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stantly-increasing state of tranquillity, security, and prosperity, whilst in as far as I am concerned, neither time nor circumstances will make me ever forget the friendly assistance and support I have hitherto received from them, and upon which I still rely for the favourable interpretation of those measures which I may have to adopt in reference to the future government of this province, which will be so essential to the future working of such measures. Government House, Wellington, 12th September, 1848. G. Geey.
Enclosure 3 in No. 11. Addeess from certain of the Settlebs at Wellington to His Excellency Geobge Geet, Esq., the Gotebnoe-in-Chief of New Zealand. We, the undersigned inhabitants of Wellington, being deeply impressed with the great advantages and importance of representative institutions, beg respectfully to urge our claims to them on your Excellency. While we cheerfully admit the present improved state of the colony, and attribute its increasing prosperity in a great measure to the sound policy of your Excellency's administration, and the discretion exhibited in the exercise of the extraordinary powers with which you have been invested, we feel assured that your Excellency will be desirous to relieve yourself in some degree from these weighty responsibilities by admitting the colonists to participate, by means of representative institutions in the direction of their local and internal affairs ; and we are the more anxious to urge our claims upon your Excellency's attention, lest our silence should be mistaken for indifference. Erom the increasing number and importance of the southern settlements, and the anxiety felt by their inhabitants for these institutions, we are persuaded that any further delay would be injurious to their interests; we therefore hope your Excellency may be induced speedily to confer upon us those representative institutions which it is admitted we are well fitted to receive, and of which it is believed in our fatherland we are in the actual enjoyment. [Here follow the signatures.] Wellington, 18th September, 1848.
Enclosure 4 in No. 11. Eeplt of His Excellency the Goyebnoe-in-Chief. Gentlemen, — I have so recently delivered a reply to a memorial of the same purport as that which you have now placed in my hands, that I trust I shall be excused if I do not, upon the present occasion, address you at any great length. It may suffice for me to say that, in as far as depends upon me, the southern province of New Zealand shall, in the shortest practicable period of time, be in possession of a Legislative Council, and that, should the constitution of that Council prove unacceptable to the colonists, it will afford me much pleasure from time to time to modify it so as to render it suitable to the advancing circumstances of the colony. At the present moment there is probably no portion of the world in which life and property are more secure fhan in New Zealand, nor is there any country which holds out greater promise of prosperity and happiness to intending emigrants. The safety of yourselves and of your families, and of the numerous British population so widely and thinly scattered throughout the country, as also the maintenance of the now rapidly-increasing value of property, are necessarily to me objects of such near and dear concern, that I weigh, with the greatest care and anxiety, every step I take which might disturb or interrupt the present happy state of things. I thus, perhaps, may move more slowly and cautiously than some would desire; all I, however, ask of you is, to attribute my caution to the true motives, and not to any desire upon my part to thwart those very natural wishes which you have expressed in language for which I feel grateful, and which gives you a new claim to every exertion upon my part to promote your welfare and happiness, and, in as far as my duty permits, to consult your wishes. Government House, Wellington, 18th September, 1848. G. Geet.
No. 12. Copt of a Despatch from Governor Geet to the Eight Hon. Earl Geet. (No. 104.) Mt Loed, — Government House, Auckland, 20th November, 1848. I have the honour to report that upon the 18th instant I opened the Legislative Council at Auckland in order that I might bring before them a measure which would place in the hands of the authorities of the Province of New Munster the powers requisite to enable them to adopt such remedies as their local experience might point out as the best adapted to relieve the calamities which, from the despatches of Lieutenant-Governor Eyre, of the 19th and 21sfc ultimo, appeared to have fallen upon that province. I have the honour at the same time to transmit for your Lordship's information a copy of mv address to the Legislative Council upon that occasion. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. Earl Grey. G. Geet.