NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

47

on the north bank of the river, with terminus at Cobden, in accordance with the proposal I made to the Government in 1869, when my request for sanction to a loan of £30,000 for its construction was summarily refused. It is my conviction that had that request been granted and the work left to Provincial management, the line would have been in working order years ago at one-third the cost which the Colonial Government are expending upon it, at the expense, not of the Colonial Government, but of those of Nelson and Westland. As you will see on reference to the correspondence already printed in your records, had I not made a firm stand against so gross an injustice the whole cost would have been saddled upon this Province alone. The figures I have quoted will enable you to judge whether implicit reliance can be placed upon the calculations of the Colonial Engineers of the cost of the line from Fox Hill to Brunnerton, which they at present estimate at £8000 or £9000 per mile. An estimate which, as an average of the whole 150 miles, I hope will turn out to be almost as much mistaken, although in the opposite direction, as that made for the little line of seven miles from Brunnerton to Greymouth.

The line from Westport to Ngakawau, it is only just to say, is making steady progress, and shows promise of being completed in reasonable time, and at reasonable cost.

10. Your resolution of last session, in favor of the construction of a line of telegraph from Richmond to the Lyell, has been productive of good effects. The line is now under contract, and will be completed in a short time.

11. The resolutions you adopted last session for the consolidation and amendment of the laws regulating the sale and disposal of the Waste lands were embodied in a Bill which I introduced to the General Assembly, and which was passed into law without material alteration.

The application of one common law to all parts of the Province, whether within or without the Goldfields, will, I am convinced, prove to be a great improvement upon the old and more restrictive system, but at the same time the exercise of their enlarged powers gives increased work to the Waste Lands Board and the Land and Survey Department generally.

The enlargement of the Board will, I do not doubt, act beneficially to the public, as well as by way of relief to the existing members. It will be your duty to nominate one additional member during your present session.

12. The General Assembly having rejected the Bill which I introduced to enable the Corporation of the City of Nelson to purchase the plant of the Waterworks from the Province, I have not been able to fulfil my expressed intention to hand over those works and the Gasworks to the authorities of the City as soon as a Corporation was formed. In the meantime, I have placed the entire management of the hands of the Corporation, subject only to such restrictions as will protect the Province from the risk of loss in consequence of the liabilities under which it still rests.

13. The Act which you passed last session, authorising me to raise upon specified securities the sum of £30,000 for the completion of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum and the construction of a Wharf and Dry Dock in Nelson Harbor having been left to its operation by His Excellency the Governor, £3000 has been borrowed for the first mentioned purpose, and a preliminary agreement has been entered into for the remainder of the amount. I trust, therefore, that the Government will soon be in a position to commence the works in the Harbor, which are so much required for the convenience of shipping and the progress of the Port.

14. The state of the Local Revenues Boards within the Goldfields will doubtless attract your attention. The repeal of the clause providing for the payment to these Boards of one-half the amount of certain specified revenue collected within their respective districts has been a great discouragement to their operation. Only two or three of them can be considered to be working satisfactorily, and some are practically, if not legally, defunct. I think it a matter of regret that at least the experiment of allowing local control over local revenues was not allowed a trial, for I believe that the present unsatisfactory condition of these Boards, and their frequent squabbles with the Provincial Government, would have been avoided had a fixed proportion of the revenues locally raised remained secured by law to each Board, and subject to their unrestricted management and control.

15. The question of the establishment of Special Settlements is one which, you are aware, has occupied my attention and that of my advisers for several years past. The want of funds for the purpose both of forming such settlements, and of giving temporary employment to the settlers has, until recently, prevented any active steps being taken under the Act which I passed through the General Assembly in the year 1872. Last session, however, the Assembly voted a sum of £5000 for the settlement of immigrants in this Province, which enabled a first experiment to be tried. The original intention when the Act I have referred to was passed was to form one or more Special Settlements in the upper Buller in connection with the expenditure upon roads in that district which it was hoped the General Assembly would authorise. Subsequently, upon the strong recommendation of the Immigration Officer, it was determined to make the Karamea the site of the first experiment. About sixty families are now located there, and the success which has hitherto attended the efforts of the Provincial Government appears to me to be exceedingly satisfactory. It is no doubt, premature to express a confident opinion as to the permanence of that success, as the time of trial will come with the assistance of the Government, upon which the settlers have hitherto so largely depended, is necessarily withdrawn.

16. During the past nine months four vessels have arrived at this port with 883 immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, of all ages and sexes, equal to 737 statute adults, as permanent residents in the Province. An additional number of 262, equal to 219 statute adults, who arrived by the same vessels, were forwarded to other Provinces according to their original destination, or for other special reasons. I am not happy to say that the whole of these persons, with a few exceptions caused by sickness, have either been provided with employment, or have become settlers upon land in the Karamea.

One more vessel with immigrants may be looked for in a few weeks, no further arrivals can be expected for some months afterwards, as the Minister for Immigration has been requested to suspend the shipment of immigrants for this Province during the time which would lead to their arrival in the winter months.

The number of persons sent for by their friends here during the past year under the system of free