of bestowing a Municipal Corporation
on the Town. It may be a matter of
discussion as to what corporate powers
should be intrusted to a Town of so limited
a population, and at so early a stage of its
existence. In the bill to be laid before you
almost all the powers are included which
are enjoyed by Municipal Corporations in
England. There are however certain mat-
ters of the greatest importance, such as the
protection to the Town from fire, and the
adoption of an effective system of drainage,
which can only be properly and efficiently
accomplished by the townspeople themsel-
ves, and then only by the agency of a muni-
cipal body. Should a similar wish be ex-
pressed by the inhabitants of Christchurch,
a similar bill will be laid before you, for
bestowing on that town similar corporate
powers.

The next subject to which I shall re-
quest your attention is that connected with
the affairs of the Canterbury Association;
and I earnestly hope you will be able
finally to dispose of that question in the
course of the present session. The subject
has now been so long before the public
that you will, no doubt, be able to effect
an arrangement which will be satisfactory
to the Province.

The question has now been cleared of
most of the difficulties which at one time
surrounded it. A Committee of your
Council has investigated the accounts of
the Association, and you can have no dif-
ficulty in ascertaining the amount of the
outstanding liabilities, which the Province
can, upon any grounds, be called on to
assume. On the other hand, His Excel-
lency, on the part of the Crown, has un-
dertaken that no difficulty shall arise in
respect of the title to the property which
the Association holds, and is prepared to
hand over to the Province.

The correspondence embodying the ar-
rangement I was enabled to make with His
Excellency at Auckland, is upon your
table. Should there be any validity what-
ever in the doubts which have been expres-
sed, as to the title of the Association to its
property, the Crown, as the owner of the
land in the event of a defect in the Asso-
ciation\'s title, is the party directly inte-
rested. You will perceive, however, that
the Crown has undertaken to supply any
defect in the title, should it be your wish to
accept the property.

Should you then determine that the Pro-
vince can, without injustice to itself, and
ought, as a matter either of justice or
honor, to undertake the Associations debt,
it will obviously be necessary for the Pro-
vince to obtain the absolute title to the Re-
serves. Such a title you can obtain by a

joint conveyance from both the parties
interested in the title, the Crown and the
Association. On the other hand, should
you refuse to entertain the proposal made
by the Association, the Reserves will
either remain absolutely vested in and
managed by the Association, or else will
become a matter litigation in the Courts
of law.

Whilst leaving this question wholly to
your judgment, and being desirous to aid
in effecting any arrangement which you
may consider most conducive to the inter-
ests of the Province, I cannot avoid point-
ing out to you the great evils which would
result from the latter contingency. The
Province could not but be largely benefi-
ted by acquiring the absolute property in
these valuable reserves, and by placing
them under an effective system of manage-
ment. On the other hand it could not but
suffer, either by their being vested per-
manently in a corporation in England, or
by their becoming the subject of costly
and tedious litigation. If therefore you
should find that the Association\'s debt can
be undertaken without entailing too heavy
a burden on the Province, and that, at the
same time, you can obtain an absolute title
to those reserves, I cannot but think sound
policy would dictate an arrangement being
made on the basis proposed to you by the
Association. It seems right, and you will
probably expect, that I should express an
opinion as to the financial effect of such an
arrangement on the Province. So far as I
am able to judge of the amount of the lia-
bilities, and of the value of the Property,
I think that by a proper management, and
judicious sale of portions of the estate, the
Province would not be called on to contribute
any part of its Revenues towards the liqui-
dation of the debt. But even were it called
on to do so to a limited amount, the sacrifice
would be far more than compensated for,
by the general credit and character which
the Province would establish in the eyes of
the public in England, by undertaking to
indemnify from loss those private indivi-
duals, who without any hope of advantage
in the success of the Settlement, never-
theless did not shrink from heavy pecuniary
responsibility, in the determination to save
it, and those whose fortunes were em-
barked in it, from failure.

Gentlemen, I hope I may be favored with
your views on this question at an early
period in order that any Bills which may be
necessary to embody the resolutions at
which you may arrive, may be prepared.
But the question which in my mind ex-
ceeds all others in importance, as affecting
the permanent welfare of the community,
is the question of providing for the educa-