584
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

I am also able to congratulate you on the improvement in the prospects
of the wool and flax producers; and it is with the greatest pleasure I foresee
that better days are in store for those who follow agricultural pursuits.

The presence in London of a Special Agent for the Colony—himself a colonist
of thirty years' standing, intimately acquainted with its wants, and who in former
Sessions has occupied a prominent place in the deliberations of the Parliament
of the Colony—will, I trust, greatly aid you in the construction of the Public
Works you propose, as well as lead to the judicious selection of the immigrants
you require, and to the making of proper arrangements for their passage to the
Colony. His presence will also, no doubt, tend to the permanence of those
friendly relations which I am glad to say exist between the Imperial and
Colonial Governments.

The Session has been profitable in results in respect to that most important
stimulus to colonization, Local Municipal Government. I am sanguine that
excellent effects will result from the pecuniary assistance you have agreed to
render to Road Boards, and from the operation of the Highways Act.

I regret that the shortness of the Session and other reasons have pre-
vented your legislating on the question of Education. Your attention has
however been given to the subject, and its principles been fully discussed in the
House of Representatives; and it is perhaps well that, on a subject on which there
exist so many differences of opinion, time should be given to the Constituencies
to consider more fully the bearings of the measure which was proposed to the
House of Representatives.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, -

I thank you for the supplies which you have granted for the public
service, which shall be administered with due care. I am glad, also, that you
have revised the taxation in some particulars, with a view to providing the
ways and means to meet the necessary expenditure of the Government.

HONORABLE LEGISLATIVE COUNCILLORS AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, -

Since the commencement of the Session there have not been wanting
many indications of a growing inclination among the few remaining mal-
contents of the Native race to return to their allegiance, and to resume friendly
relations with the Europeans. The presence of the highly intelligent Repre-
sentatives of the Native race in the House of Representatives, and the judicious
manner in which, I am informed by my Ministers, they have exercised their
functions, fully justify the wisdom of the recommendation the House of Repre-
sentatives have made, that persons of the Native race should be called to the
Legislative Council. On the best method of giving effect to that recommendation
I will consult my Responsible Advisers.

I shall forward to Her Majesty's Government, for presentation to Her
Majesty, the Addresses which you have passed in both Chambers of the Legis-
lature on the subject of the labour traffic which is being carried on between some
of the Australian Colonies, the Fiji Islands, and various other islands in the
Pacific Ocean. I have no doubt that the melancholy death of Bishop Patteson
and his companions will deepen the interest which has already been excited on
this question at Home, and that Her Majesty's Government will bestow upon it
the attention it merits.

In releasing you from your labours, I venture to express my earnest hope that,
under the blessing of Divine Providence, the measures you have authorized will
promote the prosperity of the Colony.

Printed under the authority of the New Zealand Government, by GEORGE DIDSBURY, Government Printer, Wellington.