THE
NEW ZEALAND
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,
(PROVINCE OF NELSON).

Published by Authority.

All Notifications which appear in this Gazette with any Official Signature thereunto annexed are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

ALFRED GREENFIELD, Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XVIII. NELSON, TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1870. No. 11.

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1870.

THE Twentieth Session of the Provincial Council was opened this day at one o\'clock, when the following address of his Honor the Superintendent was delivered :

MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

1. I should have been glad, on the occasion of your first meeting, to present you with a more favorable report of the financial condition of the province during the year which has just expired than it is in my power to do.

The general depression which has prevailed in all parts of the colony, in the absence of any special and local cause of prosperity, has been sensibly felt in this province, and has materially affected our receipts of revenue.

The Estimate, based upon the receipts of the preceding year, which I submitted to the late Council, has not been realised, the actual receipts having amounted only to £82,000 instead of £100,000, at which they were estimated. You will therefore not be surprised, especially as the appropriations of the Council considerably exceeded the estimated means of meeting them, to find that a large number of the public works, for which nominal provision was made, have not been executed.

It is satisfactory to observe that the Customs Revenue of the port of Nelson has somewhat increased during the past financial year, and that the falling off in this important item of revenue has occurred in that part of the province which is subject to fluctuations, from which the more settled districts are comparatively exempt—I refer to the Port of Westport, where the receipts of customs duties have amounted to only £21,000 against £26,200 in the previous year. On the other hand the returns from the Port of Greymouth shew an increase in the receipts of 1869-70 over those of 1868-9 of £6,600, but as only one-fourth of the duties collected at that port are credited to the Provincial share of the consolidated Revenue, the improvement does not so greatly affect us. The amount received for duty on gold exported from the Province shows a considerable decline in the production, the receipts for the year amounting to £18,980, only, against £25,250 in the preceding year. The miscellaneous goldfields revenue derived from Miners\' Rights, business licenses, and similar sources has on the contrary increased from £16,000 to £18,400.

2. With regard to the departmental expenditure, I have not been able to add materially to the large reductions which I effected last year, amounting to nearly £12,000, or 25 per cent. of the total departmental expenditure of the province. I have however kept the expenditure well within the amount appropriated, a balance of about £1500 voted for departmental purposes remaining unexpended.

I shall propose to you to make some further reductions from our already greatly diminished establishment, but on the other hand the recent extension of the goldfields will require some additions to the staff.