55

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.

EUGENE J. O\'CONOR, Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XXIV. NELSON, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1875. No. 13.

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

TUESDAY, MAY 18th.

The following statement on Financial and other matters was made to the Provincial Council by the Provincial Secretary and Treasurer (Mr O\'Conor) on May 18, 1875, on motion in Council that the Council resolve itself into Committee for the consideration of the Estimates. He said—SIR,

In rising to move the motion standing in my name, I have much pleasure in being able to congratulate this Council and the country on the very improved state of this Province since last year. We have not only to congratulate the City upon its increasing trade, and upon the prosperity that has evidently fallen upon it, but in the country districts also we see evidences of prosperity, in which all those who desire to see Nelson advance, rejoice. The permanence of our quartz reefs we see established, Reefton is a town that, in importance and in buildings, will compare favorably with any other town in the Colony of the same age; though a very few years ago it was nothing more than a desert, and both Westport and the Lyell show distinct signs of advancement. We see general prosperity, diffused in districts, where previously there has been little signs of activity, and a hope for the future which was before unknown. In Collingwood, which was so long neglected, the valuable iron and coal-mines are about to be worked, and in the Takaka district the sawmills are turning the valuable timber to account. But there is another subject which, from the particular point of view on which I am now addressing the Council, is a matter on which we may congratulate the Province—I refer to the financial position, and I am glad to say that there is great reason indeed for congratulating the people of the Province upon the very great improvement that has taken place in financial matters during the past twelve months.

It will be remembered with what doleful forebodings the year was opened. I will quote the words of the late Provincial Treasurer, when he addressed the Council upon the motion for going into Committee on the Estimates. He remarked that we were "undoubtedly now in a time of trouble, and the operations of the present year must be pinched to pay for the past." The past is now, I am happy to say paid for, and we enter the future with a clear income. We have to a certain extent put our house in order; we have met our engagements, and come down with an unfettered balance. Besides that, it is no small subject for congratulation that Provincial institutions are at last something that position which they ought, along since, to have held—that instead of meeting year by year to register the views and wishes of the Superintendent, the Council now meets to express their wishes, and to see that those wishes are carried out. Sir, when my predecessor in this office spoke of difficulties to be met he did not exaggerate the position, for certainly the present Executive have found great difficulties in their way. If any unprejudiced person chooses to look back and remembers the position of affairs when we took office, he cannot but say that he is satisfied, and that the work done is satisfactory. When we took office it was generally said and believed that we could not conduct the financial affairs of the Province for three months. But we have done so. We took office with the intention of carrying out a policy which, I said, would end in making any Government unpopular, and which would bring upon us the dislike of many. We expected a hard task. It was necessary that retrenchment should be the order of the day, and that has been our motto—retrenchment. I am proud to say that we are not one whit less popular, I believe, than when we started. The Province has understood the efforts made by the Executive to do their duty to the country. Sir, it was expected that we should meet opposition in all directions, even from those whose duty it was to assist us. It has always

Financial position.

Retrenchment.