PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1860, 25 April 1863, Page 3

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

The Tenth Session of the Provincial Council wa opened by hi* Honor the Superintendent yes terday after noon—present all the Members witl the exception of Messrs. Allison Watt, Peftke and Hewitt. The Speaker having taken th< Chair at 3 o'clock, the following members wer< introduced. Mr Dransfield by Mr Geo. Hunter. MrDe Castro, the member for Porirua, by M Johnston. His Honor shortly afterwardg entered the Cham' ber, and proceeded to deliver the following SPEECH. Mk Speaker and Gentlemen of the Phovxncui Council, — In this Province which contains so large a proportion of the Maori Race, and which has distinguished itself by the prominent part it took in opposing a policy which involved a war of races and the destruction of the weaker, I cannot, in opening this session of its legislature pass over without remark the present condition of the Native Question. It is difficult by reference to the proceedings of the last Session of the General Assembly, to understand how far the administration of Native Affairs is that of his Excellency in person, and how far that of his responsible Ministers; but at all events it is highly satisfactory to know, that the course hitherto pursued by his Excellency has been instrict conformity with the advice tendered to him on his arrival in the Colony by his then Responsible Ministry. The policy then proposed was no new one, but the same as has repeatedly in analagous circumstances elsewhere, resulted in the restoration to loyalty, of a people, whose affections had, by a long course of neglect and misgovernment, become alienated from the governing power. There are two ways of meeting such cases; the one to treat the disaffected portion of society as a foreign enemy to be subjugated by the sword; the other to remember, that they are members of the same community as ourselyes, and that they may be reclaimed to their allegiance by leniency, by patience, by forbearance, by the removal of grievances, and the bestowal of privileges. Let them learn by experience, that the law ia their friendnot their oppressor, and they will cease to regard its administrators with repugnance, or its sanctions and requirements with abhorrence and fear. But this is not the work of a day. The con r fidence of large bodies of men is not regained in an hour, any more than it is lost in an hour. If it took years of neglect and mismanagement to excite in the breasts of the Natives those feelings which were at their height in 1860-1861, wo cannot hope to see the mischief entirely remedied in a much shorter time. Those who expected to see the task accomplished by one wave of the Magician's wand, (if any such there be) judged without the warrant of past events, either in New Zealand,' or in auy other field of action. And those who now manifest impatience] at what seems to them to be the tardy progress of the Governor's plans, can have little considered* the nature of the impediments which stand in the way of more speedy success. Nevertheless, if His Excellency be not hurried by the impatience' of 'others into premature or indiscreet action, I entertain no doubt that the progress he has made, and is making, will prove to be as Bure and well established, as it lias been cautious and deliberate. In the meantime it is extremely gratifying to me, to be able to assure you that the relations of the two races in this Province continue to be entirely friendly —that the colonists pursue their usual avocations with security and confidence, and that in all those districts where the Native population is most dense, its industry is found greatly to contribute to the welfare of the settlers and the general prosperity of the country. Some disappointment may possibly be felt at the result of the land purchasing operations during the past year, by those, who ignorant of Native character, of the complications of Native titles, and how fatal to auccesi is any teasing, any undue urgency, imagine that a bar. gain for the purchase of their lands can be effected with the same facility, as a piece of land, the title to which is clear can be conveyed from amongst themselves: still the expectations I held out to you last Session—that valuable districts would shortly be freely offered for sale by the Natives, have been amply realized. In the Wai-: rarapa, a few small blockß of no great value have' been already acquired, and other blocks containing in the aggregate about 20,000 acres are under offer and survey. In the 70 Mile Bush, large tracts, comprising, I have reason to believe, nearly the whole district within the boundaries of this Province, have been pressed upon mo, and will be purchased without difficulty, as soon as they have been surveyed. On the West Coast the terms of purchase for the Waitotara have recently been satisfactorily arranged. Valuable as this Block is from its containing "some twenty thousand acres of rich Agricultural land, it is still more valuable in a political point of view, from its removing the frontier of the settlement of Wanganui some twelve miles further to the North: Its acquisition will also probably lead to the Natives selling the intervening lands at Kai Iwi. Though unable to announce the completion of the purchase of the Manawatu Block, still I am happy to inform you that the chief difficulties in the way have been overcome, and that the negotiations' have ad. vanced to such a point, that I feel confident that they will be brought to a satisfactory termination within a very short time. Nor am I without hopes that after this portion, estimated to contain two hundred and fifty thousand acres, is obtained, the remainder of \he Manawatu country will follow. For already serious disputes have arisen between tha two tribes resident in the district; as to which tribe is entitled to receive the rents of the rum leased to the Europeans: and not a few of the more intelligent of the Natives strongly recommend, as the only way of settling their differences, that they should join in offering the land for sale to the Government. Instalments have been paid on lands both at Waikanae and Horowenua, but the title to them is so complicated that I see little chance of their being acquired at present. I have gone into these details to shew you that your prospects in regard to land purchases are sufficiently encouraging, and at the same time to point out that while the districts (to which I have just referred) are perhaps unequalled in fertility of soil, they are for the most part heavily timbered, and will require to give them value, and to make them available for the purposes of colonization, a very extensive and complete Bysteni of internal communication. Now considering the vast and rapidly increasing demand for the timber, of which they contain an almost inexhaustible supply, and the level nature of the country, the question irresistably forceß itself on the mind, whether it would not be expedient, practicable, perfectly within our power to open up these districts by a system either of Railroads, such as are advocated by Mr Bridges Adams, or at any rate of Tramways. A very nblo memorandum on this subject, drawn up by a member of this Council, will within a few days be laid before you, in which a scheme for connecting these territories with. Wellington by railroads is developed, and which I feel assured will receive at your hands the careful consideration which it merits. The reports already published will have made you aware, that Mr Coutts Crawford, has traversed, and made a cursory geological examination of almost every part of the Province, without discovering any indications of gold, or of »ny •other metal, with the exception (it may be), of iron. He has found in various parts traces of brown coal, but no decided seams; and yet Mr Brough Smith, who ia at the head of the Mining Department of Victoria, in his report upon the specimens of rocks forwarded to him by Mr Crawford, expresses a very decided opinion, "that the search for gold in this Province may be prosecuted with every prospect of success," and adds very significantly, " if I were to submit many of the rocks collected by Mr Crawford to »ny gold miner in Victoria, he would recognise them at one© as precisely similar to thoee occuring in some of tho Victorian gold fields; and while a few specimens of the milky and ferruginous quartz are exactly like our own, the chalcedonic quartz exactly resembles that found in the northern gold fields of Now South Wales.v Instead of being discouraged by the results of Mr Ooutte Crawford's necessarily euraory exami-

nation, of a most extensive, a new, difficult and mpracticable country, I confess that after the i 9 intimation given to us by Mr B. Smith, that our rocks are similar to those found in the gold * fields both of Victoria and New South Wales, h and especially after the well-established fact that > gold does exist at Terawiti, I feel that more J could scarcely have been reasonably expected to be accomplished within the time, except by a c sheer accident, and that we have ample encouragement to persevere in the search — especially in the way suggested by Mr Brough Smith — a suggestion long since made to me by Mr Crawford himself. But if we have thus far failed in discovering a * gold field in our own Province, Idoubtwhetherany Province is reaping such a rich harvest from the Otago gold fields as this. It is impossible for any ■ 4 one to visit the inland districts of this Province without being struck with the wonderful progress . that has been made during the last year, and with I the signs of increasing wealth end prosperity which are every where visible. Nothing shows . more clearly the wonderful influence that the discovery of gold in the Middle Island has had upon this Province, than the Custom House returns of New Zealand Produce exported from this to the neighboring Provinces. Taking by way of illustration only a few items, you will find on referring to those returns — that during the year just ended there has been exported to the other Provinces of cattle 11,060 head, valued at £55,300 ; sheep, 11,000, valued at £11,241; of horses, 190, valued at £3,820 ; of timber, 1,594,808 ft, valued at £12,500; of butter' 17,775 lbs, valued at £13,332, the value of these few exports being £96,193. Add the value of other articles of produce, and you will find that the value of your exports is little short of £130,000. With, the prospects thus before us of a satisfactory and final settlement of the Native difficulty — of the acquisition of large and valuable tracts capable of maintaining a vast population — and of ample means at our disposal to make those wastes available for the purposes of colonisation, I do not hesitate to propose to you the resumption of Immigration, and I do so the more readily, because experience has shown that the fear that our population would be permanently attracted to the gold fields, is in a great measure groundless, and also because from the great and increasing demand foe our produce, there never was a time when labor was so scarce, or when so large a number of Immigrants could at once' find profitable employment. It is a striking fact, as evincing the change of public opinion in England on the subject of Emigration, that after the colonies for so many years, wholly unaided by the mother country, have been spending large sums in removing to their shores her surplus population, so powerful an agency as the Colonial Emigration Society should now have comeforward to assist their efforts, by undertaking i both to select the emigrants and to contribute towards the cost of their passage. I simply propose that we should avail ourselves of the services of this Society, and should intimate to it, our readiness to receive a certain number, either giving to the Society as a bonus, say,, from 20 to 25 per cent of the passage money, or paying a moiety of the passage on the arrival of the Immigrants here, the Society taking from the Province, a promissory note for the amount. I also propose, that we I should at once resume the system (formerly in operation) under which settlers could Bend for relatives and friends, with jhis modification, that half the passage be paid when the application is made, and security given for payment of the other moiety on the arrival of the party sent for. | Before dismissing this topic, I have to bring under your notice, that of the £2000 placed on the Estimates last year, as the amount likely to be recovered from the Immigrants oa account of their promissory notes, little more than £500 has been collected, and at the same time frankly to admit, that the Government is open to great censure for i the su^ineness they have all along evinced in en- \ forcingpayment of these notes, and more especially after yourtwicerepeatedinstructions. Nodoubt they have forborne from a variety of motives, they 'were at first anxious not to press upon the Immigrants, until they had time fairly to establish themselves: they believed that a sense of sulf-respect and in. dependence would induce them, when tha first difficulties of settlement were overcome, freely to canoel their obligations to the Province ; they did hot anticipate that any considerable number of them would willingly consent to remain under the stigma of refusing to pay a just debt, and from the incurring of which they had with scarcely a single exception derived such great advantages. But as soon as it became evident, as it did two or three years since, that the great majority were prepared to repudiate their debt, then it was clearly the duty of the Government, to have taken those legal proceedings which they have only recently instituted ; but by which, I believe, a very considerable amount will yet be recovered ; for while many are quite able to pay off their debt at once, there are very few who could not, without inconvenience, liquidate it by gradual instalments. After having formerly advocated Free Grants of Land to Military Settlers, I am very reluctantly forced to admit, that the system instead of conferring a single advantage, has proved a serious impediment to the progress of the Province, and has not really been any great boon to the class it was intended to benefit It is, in fact, notorious, that in a very large number of cases, the land orders have been sold for the merest trifle ; that a large majority of those soldiers to whom they were issued have left the Province, and that in the few instances in which the parties themselves have selected and settled upon their land, they dony their liability to pay local rates until their land order has been converted into a Crown grant, thus rendering it necessary for the district in which they reside, to impose much heavier rates for roads and schools than would otherwise be required, and at the same time depriving tha settlers of the benefits of the Fencing Act. In addition to these objections to the system, there is the further one of the heavy expense entailed upon the Province by the survey of so many small and isolated allotments, [a order that you may be enabled to appreciate the magnitude of the drain thus established upon your resources, a return will be laid before you, showing that assuming that all the claims sent in, up to the present time are allowed, you will, during the last few years have given away some 30,000 acres (tfw survey of which will cost above £^000) without really having in any appreciable degree promoted the settlement of the country. To prevent such abuses of the system, for the future, and to promote actual settlement, I would recommend that instead of allowing unlimited freedom of Belection over the whole Province, certain blocks of good and available land — for example at Waitotara — ehould be set apart within which alone these military land orders should be exercised. While by the establishment of the Light House on Pencarrow Head, you have rendered your port' easy of access at all times and in all weathers, and have by the erection of a Deep Water Wharf and Bonded Warehouse, and fey laying down moorings, given every possible facility for the loading aud unloading of vessels, you have still to supply one great requirement. The difficulty or rather impossibility of getting vessels of any size either repaired or cleaned has ever been urged as a serious drawback to this harbor. But when you consider the immense increase that has taken place within the last two or three years in the shipping frequenting this port, the returns showing, for example, that the tonnage has increased from 49,900 tons in 1881, to 72,489 tons in 1862; when you remember that whereas some eight years ago, the 6rst steamer that arrived in New Zealand was on the point of being sent back to England, under the plea that there could not possibly be employment for steamers in New Zealand during the time of this generation, there is now ploughing the New Zealand seas a very considerable fleet of steamers; when you look to the developement of your Local Steam Company, to the manner in wliich they are extending their operations, to the determination they evince to make Wellington at any rate the centre of Steam ; and lastly when you remember that the chief object of the Poßtmasfcer General's mission to England is to establish the Panama Route, and that he baa himself expressed a strong opinion in favour of this port being the port of oall and departure, I think you will agree with me, that the time has come when you must have either a floating dook or patent Blip. Far from desiring to conceal the magnitude of the work, to which I thus invite you,

I at once state, that from all the information I have gathered, I believe a floating dock, capable of taking in a vessel of 1200 tons, will not cost less than £20,000, and that a patent slip will involve an expenditure of from £30,000 to £40,000. But I see no difficulty in providing the ways and means, without in the slightest degree encroaching upon those funds which derived from the sale of lands ought to be employed in opening up the country. In a former address I pointed out that all the works which might (looked at from a narrow point of view) be considered as exclusively for the benefit of \\ ellington will be productive of a revenue, which in a few years will repay the capital expended on them. The Lighthouse, erected at a cost of between £6000 and £7000, will, when light dues are imposed, as I hope they will at once be by the Central Marine Board on a moderate scale, yield from £1000 to £1500 a year. The Wharf and Bonded Stores, which, with their appurtenances will cost £20.000. will, when in full operation, yield not- leas than £3500. But more than this—the profit hitherto made on the reclaimed land has been over 100 per cent. The value of the unsold portion is above £20.000, and a considerable sum may at any time be realized by selling the frontage on Lambton-quay, between the Odd Fellows' Hall and Kumutoto. After this statement it will scarcely be urged against the proposal, especially as a Patent slip could not possibly be constructed in less than two years, that there would be any diversion of funds from their legitimate purposes, or that there would be any difficulty in providing whatever amount might be required; Whatever doubts may have been expressed as to the necessity of a brjdge over the Wanganui River, when first proposed, none can now possibly be entertained by those who have witnessed the immense and rapidly increasing traffic over it,— a traffic 80 great that the ferryman has recently offered to establish a steam ferry at his own expense,— provided he be guaranteed against a bridge being built, or any other ferry allowed for' a certain number of years. But as this would; scarcely be an improvement upon the existing ferry, I am glad to state that the inhabitants of Wanganai have expressed their readiness to form a company to build the bridge on condition that ■ the Council will give a sum equal to the amount raised by the company, and will further hand , over to the company the tolls of the bridge until the capital of the company, with interest thereon, has been repaid. This appears to me so fair and liberal an offer on the part of the settlers of Wanganui that I shall submit a bill to enable them to carry it out. Messrs. Gladstone & Co having declined to submit the Ann Wilson's accounts and other matters in dispute between them and the Province to arbitration, but having at the same time expressed their readiness to leave their adjustment upon not unreasonable conditions entirely in my hands, 1 have, acting upon 'the authority you gave me in a resolution passed last session, made them proposals, which I have every reason to believe they will accept, and which you will deem fair and liberal. The Commissioners of City Reserves have made an application, which I recommend to your favor. aWe consideration, and intend to apply for a sum sufficient to repurchase Bome-80 acres of the Town Belt given soraeyears back by the Acting Commissioner of Native Reserves to the Natives. Probably this application will suggest to you the expediency of insti' utingf inquiries into similar deal, ings with public reserves, and as to how far the objects for which the public have been deprived of valuable properties have been carried out. I refer especially to the grants of a large portion of the township of Wanganui. and of a portion of the Belt of this city for industrial schools. Before laying before you the Estimates of Income and Expenditure for the current year, I am anxious, in order to correct some misapprehen-. sions, to call your attention to those of the p«st. Charges are, year after year, made against the Government, that the estimated Receipts are not realized, and that your votes are not expended. A very slight examination of the Audited Accounts for the financial year ended on the 31st of last month, and which will be laid before you in the course of a few days, will enable you to satisfy yourselves how far these accusations are well founded. I have already alluded to the difference between my estimate of the proceeds of Immigrants* Promissory Notes, and the actual receipts. The only othw sources of revenue, the receipts of which have fallen below my estimate, are the Reclaimed Land, and Land Sales. But. had it not been for the parties, who purchased allotments of the Reclaimed Land some years since, refusing to complete their purchases, my estimate of the proceeds of the Reclaimed Land would have been slightly exceeded. The Land Sales instead of realizing £26,000, amounted to £ , but when I state that at end of the financial year there was unsatisfied applications for above 100,000 acres of ss. land-unsatisfied simply because of the inabi* lity of the Survey-staff to keep pace with the demand, you will recognize that but for that cause the territorial revenue would have been double the amount of my estimate. On the other hand, the Customs' Receipts exceedeo my estimate by some £500, and the Revenue his been so amply sufficient to meet all demands, <hat we have held back the loan of £25,000 for a year, thereby laving a year's interest. With respect to Publio Works, under the sole control oithe Government, they have all, with one or two nosfc unimportant exceptions, either been completed, or are in progress. The only appropriations uitouohed are a few for Public Works under the siperintendence of certain Local Boards, which, insbad of employing their own Engineers and Surveys, have preferred postponing the works until tiey could obtain the services of the Governmen officers. At the same time, I need not point out.that it is unreasonable and absurd to expect, tha.all the works you authorise are to be commenced tfe moment the Sessions ends, and to be carried on sirultaneously. For in all works there are certain prelminary steps to be taken, and the cost of the work authorized i by you is to be defrayed not out of fuds in hand, : but out of the accruing revenue of he year ; so that there must inevitably be at the >nd of each financial year works ineompletedj and nexpended appropriations or balances : but,inasmch as these unexpended votes are always placed o the next year's Estimates, no injustice is done o any district. Thebalanceon thefirstof this month iithehands of the Treasurer being here £144Q, am to your credit in England £2100, 1 estimate theioeipts as follows -. — lnterest due from Hawke's Baj, £<!500 ; proceeds of Reclaimed Land, .£5000; thre»-elghths of the Customs' gross receipts, £16,000 ; Luense^ ; Publicans' and Auctioneers', £2000 ; Pikage, £500; Assessment on Sheep, £600; InoiQntal Receipts, £250; Tolls, £1500; Wharfage dueiand Bonded Store dues, £1500 ; Promissory Ntes, £3000 ; Bates on Land and Voluntary ' Contibutions for Grants in Aid, £3000; Pasture Li ? censes, Rents, and Land Sales, £82,000 ;ind net proceeds of the Loan of £25,000— £2,7, 00. Thus giving an estimated income for the yer of £98,390. In framing the Estimates of Expenditure I five ever, in accordance with your wishes, to foster the institution of Local Boards, endeavoured, witl a due regard to other interests, to place ample finds at their disposal, especially for the construction of district roads. You have for the last few yens given to District Highways Boards grants in aid double the amount of what they have raised by local rates. And I propose, not merely to continue this liberal contribution, but to give special grants to almost every one of the Local Boards, upon the understanding that both the grants in aid, and the special grants are to be expended in the construction and not in the repairs of roads, and with the warning that if my expectations in regard to the acquisition of extensive tracts involving the construction of great works to make them available are realized, the Local Board 8 must be prepared next year to rely more exclusively upon their own resources. With regard then to the expenditure proposed for the current year, taking the cost of the ordiu. ary Departments of Government and Council at £15,944, including the Land and Land Purchase Departments, you will find placed on the Estimates, for Surveys, £5000 ; for Engineer's Departi ment,£lsoo; Education, £1000;, Council Library, | £100; Observatory. Geological ' Surveys and explorations, £900 ; Ferries, £250 ; Steam Subsidy. £1000; Insurance and repairs, £500. Under the head of Bridges— for the Wongaehu,' £400 ;

: Turakina, £250 ; for the Tutaenui, £150; Porirua, 1 £250; at Feath'ereton. .£300; and on the Hutt i road, £100 ; giving a total expenditure on Bridges of £ 1430. For Roads— repairs of the trunk lines, £4000 ; widening Pqrirua, £1000 ; for th» road from Featherston toMasterton andTe Kopi,l7&o;M'as» terfcon to Castle Point, £750 ; through the Fortymile Bush, £16*00 ; Mungaroa, £100; widening Rimutaka, £500; Rangitikei to Wanganui £25Q0; Wanganui to Waitotara, £1000; No. 3 Line Wanganui, £1000; grants in aid, £9000; and special grants to Belmont of £200 ; Pahautanui, £200; Masterfon, £200; Karori, £160; North Makara, £200; Ohariu, £200; Ohiro, £400; Wai-nui o-mata, G500; Great Western, Wan. ganui, £500; Materawa, jgSoO; Brunswick line, £300 ; Upper Rangitikei to Turakina, £300 ; Lower Rangitikei, £500 ; giving a proposed expenditure on Roads of £27,100. Under the head of Sundry Works — for improvements of Reclaimed Land, £500; Piling right bank of Wanganui river, £300 ; Custom house and Post-office, £300 ; Supreme Court and Police-office; £2887; Fireengine, £20 ; additions to Lunatic Asylum, £800 ; Gaol, Wellington, £600; Wanganui, £500;, house for Native Chiefs, £500; Museum,' £800; Wharf at Campbelltown ; £200; at Wanganui, £1000; Court-houses at Turakina, Rangitikei, Manawatu and the Wairarapa, £500; Wharf, Wellington, including moorings, rails and other plant, £9500. Contingencies for Public wprks, „ £4000. Immigration, £5000. Ann Wilson's immigrants, £1400. Patent Slip (portion required this year), £5000. . Interest on Loan £10,060, making the total expenditure, £97,995. You will perceive that in these Estimates no provision has been made for Land purchases, though the amount required may probably during the current year belittle short of £20»000j and the balance of the Land Purchase Loan is only a few thousands ; still,|as the acquisition of freßh lands will at once materially augment your Land Revenue, and will afford ample security for any advances, I deem it inexpedient to' do more than .simply to ask you by a similar resolution to tjhat you passed last year to guarantee the repayment of any overdrafts 1 may require from the Banks for extinguish- , irig the Native Titles. ' :' ; In conclusion, though the progress of this Province during the last few years has been slow in comparison with that of the provinces of the Middle Island, I think it will be admitted, on all sides that it never was in such a satisfactory state as it is at this moment ; and that far from losing the faith we have never ceased during the moat trying times to hold in its ultimate future, » we may, now that the chief difficulties with, which we have had to contend have been fairly surmounted, and that we are in a position toresume Immigration and to undertake all necessary works, and especially with the prospect of large tracts surpassed by none in the richness of their ; soil, or in the value of their natural products, being before long thrown open to settlement, we ; ' may look with the utmost confidence to the Province making far greater and more rapid strides in all the elements of wealth and prosperity than it has made during auy previous period of its history, Mr Fifczherberfc moved— "That- the Speech be printed." The following notices of motion were then made. NOTICES OF MOTION. Mr Cahteb to ask, on the next, sitting day, the Government, why, when £750 was placed on the Estimate* last session for widening the Remutaka road, no tenders have been called for to execute the work? Also, to ask, why at the Tauherim'fcau, a branch line of road to Morrison's bush h«s been commenced, when the main line of nvtd from the Tauherinikau to Greytown, recommended by Mr Hogg has not been touched : and also if it is the intention of the Government to commence the Greytown road so as to go in a direct line, from the point where the present contract for making part of the Morrison's bush lino terminates. „ The Crown Lands Commxssioweb to move on the next pitting day:— -Ist. "For leave to bring in * Bill to amend the law relating to the Slaughtering of Cattle." 2nd. "For leave .to bring in a Bill to make provision for the inspection of cattle previous to the exportation thereof.*' 3rd. "For a Select Committee on Private . Grievances to consist of Messrs W. ,W; Taylor, W. Watt, C.;R. Carter, C. DeCastro and th© . mover." The Pbov. Tbeasuber to move on Tuesday, the 28fch April, "For leave to bring in a Bill to give effect to the Report of the Compensation Committee." 2nd. To move :—" For leave to bring in a Bill to provide for the Management of Cemetries." 3rd. To move : — " For a Select Committee to take up 3 and complete the investigation of Claims for Compensation submitted to the Committee appointed on April 80th, 1868, such Committee to consist of the, Hon.*. the Speaker, Messrs. Allen, Buok, Carter, and the Mover. 1 ' The Pbovinoiaii Solicitor to move on Tuesday the 28th of April, " For leave to bring in a Bill to enable Landowners to drain their > Lands." 2nd. To move: — "For leave to bring in a Bill to establish Marine Boards for Porti „ in this Province." 3rd. To move s— " For leave to bring in a Bill to bring into operation the Wellington Town Board Act, 1862." „ . MrßoßijASEtomove— "Fora returp of all applications for the sale of 5s lands, since the last session of the Council,;with the names of theappli. cants and the number of acres applied for by each of them. Also for a return of all such lands sold, by whom purchased, and the amount paid per acre by each purchaser." Mb Carter to move — " For a return of all monies expended on Public Works in the Wairarapa restrict, from May 21st, 1861, to April 38th, 1863 ; also the amount of money and scrip received for land in the Wairarapa District, from May 21st, 1861, to April 28th, 1863." 2, "For leave to bring in a Bill for the management of the Wairftrapa Race Course." MBWAiitAOEto move— "ForaSeleot Committee to consider what amendments should be introduced in the Town Boards Bill. Committee to '. consist of Messrs Borlase, G. Hunter, Dransfield, R. Stokes, the Provincial Solicitor, Mr Crawford and the Mover." Mr Stokes gave notice that on Thursday, the 80th inst., he would move— "For the appointment of a Select Committee, to consider and report on the best course to be adopted for the formation of a Railway from the City of Wellington, to the North-Eastern boundary of the Province, and other matters connected therewith. The Committee to consist of the Commissioner of ;■ Crown Lands, and Provincial Treasurer, Messrs Hunter, Johnston, Carter, Captain- Smith. .and the Mover. ". .. . . " • ' On the motion of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, the House was then adjourned to the 28th inst. . .