14

many natural advantages for British colonization
as the Northern Province of New Zealand.

The population of the Province, compris-
ing about two-thirds of the native, and more than
one-third of the European population of these Is-
lands, may be estimated to amount to 70,000, and
notwithstanding the attraction of the Australian
gold fields, it continues to increase by new ar-
rivals from Great Britain and the neighbouring
colonies.

During the last twelve months the number of
immigrants who arrived in the Province ex-
ceeded the number of Emigrants who left the
Province by 563; the Revenues of the Province,
both General and Territorial, are increasing, and
already exceed the aggregate Revenues of the
whole of the other Provinces of New Zealand. In
the course of the year not less than £60,000 were
collected in the Northern Province alone.

Of the exports of New Zealand, more than one-
half, I believe are shipped from the port of Auck-
land; the declared value of the exports cleared at
this port in the course of the year ending the 30th
September last, amounted to £127,730 11s. 0d.;
the greater part of which (to the amount of
£96,419 5s.) being the actual produce of the Pro-
vince.

The shipping belonging to, and the shipping
frequenting the ports of the Province, are both
rapidly increasing.

In addition to the numerous whalers and other
ships trading to the Northern Ports, 825 vessels,
including coasters, entered the port of Auckland
in the course of last year.

As you are aware, a powerful stimulus has also
recently been given to agricultural pursuits,
since the recent alteration made by Governor Sir
George Grey in the mode of disposing of the
Waste Lands of the Crown. The Land Fund has
also increased four-fold; in all parts of the Province
great activity prevails in the work of cultivation,
and there are already within a few miles of
Auckland alone, upwards of 20,000 acres of land
fenced and in cultivation.

Actively engaged as are the inhabitants of
the Province in productive industry; raising
already a large excess of food, having a ready
market close at hand for all their surplus produce
with no rivalry between the races, but the pur-
suit of peaceful industry, and with an improving
Revenue and rapidly increasing trade, it may be
doubted whether any portion of Her Majesty’s
subjects, enjoy in a more abundant measure, the
blessings of peace and plenty, or have before them
a more certain prospect of a prosperous career.

Such is the condition of the Province now en-
trusted to our care. To administer its affairs to
the best of our ability for the common weal, is
the duty which has been deputed to ourselves by
the suffrages of our countrymen.

Our countrymen, I say, Gentlemen, for al-
though the franchise has been conferred upon the
inhabitants in New Zealand without distinction
of race, I believe that on the occasion of the re-
cent elections, the privilege was, in fact, exercised
almost exclusively by the natural-born subjects
of the Crown.

Placed then in a position of trust and confi-
dence by the suffrages of a large portion of our
countrymen, and entrusted with a large measure
of power and influence, to be exercised for the
benefit of both Races; seeing too, that the
fitness of the Colonists for the exercise of political
power will be tested by the acts of ourselves their
chosen Representatives, I cannot doubt but that
it will be our common pride to prove, by our
efforts to work unanimously together to promote
the public good, by the practical, business-like
character of our proceedings, and by the judge-
ment and moderation with which they shall be
conducted, that the Colonists of the Province of
Auckland may be safely entrusted with the
amplest powers of representative self-government,
and also that the obligation incurred towards the
Native inhabitants of New Zealand by the Go-
vernment of Great Britain will, so far as may
depend upon ourselves, be justly and honorably
fulfilled.

The Legislative Council of New Zealand, as
originally constituted, was composed of Members
appointed by or under the authority of the Crown
and was presided over by the Governor of the
colony, charged with the duty of introducing such
measures for their consideration, as he thought
desirable; and that no Legislative measure could
be introduced for consideration by any Member
of the Council, nor could any subject be proposed
for discussion by them, except with the assent of
the Representative of the Crown. But under
the provisions of the recent Act for granting a
Constitution to New Zealand, full powers of
Provincial Legislation are now vested in a Council
wholly elected by the people, conducting their
proceedings under the presidency of a Speaker,
one of their own number and elected by them-
selves.

To the Council so constituted power is given,
and it will be their especial duty, to originate and
introduce for discussion and adoption, whatever
Legislative measures may from time to time
appear to themselves to be necessary for the
peace, order, and good government of the Province.

So far then as Legislation may avail, the future
prosperity of the Province of Auckland will be
in the hands of the people and their chosen
Representatives.

In the practical business of law-making, in
giving precise effect to your intentions in the
making or amending of a Law, you may not
improbably, at the outset find some difficulty; a
difficulty however which time and experience
will tend to remove.

Looking to the composition of the Council, to
its numbers, to the various interests they repre-
sent, and to the amount of experience, intelli-
gence and ability to be found amongst its
Members, the public have reason to believe that,
although you may have had but little experience
in the mechanics of Law-making, yet that
avoiding hasty, partial, and uncalled for Legis-
lation, your Legislative measures will be at least
conceived in a just and liberal spirit, that they
will be founded on sound principles, efficient in
their provisions, intelligible in their language, and
adapted to accomplish the objects for which they
may be enacted.

By the Royal Instructions addressed to the
first Governor of New Zealand for the guidance of
the Legislative Council, it was enjoined upon them
that their “Laws and Ordinances should be
drawn up in a simple and compendious form,
avoiding as far as may be all prolixity
and tautology.” As to the form and style in
which the Acts of the Provincial Council should
be framed, I think it would tend to their brevity,
simplicity, and practical utility, if they were pre-
ceded by and drawn up with reference to a
general Interpretation Ordinance to be enacted
for the purpose. The Ordinance to provide
“for the interpretation of Ordinances and
for the shortening of the language used
therein,” vide Legislative Council, New Zea-
land, Session xi. No. 3, and “the Act for
shortening Acts of the Legislative Council”
recently passed by the Legislative Council of
New South Wales, may serve as an illustration of
my meaning. A similar Act adapted to the cir-
cumstances of the Province, might, I think use-