that other and richer discoveries may
hereafter be made, when the interior of
these Islands has been more fully explored.

In the meantime Lieutenant-Governor
Wynyard has, with very great prompti-
tude and energy, addressed himself to
the difficult task of making and enforcing
those regulations which are necessary
for the preservation of the tranquillity and
good order of the country in the neigh-
bourhood of the point where Gold has
been discovered.

Undoubtedly the discovery of Gold in
Islands, circumstanced as these of New
Zealand are, may—if unjust and injudi-
cious acts are committed—be the means
of creating great embarrassments; but I
think that, by availing ourselves, with
justice and wisdom, of a source of wealth
which a bounteous Providence appears
thus unexpectedly to have placed at our
disposal, we may, by our good conduct,
deserve and ultimately draw from it those
great benefits which, rightly used, it is
capable of conferring upon both the Eu-
ropean and Maori race.

The discovery of valuable mines of
Copper and Coal in the vicinity of Nel-
son will, I hope, prove productive of great
and permanent advantages to that settle-
ment. The Government has done its
utmost to enable the inhabitants of Nel-
son to develope advantageously the mineral
riches thus placed at their disposal,
by permitting the mines to be worked
under very advantageous conditions. The
correspondence relating to this subject
will be laid before you.

A despatch I have received from the
Secretary of State, upon the subject of
the proposed discontinuance of their
operations by the Canterbury Association,
will, by my directions, be laid upon the
table. From that despatch you will per-
ceive that it was proposed that the Asso-
ciation should, from the 30th September
last, suspend its functions, for the pur-
pose of presenting to the Provincial
Council of the Province the option of
taking a transfer of the Association’s
functions, together with its admitted li-
abilities, which appear on the 14th of June
last to have been about £12,215. In re-
ference to this subject, I have directed
that a correspondence between the Local
Government and the Agent of the Can-
terbury Association should be submitted
to you. It contains the details of an ar-
rangement under which I sanctioned ad-
vances, not exceeding in the whole the

sum of two thousand pounds, from the
revenue, to the Agent of the Association,
to enable him to execute certain public
works in the Canterbury district. A sum
of seventeen hundred pounds has actually
been advanced on this account to the
Agent of the Association; this amount
therefore, forms another liability of which
the Association were not aware when they
made the statement of their affairs con-
tained in their Secretary’s letter of the
14th June.

But as the Government understand
that the Agent of the Canterbury Asso-
ciation has disposed of lands at Canter-
bury since that advance was made, and
as it appears that a decided revival had
taken place in England in the prospect
of land sales by the Association, it is to
be hoped that the advances made by the
Local Government will speedily be re-
paid under the terms of the arrangement
entered into with the Agent of the Asso-
ciation.

I have directed that a copy of a com-
munication, which has recently been re-
ceived from the Right Honorable the
Post-Master-General, should be laid be-
fore you. From that communication it
will be found that the Postal arrange-
ments have now been finally agreed upon,
under which letters may hereafter be
pre-paid in New Zealand to any part of
Great Britain, or in that country to any
part of New Zealand, and by which printed
books and pamphlets may be transmit-
tted by Post. I have recently received
a communication from the Governor-
General of Australia, proposing the esta-
blishment of a similar system of inter-
colonial Postal arrangements between
Australia and New Zealand: every effort
shall be made by this Government to
conclude satisfactorily an arrangement
which would be so beneficial for both
groups of Colonies.

Her Majesty’s Government have not
yet informed me whether or not it is their
intention to advise her Majesty to confirn
the New Zealand Company’s Land Claim-
ants Ordinance, Session XI, No. 15;
and, in the mean time, as that Ordinance
is, in parts, repugnant to the Act of Par-
liament “for regulating the affairs of the
Company’s Settlements,” 14th and 15th
Victoria, cap. 86, it has only been possi-
ble to proceed, under the Local Ordinance,
with those claims the investigation
and adjustment of which involved no
principle adverse to the abovenamed Act
of Parliament. Seven hundred and