you at this early period after my arrival in the colony, for the purpose of introducing into the Council a bill for placing re--trictions up*.-n the importation of arms; gunpowder, and other warlike stores. It is not my intention to submit at present any other legisl-tive measures for your consideration; indeed, nothing but the extreme urgency and necessity of the case could have induced me so shortly after my arrival in the colony to have proposed any law for your adoption. I should have preferred, before I had assembled the Legislative Council for the despatch of business, to have visited each portion of the colony, and to have made myself acquainted with the state and requirements of each settlement. With the experience which I should thus have gained of the wants and resources of New Zealand, and of the present condition and necessities of that portion of the Queen's subjects whose happiness and welfare the Queen has confided to my care, I should have felt greater confidence in recommending for your adoption laws which I might have considered applicable to the present circumstaaces of the colony. I hope yet to be able to pursue this course before submitting to you any other measure thau the Bill which I am about to lay on the table. I feel it to be due alike to the interests of both races of her Mnjesty's subjects within this colony to take this, the first opportunity that has been afforded me, of stating in the most explicit terms that I have been instructed most honourably and scrupulously to fulfil the conditions of the Treaty of Waitangi; by which the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which the chiefs and tribes of New Zealmd and the respective families and individuals thereof may colKctively or individually possess, was confirmed and guaranteed to them, so long as it may be their wish and desire to retain the same. I have further been instructed to omit no measure within the reach of prudent legislation, or of a wise administration of the law, for securing to the aborigines the present freedom and safety to which they are entitled, and the most unrestrained access to all the means of knowledge and of civilisation

provided for them by the p.oa. zial wli :h has established and which principally maintains an Episcopal see and Christian missionaries for their instruction. In reference to the opinions, feelings, and prejudices of the naiives of this country, which are not in themselves oppoied to the fundamental laws of morality, not inconsistent with the peace and welfare of ihe (oonists <f European descent, and from which it would be rudely and abruptly to divorce them, I am instructed, both in the administration of the law, to respect as far as poss.ble these opinions and feelings. Subject, however, to general rules, it will be my duty to require fron this people an implicit subjection to the laws, and to enforce that submission by the use of all powers, civil and military, which have been placed at my command. The financial condition of the colony has necessarily already engaged my attention, and I have felt U to be proper to lose no time in affording you the most complete information in my power upon a subject of such great importance to yourselves and to ail who have an interest in New Zealand. You will perceive from the returns which I have directed to be presented to you, that a debt of considerable amount is already due by the Loc«l Government, and that the expenditure at present very largely exceeds the total income which is derived from the colony, the parliamentary grant, and every other source; that a large addiion is constantly being made to that debt, and must continue to be so uniil 1 can determine upon the measures which it will be absolutely requisite should be taken to equalize in some degree the income and expenditure of the colony. It will he my earnest desire at all times to cooperate with you most cordialiy in any measures which may tend to promote the prosperity aRd happiness of her Majes y's subjects in this colony. I feel most deeply impressed with the magnitude and difficulty of the task which has devolved npon me, and I must in the present crisis look not only to yourselves, but to the inhabitants of New Zealand generally, for confidence and active assistance. You may rely that my sole aim and object shall be to settle upon a sure and lasting basis the interests of yourselves and of yom children, and to give effect to her M-jesty's wise and benevolent desires for the peace and happiness of all her Majesty's subject's in this interesting portion ef her empire, and upon which the regards of so large a portion of the civili*ed world are now anxiously fixed. Mr. Wbitaker moved that the Governor's speech be printed. Seconded by Mr. Donnelly. The Governor then laid on the table a bill to empower the Governor of New Zealand to regulate the importation and sale of arms, gunpowder, and other warlike stores. Mr. Whitaker said that previous to the first reading of the b.ll, he would take the opportunity of mentioning a matter to which his Excellency had net referred in his speech, but on which much ex- | citement naturally prevailed : it was respecting the debentures. He would take the liberty at that moment, or if it was consideied irregular, he would give n tice of putting the question next day. An impression had gone abroad that some new measures were in contemplation respecting the Government debentures ; he would merely ask if such was the fact ? The Governor observed that neither now nor at any other time did he contempLte »ny deviation from the terms published. He had gone to the limit which his instructions allowed, and until he he_rd from England, nothing further could be done. The Attorney-General moved that the standing rules and orders of the Council be suspended, and ih.it on the first reading of the bill the preamble only be read, and on the second reading the amendments should be made. The motion was agreed to. The Attorney-General moved the second reading of the bill. He thought the measure unobjectionable in principle, and called for by the circumstances of the colony. Now that we have the support of five ships of war, and nearly one thousand troops, the time was come when such a measure might be passed without endangering the safety of the European population. Persons at a distance, unacquainted with the actusl condition of the colony for the last four years, may probably be surprised that a measure so desirable should noi ling since have become law; but in this case, as in many others, those who have been intiusted with the affairs of the colony, mast be content, for a little while longer, to bear the obloquy and abuse which had been so unsparingly heaped upon them. When it was considered how inadequate was the force hitherto stationed in the colony, inadequate even to preserve a single settlement from destruction, much that has been blamed as culpable negligence on the part of the Government, was only the result of prudent forbearance. He apologised for trespassing somewhat irrevelantly on the time of the Council, but hoped the bill would pass into a law, and that every well disposed member of the community would lend his active aid in carrying its provisions into effect. The Council then went into committee on the bill. The blanks were fill.d up with the sum of £500 as penalty in the several clauses, and the bill was ordrred to be lead a third time on the following day, to which the Council adjourned.