Provincial Government was not liable, there was an end of the reference. Nevertheless, seeing that no blame really attaches to Messrs. Gladstone and Co., that they appear to have taken the usual precautions to ensure the comfort and health of the passengers by the Ann Wilson; and having regard to the admirable condition in which the other emigrant ships despatched by them arrived in this port, it would not redound to the credit of the Province if the whole loss was thrown upon them, and I therefore feel assured that you will meet their claim in a fair and liberal spirit.

The census recently taken by the General Government presents some interesting results, which will shortly be made public in a report drawn up by Mr. Woodward, who acted as chief enumerator. The total population is stated at 12,566, the increase over that of 1858 being only 7 per cent. The smallness of this increase is to be accounted for partly by their having been no Government immigration for the last few years, but chiefly by the absence of a large number of our male population at the Otago diggings, a fact which is proved by the disproportionate amount of females as compared with the males; by there being an excess of married women over married men; and further the number of males between the ages of 21 and 40 being given as 444 less in 1861 than in 1858.

The Education returns show that out of a population of 6,471 above 16 years of age, there could read and write 563; could read only 328, could neither read nor write only 369. The number of children at schools is 1688, of whom 394 attend schools receiving Government aid, and 1294 are at private schools.

The number of horses is given at 5117, being an increase since 1858 of 60 per cent.; of horned cattle, 49,323, or 35 per cent. increase; of sheep 247,943, or an increase of 59 per cent. With regard to land and cultivation the returns show that there are 76,611 acres fenced in, being an increase since 1858 of 87 per cent., and 55,313 acres under crop, being an increase of 112. Though these returns are in some respects not very flattering, yet upon the whole they show that the Province has, in spite of great disturbing causes, made a very considerable progress, and justifies us in indulging the expectation—that the obstructions being removed—its future progress will be much more rapid.

Unsatisfactory as were the steam arrangements made some years since with the Coleman Company, the modification of them recently proposed by the Postmaster-General does not seem to have met with the approval of any one of the Southern Provinces. As far as I understood the scheme of the Postmaster-General it was this—A steamer was to leave Sydney on the arrival of the English mails for Auckland; two inter-provincial steamers were to keep up a fortnightly communication between Auckland and the Bluff, calling both going and returning at the intermediate ports; and another inter-provincial boat was to run once a fortnight between Manakau, Taranaki, Nelson, and Wellington. The English mails for Napier, Taranaki, and Nelson were to be brought by the Sydney steamer to Auckland, and forwarded on by the inter-provincial boats; the mails for the other Southern Provinces were to be brought from Melbourne to Otago, and forwarded on also by the other inter-provincial boats; the insuperable objection to that scheme was, that it deprived all the Provinces except Auckland of direct steam communication with Sydney. This objection has, however, to a certain extent been removed; for it is now proposed to run a steamer once a month and back between Sydney and any two of the three provinces of Nelson, Wellington, and Canterbury, which shall join in giving a subsidy of £3000 a year, to be supplemented by the General Government with a further sum of £2000. Admitting the force of the objections urged to the scheme as thus modified by the Chamber of Commerce, and others, still, as it virtually makes Wellington the Head-quarters of Steam, and as it is most important not merely to maintain direct Steam with Sydney, but especially during the Meeting of the General Assembly to keep up frequent communication with all the other Provinces, I think it would be unwise in us to decline joining either Nelson or Canterbury in the proposed subsidy, even though I deem it excessive, considering that the line between Sydney and Cook’s Strait pays the Company better than any other.

I shall have peculiar pleasure in laying before you the Reports of the Visiting Justices of the Gaol; for, from them, you will gather, thanks to the zealous and judicious superintendence of the Visiting Justices, and also to the faithful manner in which their instructions have been carried out by the Warden, how different is the state of the Gaol to what it was a few years ago. The discipline is so much improved that whereas formerly most of the Prisoners were kept in irons, there are now only two. The classification is so far improved, that debtors are no longer obliged to herd with prisoners, and the penal servitude men are kept separate from the hard-labor men. Additional accommodation is, however, required for females, and for men awaiting trial. This it is proposed to provide, by adding on to the N.W. wing. What, however, is wanting, is the establishment of certain rules and conditions under which prisoners can, by good conduct in the Gaol, win for themselves a remission or mitigation of their sentences. As long as no such hope is held out, the heavier the sentence, the less inducement to reform, the stronger their desire, at any risk, to escape. Under the present system Justice simply defeats itself.

Nor is the state of the Lunatic Asylum less satisfactory. From the Reports both of the late and of the present Medical Officer, you will learn that restraint is seldom had recourse to—that however violent patients may be when admitted, they soon, owing to the lenient and judicious treatment now pursued, become quiet, and render the most implicit obedience to those in charge of the Asylum. Pay a visit to the Asylum and you will probably find its residents engaged in carpentering, gardening, cutting firewood, or some other useful occupation. The building, however, being too small to allow of any classification, I have placed a sum on the Estimates to build an additional wing.

The nature of the remarks I made last session respecting the want of engineering skill displayed in the construction of our Bridges, has been, I regret to say, fully confirmed during the last year. The past expenditure on Bridges has in a great measure been so much money thrown away. Even within the last few weeks some 4 or 5 Bridges have been swept away, involving a very considerable outlay to replace them. Though it may be necessary to replace some of these, as some of them are absolutely necessary for the purposes of traffic, yet, as I propose, with your sanction, to consult Mr. Fitzgibbon of Nelson, who has already given a sufficient proof of his engineering abilities in the construction of the Dun Mountain Railway, and who has had to contend in America with precisely the same difficulties which present themselves here, it appears to me inexpedient to incur any large expenditure than we can possibly avoid, either on Bridges, which are scarcely completed before they are swept away, or on attempts to prevent the freaks and encroachments of our rivers and mountain torrents, until we have obtained either his advice or that of some other competent engineer. I make this recommendation the more readily because Mr. Fitzgibbon has had great experience in the erection of Iron Suspension Bridges, which I understand have been thrown over a span of 1000 feet, at a cost of about £8 a foot. If such is the case, an Iron Suspension Bridge could be thrown over the Wanganui River at considerably less cost than a wooden one. And here, in order to explain the omission of the Wanganui Bridge from the Estimates, after having