DIEU

DROIT

NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

Published by Authority.

All Public 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.

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

VOL. III.] AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1855. [No. 19.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The Officer administering the Government
opened the General Assembly at the Assem-
bly House, at two o'clock, p.m., when His
Excellency delivered the following

ADDRESS.

Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council,
and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

When I prorogued the General Assembly of
New Zealand in the month of September last, I
did not then entertain an expectation that it
would become my duty to be present, in the
same capacity, at the opening of another Session.
It is however, a source of great satisfaction to
me that it has pleased Her Majesty to permit me
to continue in the Government of this Colony
sufficiently long to see the accomplishment of
that ample measure of self-government, which
this Assembly, and I believe the Colonists in
general, have so ardently, desired.

Whatever may have been the differences of
opinion during the former Sessions of this As-
sembly, as to the time or the manner of in-
troducing without reserve, "Ministerial Res-
ponsibility" in the conduct of the Legislative
and Executive proceedings of the Government,
we were all, I feel assured, sincerely anxious
that the Colonists of New Zealand should have
conferred on them, without unnecessary delay,
the advantages of that form of Government
in its integrity.

At the close of the session it became my duty
to transmit to the Secretary of State the repre-
sentations which I had received praying for
the establishment of Responsible Government,
and it afforded me much gratification to add
ing that which I believe will be highly conducive
to the welfare and advancement of the Colony.

On its being communicated to me that Her
Majesty's Imperial Government had complied
with our wishes, I took the earliest opportunity
of making known that fact to the Colony, by
the publication in the Government Gazette of an
extract from the Secretary of State's Despatch,
and since then I have placed in your hands a
copy of that Despatch, in order that you might
be made aware of the preliminary measures
which are required to be taken by the General
Assembly, and of the views of Her Majesty's
Government on the subject.

Gentlemen of the Assembly,

It now rests with you to take the next step;
on my part I can assure you that whatever re-
mains to be done by me for the complete and
satisfactory establishment of Responsible Go-
vernment, will, without hesitation, be most cheer-
fully performed.

The influence of that mighty struggle which is
agitating Europe, and especially our native
country, has as yet been but little felt in these
islands, and I am happy to be able to congratu-
late you that, while we have suffered nothing
from foreign enemies, our domestic peace has not
been seriously disturbed.

Our relations with the Aborigines for the most
part continue to be of the most friendly cha-
racter; indeed I am not aware that with the
exception of New Plymouth, there exists, any-
where, at the present moment, any cause for anxi-
ety in this respect.