49

before the end of the year, which will to a
certain extent relieve the present pressure
arising from want of labor.

In looking over the estimates as they
have passed the Council, I observe that
the proposed expenditure for the current
year somewhat exceeds the estimated Revenue. I cannot, however, but think that
the Council has under-estimated the anticipated Revenues. I cannot believe that the
General Government will continue to insist, or that the General Assembly will for
a moment sanction their insisting upon
taking advantage of a mistake made by the
General Government itself and its officers,
to deprive this Province of the sum of
upwards of Ten Thousand Pounds, which
it has called upon us to refund. I cannot
believe that his Excellency, when fully
informed of the circumstances, will sanction
such a wrong. But the bare possibility
of such an act of spoliation being committed, contrary, as I am bound to conceive
not only to justice but to positive law,
proves the necessity of that, of which the
want is being felt in every Province of the
Colony: I mean, a settlement of the share
of the Revenues which is to be allotted to
the Province, by positive statute, instead of
as now by the caprice of the financial adviser for the time being of his Excellency.

And this necessity seems to me the
greater, because a careful examination of
the accounts of the General Government
which have been published in detail by the
Auditor General, up to the 30th of June,
last year, proves, so far as I can comprehend
those statements, that there are, or ought to
be, large balances in the general chest,
which have not been brought to account; and
that the portion of the current revenues of
the colony now claimed and received by
the General Treasury, is very much greater
than is necessary to meet the general
charges.

It seems, therefore, to me unavoidable
that the balance should turn in favour of
the Provinces after the next meeting of the
General Assembly; and therefore that the
Provincial Revenue for the current year
should exceed the sum at which it has
been estimated.

I have received from Mr. Speaker the
Resolutions which you passed on the subject of continuing the government of the
Province on the system of Ministerial Re-

PRINTED BY J. WILLIS, AT THE

responsibility and the resignation of members of the Executive Council. It will probably be my duty to advert to this subject
more fully at the opening of the next session
of your Council. I shall therefore abstain
from occupying your time on the present
occasion. I cannot however but remark
that whatever difference of opinion there
may be as to the mode of carrying the
principle of responsibility into effect, in
no part of the Colony has that principle
been more practically recognised or more
beneficially felt than amongst ourselves.
The Provincial Council has effectually
modified the policy and controlled the action of the Executive Government without
the shadow of any collision between
the Council and the Superintendent. No
other system could have more effectually
attained the end proposed. And yet the
time has been far from favourable to the
result. The Council suddenly enlarged,
parties unformed, men untried, leaders
unproved, subjects under discussion which
were not unlikely to have excited angry
dissension,—these have been the elements
amidst which the business of the Government has been smoothly and successfully
conducted in the Council and the harmonious action of the Executive and the
Legislature been preserved. In any changes
which it may be desirable to make, I trust
we shall not throw away the experience
of four sessions; that we shall look rather
to the real end to be gained, than to the
fashion of the machinery, or the phrases by
which it is described.

Gentlemen, I will conclude by congratulating you upon the complete success of the
experiment of enlarging the Provincial
Council.

The regularity of attendance, and the
active interest of the members in all the
questions which have been before you,
proves how idle was the fear expressed by
some, that, if the Council were enlarged,
men would be wanting. The extension of
political privileges creates at once the taste
and the capacity to enjoy them.

Gentlemen, I have named the earliest
day for your reassembling, for the purpose
which I mentioned, upon which I can expect the requisite documents from the seat
of Government.

I therefore declare this Council to stand
prorogued to Tuesday, the 18th day of
September next.

"STANDARD" OFFICE CHRISTCHURCH.