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administering the affairs of the same aggregate number of people. The cost of administering the affairs of 1,000 people, the number entitled under certain circumstances to representation, will be nearly as great as that of ten times that number; while no proportionate diminution can be made in the expenses of the old province. Moreover, the departure from the principle of the people\'s right to elect their Superintendent, and the taking from the Superintendents and Councils the right of making all laws on subjects not excepted by the Constitution Act, and obliging them to be reserved for the central ministry of the day, leads to the impression that the "New Provinces Act" is not calculated to extend local self-government, but the reverse. Nor can I admit that the people inhabiting the Wairau district was not in the equal enjoyment of local self-government with other portions of this province. Its representatives in this Council were as great in number, in proportion to its population, as those of the districts of Golden Bay, Motueka, or the Waimea; and it would be just as true to say that those districts do not participate in local self-government, because they have not separate Government establishments, as to say that the Wairau did not. Neither can I admit that there existed any desire on the part either of the Government or Council of this province to withhold from that or any other district of the province their fair share of the public funds. On the contrary, the present Government and Council have evinced on all occasions the utmost willingness to give every district a share of the revenue, and carried with the utmost impartiality to its population and prospective requirements. Further, I consider that this province has special reasons to complain of the New Provinces Act, on account of the departure from the principle to this province, from the principle laid down in the Act itself with regard to the distance of the boundaries of any new province. That principle provides that the point of the boundary of any new province to be established under the Act shall be less than sixty miles, measured in a straight line, from the capital town of the old province, except with regard to this province, where, under an exceptional clause, the boundary is brought within seven miles of the boundary of our town. I have considered it my duty to call the attention of his Excellency\'s Government to what I conceive to be a fatal objection to the validity of the boundaries as defined in the Order in Council relative to the formation of the Province of Marlborough. The correspondence on this subject will be laid before you; and I trust, should you coincide with me in opinion that the New Provinces Act as at present constituted is not calculated to extend the operations of local self-government, to give the people an extension of representative institutions, that his Excellency\'s Government may be induced to modify that measure so as to obtain that desirable object. I may remark also that the provisions of the Act appear to me to carry on the face of them strong evidence of crude and hasty legislation, particularly as applied to the small number of electors required to claim to establish a new province; the absence of all provision for the liquidation of a share of the provincial debt; and the extraordinary provision made by the 16th clause, which hands over all public reserves of an old province to the Superintendent of any new province established under the Act.

4. I now come to a more pleasing portion of my duty; to inform you briefly what has been effected with the sums voted by you last session, for the Public Works of the Province. The large sums placed at my disposal for these objects have been expended as rapidly as circumstances would permit. Some delay,

however, arose in consequence of my desire to have the assistance of the gentleman now filling the office of Provincial Engineer, whose previous engagements prevented the undertaking of the management of the Works in question till a somewhat late period. Nevertheless, I did not think it advisable to have works requiring considerable skill, scientific knowledge, and practical experience, for their construction and supervision, to be carried forward without his presence and advice. Since their commencement under his direction, their progress has been very satisfactory, and they cannot fail, after their completion, to contribute greatly to the future progress of the Province. The new Pier, which is now carried out seaward to its full length of 380 feet, with the head or arm, 200 feet in length, to be added to it, in accordance with the terms of the existing contract, enable any vessel drawing sixteen feet eight inches of water to lie alongside and in or discharge cargo at low water spring tides; while the two sets of iron tramways and the warehouses proposed to be erected will afford the means of performing those operations with the greatest possible convenience, economy, and despatch. Moreover, the approaches to the jetty have been improved by the removal, by blasting, of the rocks that impeded navigation in its neighbourhood and about Green Point. On calculating the cost of Lighthouses of different materials, it was found that the cheapest and most durable were those of cast iron. Accordingly, plans and specifications of a building of that material, fifty feet high, and of a light of the third order, with all its appurtenances, have been sent to England, with orders for their execution there. This, it is trusted, will prove a great addition to the other advantages of our Port. The erection of a Council Chamber and Public Offices has been actively proceeded with during the recess. The work is required for their completion, which should take place before your next session, when they will be found, I hope, as ornamental to the town as useful to yourselves and the public. In order to complete this improvement, and provide, while there is an opportunity, for the future wants of the town, I should strongly recommend the purchase of the acre now for sale between the Government Buildings and Hardy-street.

5. The various trunk lines of road, under the judicious and active management of the respective Local Boards, have been, by means principally furnished by the Council, placed in a condition surpassing that of these roads in any former period in the history of the Province. This remark particularly applies to the road leading from the town to Wakefield, and the Suburban North road, while the road connecting Motueka with the town, via the Moutere will, when a few more obstacles shall have been removed, be entitled to the character of a good cart road. The work of road-making in the Gold Fields district has been actively carried on during the past eleven months. The "Gold Fields Act," which came into operation on the first day of November, 1859, besides facilitating a refund to the sums concerned of two-thirds of the sums which had been received by the Provincial Treasurer for licenses granted within the boundaries of the Gold Fields, provides, as you are aware, that all the expenses of their administration shall be defrayed, and all public works carried on, from the revenue derivable therefrom. The duty of providing for and managing the latter having thus devolved upon the General Government, I addressed his Excellency\'s Government in reference to the unexpended portion of the sums voted by you for the Public Works of that district. The result of my