56
RECEIPTS for the Six Months ending 31st September, 1854.—Continued.

OTAGO.
Customs Receipts ... ... ... ... 3,917 19 11
Post Office ... ... ... 43 4 3
Incidents ... ... ... 1 19 6
Crown Lands, Proceeds of Sale's ... 392 10 0
Fees and Depasturing Licenses ... 524 18 2
Fees on Crown Grants ... 29 10 0
Total Otago Receipts 4910 1 10

AGENT GENERAL
(FOR 3 MONTHS
RECEIPTS.
Dividends on 3 per cents. consols ... 438 4 11

RECAPITULATION.

May 23rd, 1855.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland,
31st May, 1855.

HIS Excellency the Officer administering the
Government has directed that the follow-
ing Circular, addressed to the members of the
General Assembly in the Southern Provinces,
and the accompanying Despatch from the
Secretary of State, should be published for
general information.

By His Excellency's command,
ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

(CIRCULAR.)

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland,
25th May, 1855.

SIR, By command of His Excellency the
Officer Administering the Government, I
have the honor to inform you that Mr. Carkeek,
the Collector of Customs at Wellington, has been
instructed to make arrangements for the convey-
ance of yourself and other Members of the
General Assembly from the Southern Provinces
to Auckland, for the approaching Session on the
5th of July next.

Some uncertainty exists as to the means of
conveyance that may be available for that purpose
in consequence of the proprietors of the "Nelson,"
steamer, having declined to renew the contract
for continuing Steam Communication between
the several Provinces of the Colony, and should
the Collector of Customs at Wellington fail to
procure the required means of conveyance in due

time, or should any other obstacle arise to prevent
Members of the General Assembly reaching
Auckland at the time appointed, I have to in-
form you that His Excellency will be prepared
to prorogue the Assembly for such time as may
be sufficient to enable the distant Members to be
present at the opening of the Session. Mr. Cai-
keek has been directed to inform you of the
arrangements alluded to so soon as they are com-
pleted.

As His Excellency conceives that it may be
convenient to members to be informed of the
course which His Excellency proposes to pursue
on the opening of the Assembly, I have the honor
to state that it is His Excellency's wish that Res-
ponsible Government should be established at the
earliest convenient time, and, with that view, he
will cause to be laid before the Assembly a Bill
of the nature required by the despatch from the
Secretary of State on the subject, dated 8th De-
cember, 1854, a copy of which is annexed. The
only other business, as it appears to His Excel-
lency, that it will be requisite for the Assembly at
once to deal with, will be to make temporary pro-
vision (probably by the renewal of the present
appropriations for a limited period) for the Public
Service till a Responsible Ministry shall have had
time to take upon themselves the Government of
the country, and be enabled to meet the As-
sembly after sufficient time shall have been af-
forded for the requisite preparation. Having
disposed of these measures, it is not his Ex-
cellency's present intention to propose any other;
and, in order to afford the electors an opportunity
of choosing members, with a view to the new
form of Government, His Excellency is of opinion