NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY.

Published by Authority.

All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signatures, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

By His Honor’s Command,

WILLIAM ROLLESTON,

Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XL. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1864. [No. XV.]

ADDRESS OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

On Opening the Provincial Council, on Thursday, 7th April 1864.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council,—

Since I last called you together various circumstances of a special character have appeared to me to render an extraordinary session of the Council necessary. Before proceeding to mention the special points I have in view, I have to announce to you that the Government with which I met you at the last session have resigned their position, and other gentlemen have consented to assist me in carrying on the business of the province. The immediate cause of my summoning you at this time is the necessity that exists to make provision for the prosecution of certain great works, which can no longer be delayed without serious detriment to the interests of the community.

I need hardly call your attention to the circumstances which make it more than ever expedient that several of the large rivers, which seriously interfere with internal communication, should be bridged with as little delay as possible. In furtherance of this object I have called in the professional assistance of Mr. Doyne, an engineer of considerable experience and standing; and I have directed him to proceed in the first instance to the Rakaia, to examine and report upon the best means of bridging that river, and to furnish the Government with plans and estimates for that purpose. As Mr. Doyne has only recently arrived, I am not yet in possession of his views on the subject; but he has instructions to make a preliminary report, which shall be laid before you at an early date. After a careful consideration moreover of the whole question of the internal communication of the province, I am of opinion that the time has arrived when the construction of lines of railway to Timaru on the one hand, and to the Kowai on the other, has become essential to the proper development of our resources.

With this view it will be necessary, in the first instance, for purposes both of efficiency and economy, that accurate surveys should be made of both these proposed lines. The report of the Railway and Bridge Commission on the Southern Line will be laid before you, and I am led to hope that, with the exception of the deviation necessary in case of any change in the proposed site of the bridge across the Rakaia, there will be no material alteration in this line of railway. If you concur in the view I have taken of this very important subject, I shall ask your assent to the expenditure of such a sum as will be requisite for defraying the expenses of the necessary surveys, and the outlay incident upon the employment of an engineer. This will enable me, I trust, at the next ordinary meeting of the Council, to place before you the result of these surveys, and to supply you with estimates of cost and all other data necessary to enable you to determine upon the nature and extent of the work to be undertaken. In the meantime it may be desirable that authority should be given for the purchase of freehold property along both lines, in cases where it can be obtained at reasonable rates. I have made a temporary reserve along the line of railway as laid down by the Commissioners, with further reserves at the crossings of the various rivers; and, although these reserves may appear to you to be in excess of the necessities of the case, I shall have to ask your concurrence in them, to the extent requisite for such deviation of the line as may be found expedient upon a Vol. II.—No. 15.