Province, or paid from the General Revenue,
I am in correspondence with his Excellency,
a copy of this correspondence, in which I
have protested against any liability on the
part of the Provincial Treasury for the
expenses of departments not under the
control of the Provincial Government, will
be furnished to you for an expression of
your opinion.

It is a source of great gratification to me
to be able to congratulate you upon the very
large increase in the value of the various
articles exported from the Province during
the last nine months. By the official
returns, the amount of Exports through the
Customs at Nelson, for the nine months
ending the 30th September last, was
£35,214; to which must be added that
portion of the wool produced in the Wairau,
which from its having been sent to Wel-
lington for shipment to London, was en-
tered at that port, and which may fairly be
estimated at £5,000, making a total of
upwards of £40,000 for the nine months,
being at the rate of about £53,000 yearly.
The Imports for the same period of nine
months amounted to £31,722. As might
justly have been expected from so material
an addition to the wealth of the Province as
evidenced by these returns, there has been
a corresponding increase in the Customs'
Revenue; the amount collected during the
same nine months being £3,956 12s. 11d.
That received in the twelve previous months
having been £3,827 3s. 8d.

It is also gratifying to me to have to
inform you, that when the Sub Treasurer's
accounts were closed on the 31st August,
after all payments due up to that time were
made, the sum of £1,895 19s. 11d. was
paid over to the Treasurer of the Province;
to which is to be added £717 16s. 11d.
received by that officer from the Customs up
to the 31st October, amounting in all to
£2,613 16s. 10d. From this sum is to be
deducted £189 18s. 9d., being the pay-
ments made in September under the
authority of the last Appropriation Bill,
leaving the sum of £2,423 18s. 1d. now in
the Provincial Treasury. Of this sum
£1,499 17s. 7d. was originally received
from the Parliamentary Grant, towards the
cost of making a road to the Waitohi, and
should be considered as only available for
that purpose.

Should you determine to appropriate the
Revenue paid to the Provincial Treasurer
in pursuance of his Excellency's arrange-
ments, a vote in supply will be required to
defray the expenses of the various depart-
ments, which have accrued since the 30th

September, since which time no payments
have been made.

The receipts from the Land Revenue
from the commencement of the year to the
31st October, also shew a steady and grati-
fying increase over the previous year.
During the last ten months the sales of land
in the towns of Nelson and Waitohi, have
amounted to the sum of £2,856 8s. 9d.,
and of suburban and rural land to £20,124
18s. 11d. Of the total sum of £22,981
7s. 8d. thus received, £7,387 15s. 3d. was
in cash, and £15,593 12s. 5d. in scrip.
From these receipts £856 has been paid, or
is due, on account of immigrants, fifty-four
in number, introduced under the system of
assisted passages, and the further sum of
£1,743 is also liable on account of appli-
cations already forwarded to England
under the same system. The total number
of immigrants who have arrived during the
last ten months being 312.

The whole question of Immigration
should receive from you the most earnest
and careful consideration, as that upon
which all others so materially depend. The
steadily increasing demand for all articles
the production of the country, requires that
a correspondent supply of labour should be
attainable to take advantage of this circum-
stance, whereby the general wealth of the
Province, and the individual prosperity of
its inhabitants, would be manifoldly in-
creased. It is my duty to transmit to you
the despatches and communications which
I have received on this subject.

The desirability of establishing Steam
communication becomes daily more evident,
and will I have no doubt be considered by
you. I believe that it is possible that by
paying a bonus on the passengers introduced
by this means, the maintenance of steam
vessels to the Australian colonies might be
rendered subservient to the purposes of
immigration.

Amongst the most important questions
which will engage your attention is that of
the public Roads, which have been for the
last winter in a state of great disrepair.
With a view to the maintenance of roads,
and works of a similar character, a Bill has
been prepared, authorising the levying of a
rate upon lands within certain districts, to
be expended on public works within the
district in which it may be raised. By this
Bill the rate payers would determine the
amount to be raised (within certain limits)
and the manner in which it should be ex-
pended—an economy in the supervision
effected—and the community generally
within each district accustomed to consider