[Page 107]

Tariff

Vinegar.................... per gal. 0 0 2
Wines, in casks .......... do. 0 1 6
"" in bottles, per doz. of 2 galls. 0 5 0
Wood, sawn or split...per 100 feet 0 1 0
Cedar .................. do. 0 2 0
Oars .................... per foot 0 0 ½
Shingles and Laths...per 1000 0 10 0
Railings.................. do. 0 10 0
Zinc ..................... per cwt. 0 3 6

All other articles, not otherwise enumerated
or described, viz.:—
British or British Colonial 10 per cent. Ad
Foreign.........................12½ per cent. Valorem.

Spirits, Tobacco, and Cigars at the present rates of fixed duties.

Free or Duty.

All articles enumerated as free in the present Tariff, with the proposed addition of all Fish and Whale Oil, and Whalebone or Fins of Foreign-taking.

The Colonial Treasurer moved as an amendment that the report, separately from the schedule, be adopted, and that the latter be laid on the table.

Amendment put and carried, being

Ayes.

The Hon. Colonial Secretary
Senior Military Officer
Attorney General
Colonial Treasurer
A. Ludlam
J. D. Greenwood

Noes.

The Hon. W. Hickson
W. M. Bannatyne
G. Hunter
G. Moore
H. Seymour

Dr. Greenwood moved, seconded by Mr. Hickson, the following resolution:

That under an economical and well regulated system of Government, an import duty of £10 per cent. is sufficient; not only to defray its ordinary current expenses, but to supply funds for the maintenance of roads, and the promotion of education.

Motion put and negatived, being

Ayes.

The Hon. A. Ludlam
His Excellency the Officer Administering
J. D. Greenwood

Noes.

The Hon. Colonial Secretary
Senior Military Officer
Attorney General
Colonial Treasurer
W. Hickson
W. M. Bannatyne
G. Hunter
G. Moore

His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, in reply to an enquiry from Dr. Greenwood as to whether the rumours current in the town, to the effect that the Governor-in-Chief had recommended the Civil List in each Province should be raised from £5000 to £10,000, were true or not, laid on the table the following Despatches from Sir George Grey, K.C.B., Governor-in-Chief, &c., &c., to Earl Grey:

DESPATCHES OF HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B., GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEF OF NEW ZEALAND, TO THE RIGHT HON. EARL GREY, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES:

(Copy) No. 106.

Government House, Wellington,
29th November, 1848.

My Lord,

I have the honor to transmit, in order that Her Majesty's pleasure may be taken thereon, an Ordinance which I have enacted, with the advice and consent of my Legislative Council, entitled “An Ordinance to provide for the establishment of Provincial Legislative Councils in the colony of New Zealand.”

As this Ordinance is only intended as an introductory step to the establishment of a complete constitution, which I regard as that which is best adapted to Islands occupied in the irregular manner in which these have been, and which are inhabited by such mixed and peculiar races, and as the whole merits of the Ordinance will depend upon Her Majesty’s Government approving in the first instance the form of constitution which I propose should ultimately be adopted, and then upon their considering the present measure as a proper introductory step to such a constitution, it will be necessary for me to explain in some detail my views upon this subject.

At the present moment the New Zealand Islands are only divided into two Provinces, but recent despatches which I have received lead me to believe that they will shortly be divided into three if not into four Provinces. I have also received despatches which inform me that the boundaries of the Provinces now existing are only to be regarded as temporary, and that they will probably be altered within a few months.

It will be impracticable, therefore, until these details are adjusted, to attempt to introduce any system of a Representative form of Government which could present a character of the slightest permanence. It has been, however, that within a period of four or five years the whole of these details will have been adjusted.

There is also every probability that within the same period of time the amount of European population within these Islands will have so much increased, as not to present so striking a disparity in point of numbers when compared to the native race, as at present, that the supplies of arms and ammunition of the natives will be exhausted, that their fondness for war will have decreased.