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if not of their lives, at any rate of their properties;—when you bear in mind such admissions as these, I am surely justified in congratulating you upon this Island having escaped dangers as great as ever threatened any one of England’s numerous dependencies.

Nor am I less justified in congratulating you upon the prospect there now is that the hopes you breathed in the Address to which I am referring, will be most completely realised.

The dismissal of the late Ministry, and the substitution in its place of one holding entirely different views and advocating a wholly different policy—the recall of Colonel Gore Browne, and the re-appointment of Sir George Grey—the man of all others in whom the Natives ever have had, and still have the greatest confidence—at once changed the whole aspect of affairs. No sooner did these events occur, than a firm conviction seized the minds both of Europeans and Natives that there was an end to the internecine war contemplated by the late Administration.

How far this conviction has been borne out by subsequent events—the present position of the Colony contrasted with what it was a few months since—the restoration of public confidence—the revival of every branch of industry—the employment of the Military, not in war but in making roads—the changed attitude of the Natives, their eager adoption of the institutions of self-government offered to them—the withdrawal of some of the most influential chiefs from the King confederacy—the confirmed loyalty of many of the most powerful tribes—the unmistakeable wavering displayed in the ranks of the king’s adherents—these and other facts, patent to all, sufficiently testify—and-desire.

My own belief, however, in the establishment of a permanent peace, rests not so much on the change of Ministry, or the re-appointment of Sir G. Grey, or the offer to the Natives of the institutions for which they have long been craving and striving, as upon the simple fact, that His Excellency and his Ministers by their offer to refer the question of the Waitara purchase to arbitration, have had the moral courage to proclaim to the Natives that the same principles of justice which guide men in their private transactions, shall be observed between Her Majesty’s Government and Her Majesty’s subjects—that if wrong has been done even by Her Majesty’s Representative, that wrong shall not be persisted in, but as far as possible repaired. Had this avowal not been made, a deep and keen sense of injustice, rankling and festering in the minds of the whole Native population, must have rendered a solution of the Native difficulties well nigh, if not altogether hopeless. Without that offer of arbitration, peace was barely possible; that offer made, to my mind, War is hardly possible.

The discovery of Gold Fields in the Province of Otago, which have up to this time proved as remunerative, if not more so, than any in Australia, has already had an influence on this province second only to that produced by the general impression that peace would be established. That such a discovery—by drawing off a considerable number of our male adult population, and by unsettling men’s minds—ought have exercised the slightest surprise, for such ever has been the first effect of the discovery of a paying gold field upon the countries more immediately adjoining them. But when it is stated that since the discovery of gold in Otago, from the returns furnished to me by two Banks—the Union and the New South Wales—that nearly £70,000 had been remitted from Otago to this Province—that the Custom House Returns show that during the year ending the 31st December last, the value of the Exports from this province to Dunedin was £95,109, and for the quarter ended the 31st March, last £18,485, and further that the value of stock, timber, and other articles, the produce of the Province, was for the same quarter £10,343, it can scarcely be doubted that this Province has probably reaped greater advantages from the gold fields of Otago than any other Province.

The discovery of gold in different districts of this Province has very naturally caused a belief that paying gold fields may yet be discovered and consequently a desire that no time should be lost in ascertaining how far the impression is well founded. You will, therefore, not be surprised that the Government have not hesitated to anticipate your wishes by intimating to Sir R. Murchison that they accepted his offer, conveyed through Mr. Mantell, to select and send out a Geologist thoroughly competent to explore the mineral resources of this Province. But in order to avoid any charge of apathy in regard to a matter in which the whole Province manifested so deep an interest, the Government gladly availed themselves of the services in the meantime of Mr. J. Coutts Crawford. The Reports furnished by that gentleman will show that in the short space of three months he explored a great portion of the West Coast territory; and the information contained in them—both in regard to the geology and the agricultural and pastoral capabilities of the country he traversed—will bear ample testimony to his competency for the work he undertook, and to the valuable services he has rendered. Though no discovery of available mineral wealth rewarded his explorations, still he has paved the way for the researches of future geologists, and has already indicated the localities in which minerals may most probably be found.

You will be gratified to learn that this Province has at last been relieved, both of the heavy expense, and of the mischievous obstructiveness of the Land Purchase Department—His Excellency the Governor having been pleased to devolve upon myself, as Superintendent, the duty of purchasing such lands as the Natives may from time to time be disposed to alienate. Though fully alive to the responsibilities attached to the appointment, I have not hesitated to accept it, as I conceive that very great advantages may accrue, especially in the present state of the Native mind, from the Superintendent being placed in such close and intimate relations, both towards the General Government and the Natives, as the office of Land Purchase Commissioner implies. There will no longer be that antagonism between the General and Provincial Governments, in regard to land purchases, so calculated to impair and destroy the influence of both. The subordinate officers of the Land Purchase Department will no longer be political agents employed, for party purposes, to engender distrust of the authorities, and so to foment rather than to adjust disputes with the Natives about Land. The Superintendent, from the constant and intimate intercourse which will thus be established between him and the Natives in every part of the Province, and from the influence which his office as Land Purchase Commissioner will undoubtedly give him, cannot fail to acquire an accurate knowledge of the feelings, wishes, and requirements of the Natives, and thus be enabled to second far more effectually than he otherwise could do, His Excellency’s Government in their endeavours to