392
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Given under my hand, at the Government
House, at Auckland, and issued under the
Seal of the Colony of New Zealand, this
(L.S.) twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of
Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Sixty-four.

By His Excellency's command,
WILLIAM Fox.

G. GREY.

Government Buildings,
Nelson, October 3rd, 1864.

The Commissioners, acting under the above recited
instrument, have agreed to the following Report :—

In order to guarantee a full enquiry and im-
partial decision, founded solely upon a consideration
of the advantages which the different sites in Cook's
Strait present for the administration of the Govern-
ment of the whole Colony, the Commissioners deter-
mined to lay down a principle of inquiry which
should be rigidly applicable in the examination of
every site submitted to their investigation. This
principle comprised enquiries into—

1st. The central position of the site. Its accessi-
bility either by land or sea from the adjoining Pro-
vinces of New Zealand, from the various British
Settlements in the Southern Hemisphere, and from
Europe and America, and also the existing and pro-
jected means of communication.

2nd. The Water capabilities, comprising—charac-
ter of the Harbor; the approaches; depth of water;
nature of anchorage ground; protection from pre-
vailing winds; rise and fall of tides; currents, their
direction and velocity; dangers, whether hidden or
visible.

3rd. Land capabilities comprising the extent of
proposed site; natural formation of the land;
water supply; facilities for drainage and sewerage;
facilities for the construction of wharves and piers;
the sanitary condition of the site and neighbourhood.

4th. The resources of the surrounding country,
its extent and character; quantity of available land
(whether alienated or unalienated) for pastoral or
agricultural pursuits; its timber for building pur-
poses and fuel; other building materials; mineral
products; roads and facilities of communication with
proposed capital.

5th. Capabilities of defence: from attack by land,
from attack by sea.

6th. Natural disadvantages: whether capable of
removal from the appliances of science; whether
beyond control or removal.

The Commissioners commenced their labours at
Wellington, on the southern coast of the North
Island. They collected all the information that
could be laid before them, on these several heads of
enquiry, and tested the information, so obtained, by
personal examination, wherever such a course was
practicable.

The Commissioners then proceeded along the
South Coast to Whanganui, and personally examined
the harbor and the surrounding country.

The Commissioners then passed to the opposite
shore of the Strait, and directed their attention to
Picton, in the Province of Marlborough, and
minutely examined Queen Charlotte's Sound and
the Tory Channel. They then proceeded inland to
Blenheim and (descending by the Wairau river)
made a personal inspection of Port Underwood,
represented to be the natural harbour of this district.
They also examined the pastoral districts lying to
the South and East of the Wairau Valley.

Leaving Picton, the Commissioners examined
carefully the Pelorus Sound, to the Town of Have-
lock, in the same Province, and from thence pro-
ceeded through the French Pass to Nelson.
They made a personal inspection of Blind Bay,
with its various harbors, including Croixelles on
the East Shore, and Massacre Bay and Astrolabe
Roadstead upon the West, and visited portions of
the interior of the country.

Having thus made themselves acquainted, as far
was practicable, with the character and capabilities
of both shores of Cook's Strait, the Commissioners
have arrived at the unanimous conclusion that

WELLINGTON,
IN PORT NICHOLSON,

is the site upon the shores of Cook's Strait which
presents the greatest advantages for the administra-
tion of the Government of the Colony.

The Commissioners cannot conclude the important
mission which has been entrusted to them, without
recording their high sense of the valuable assistance
afforded to them in pursuing their investigation, by
the authorities of the various Provinces, and also of
the spirit of candor and impartiality which has been
displayed by the gentlemen furnishing the informa-
tion they required.

They are desirous also of placing on record their
acknowledgment of the courtesy and personal kind-
ness received by them in every district which they
visited.

FRANS. MURPHY,
JOSEPH DOCKER,
RONALD C. GUNN.

T. M. Haultain, Esquire, elected to the House of
Representatives.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 20th October, 1864.

IT is hereby notified that a Writ issued for the
election of a Member of the House of Represen-
tatives for the Electoral District of Franklin, has
been returned with a certificate to the effect that
THEODORE MINET HAULTAIN, Esquire,
has been duly elected.

WILLIAM Fox.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
(Native Department,)
Auckland, October 10th, 1864.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to
appoint

DONALD MCLEAN, Esq.,

to lay informations under "Native Land Purchase
Ordinance," Session VII, No 19.

WILLIAM FOX.

PROVINCE OF MARLBOROUGH.

Bill Assented to.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 17th October, 1864.

THE following Bill, passed by the Provincial
Council of the Province of Marlborough, inti-
tuled

"The Appropriation Act, 1864."

which Bill was reserved for the signification of the
Governor's pleasure thereon, having been laid before
the Governor, His Excellency has been pleased to
assent to the same.

WILLIAM Fox.