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The completion of the Rakai[a]s Bridge, which was commenced in the year 1869, is also a matter for congratulation.

The wharfage accommodation has been gradually enlarged, and it is hoped that the large jetty at the end of the mole at Officers’ Point will be open for the berthing of vessels during the approaching grain season. Tenders have now been received for the extension of the works authorised by you.

The Christchurch Hospital, the Gaols in Lyttelton and at Addington, the Lunatic Asylum, and the Orphanage in Lyttelton, in view of the rapid increase of the population, have had considerable additions made to them, and I shall now ask you to make still further appropriations for the same objects, as well as for the Hospital at Timaru. The Reformatory at Burnham is ready for inmates.

Through the courtesy of the Colonial Government, I have obtained, what I consider, a very satisfactory plan for the Bridge over the Gorge of the Waimakariri.

The spread of the sales of land in the districts at the foot of the hills will justify your authorising a further instalment of the complete system of road communication in those districts, which I suggested to you at your last Session.

The authorisation by the Colonial Legislature of the railway from Timaru to the Waitangi will enable the sites of the bridges on that line to be determined, and the works authorised by you to be proceeded with.

An Act was passed during the last Session of the General Assembly, to vest the western side of Cathedral Square in the Crown, for the purpose of public buildings. I am informed that the plans are being prepared, but that a further vote in addition to that already sanctioned will be required, if the buildings are to be worthy of the city, and the site which has been selected.

In accordance with the resolutions passed by you at your last Session, I have obtained the services of Mr. Andrew Duncan, to promote a more adequate stream of Immigration to this Province. I also placed myself in communication with the Colonial Government with the view of urging upon them the necessity of granting free passages to immigrants nominated by their friends. In the absence of action on their part, I thought it right to take steps which enabled persons residing in this Province to nominate their friends free of cost. The result was that a considerable number were nominated during the months of July and August. I am glad to learn that the Colonial Government have since adopted the same course throughout the Colony. I am convinced that by this, more than by any other means, the real settlement of the Colony will be promoted. Colonisation is not the importation of labour to make roads and bridges, but the creation of a united people, bound together by personal ties, and by the love of the same laws and institutions. At my instance, the Colonial Government has consented to assist in erecting buildings for the reception of immigrants at the Ashburton and at the Waimate. I pressed this course upon their consideration, from a conviction that, sooner or later, the pouring of immigrants in large numbers into the towns would lead to bad consequences, and that it would be only by this means that the wants of the outlying districts, where little or no house accommodation exists, would be provided for.

The returns from the railway for the year ending September 30, 1873, show an excess of receipts over expenditure to the amount of nearly £20,000. The receipts from passengers on the Lyttelton and Christchurch line have risen from £7667 9s. 4d. in 1867-1868, to £9371 2s. 1d. in 1872-1873. On the Southern line, from £3688 14s. 5d. in 1867-1868, to £7656 8s 4d. in 1872-1873. While the receipts from goods traffic during the same period have risen on the Lyttelton and Christchurch line from £15,898 18s. 4d.