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apart as endowments towards the support of these public Institutions. As a temporary measure, and until some competent body should be organized for their management, these reserved lands thus set apart as endowments have been vested in official trustees; but so soon as the Council of the Borough shall have been duly constituted, it is intended to vest in that body these Institutions and the endowments for their support and maintenance. In like manner a considerable endowment has been provided for the support of a college and free grammar schools within the Borough; and so soon as one of these schools in the town of Auckland can be put into an efficient state, it is intended to vest also these establishments and the endowments for their maintenance in the Corporation of the Borough.

12. I trust that ample funds will thus be placed at the disposal of the Corporation for the maintenance of these Institutions, without their being compelled in these early days of the Colony, to impose any great amount of additional taxation upon the inhabitants of the Borough; and in the same manner I hope that the considerable portion of the land fund which is to be placed at their disposal will enable them, by a judicious management of their resources, to make and maintain all the really necessary roads through the Borough, without their being compelled, at present, to impose on its inhabitants any heavy rate of assessment for such purposes.

13. In pursuance of the plan I have thus traced out, the enclosed Charter, in its preamble, recognizes the inhabitants of the Borough themselves as being best qualified, as well by their more intimate knowledge of local affairs as by their more direct interest therein, to provide for the efficient management of such institutions, works, and endowments; and recites that with a view to that end, and to the good order, health, and convenience of the people, it is expedient that the inhabitants of the district should be constituted a Body Corporate, with the powers hereinafter mentioned.

14. As it is not the object of the Charter to confer upon any particular class, by means of a Council to be chosen by that class, the power of governing the Borough: but to give to the inhabitants at large the power of governing themselves by means of a Council in which every class and portion of the Borough may be fairly represented, the Borough has been divided into fourteen electoral divisions or Wards, and the Council is to consist of fourteen members, one being returnable for every Ward. If, without any such subdivision, the whole number of Councillors had been returnable by the entire body of electors, the result would probably have been that nearly the whole of the Councillors would have been inhabitants of the town and would have been chosen by its inhabitants. Such a body, so chosen, would have had only an imperfect knowledge of the condition and requirements

of the country districts and of the Pensioner settlements, whilst they would probably have had a direct interest in promoting town improvements; and if, after assigning to the town a certain number of members, the remainder of them had been returnable by the inhabitants of that part of the Borough which lies beyond the limits of the town, then the farmers and landed proprietors — the class which of all others has the most fixed and permanent interest in the country — would have been virtually excluded, forming, as they do, numerically, a minority taken in connection with the populous military settlements in the neighbourhood of Auckland. For this reason, and to secure, in as far as practicable, to each class a fair share in the election of the governing body, each Pensioner settlement and each agricultural district has been formed into a distinct Ward, with the power of returning a member to the Common Council of the Borough.

15. In defining the metes and bounds of the several Wards, it was obviously impossible, under the circumstances and with due regard to the principle of the Charter — local self-government — to adopt either territorial extent or numerical importance with respect to population as the rule. Whatever may be the present disparity in these respects of the several Wards, a near approach to equality will probably be found to exist in the proportion that will be borne by the several Wards in their contributions to the general funds to the Borough under the operation of a rate levied on real property. Another important consideration which has been held in view in determining the size and figure of the several Wards was well-defined boundary lines, either natural or artificial.

16. As the business of the Corporation will be of a strictly local nature, namely, to provide for the government and improvement of the Borough with a due regard to the interests of its several localities, it was deemed essential that the governing body should be composed of men having accurate knowledge of the condition and requirements of its various parts, and this object has therefore been secured by that provision of the Charter which prescribes that the member to be elected for each Ward shall be a Burgess of the Ward for which he shall be elected. By this means the Council will possess accurate practical knowledge of every part of the Borough, and each Ward will be represented by a member who will naturally be anxious to promote its improvement, and who will have a direct personal interest in its prosperity.

17. The number of natives residing within the Borough is but small, and nearly the whole of them reside within the limits of the single Ward of Tamaki West. I apprehend, therefore, that though, as has been provided for by a recent Ordinance, they are not excluded from a voice in the election of the Council, they will be practically found to exercise but little influence even in the return of a single member.