726
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 44

The systematic laying out of roads, in anticipation of the sale of waste lands,
has in a very marked manner promoted their occupation during the past year. You
will be asked to sanction further expenditure to enable the Lands Department to
give effect to plans which, if carried out, will practically enlarge the area available
for settlement, and invite a more extended employment of labour and capital.

The revenue received from the sale of waste lands during the past year has
exceeded the estimate, and the increasing demand for land for actual occupation,
together with statistical information recently obtained, affords convincing proof that
a fresh impulse is being given to the work of settlement, while the expansion of
local industries promises to provide profitable employment for a rapidly-increasing
population.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, —

Large reductions have already been made in the cost of the Public Service,
without impairing its efficiency, and the Estimates of receipts and expenditure for the
current year, which will shortly be laid before you, have been prepared with strict
regard to the most rigid economy.

The revenue for the past year must, on the whole, be considered satisfactory.
The excess of receipts over expenditure upon the railways amounts to a return
of 3½ per cent. upon the outlay incurred upon their construction.

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

Bills will be submitted to you for the Redistribution of the Representation
of the People, and for the Regulation of Elections, which, in view of the approaching
termination of the present Parliament, I recommend to your early and most attentive
consideration.

The Commissioners appointed last year for the purpose of inquiring into the
constitution, practice, and procedure of the Supreme Court and other Courts of
the colony, and of ascertaining by what means the administration of justice therein
may be rendered more speedy and efficacious, and at the same time less costly, have
made an ad interim report, a copy of which will be laid before you.

I am glad to be able to inform you that the Commissioners have proceeded so far
with the work intrusted to them as to enable them to anticipate the close of their
labours in the course of the month of July. The measures necessary to give effect to
their recommendations may therefore be submitted to you during the present session.

A Bill will be laid before you which will have for its object the abolition of
restraints on the Alienation of Land, while guarding the interests which may arise out
of any trusts to which it has been made subject.

Bills will also be laid before you for the regulation of the administration of
Charitable Aid, for the consolidation and amendment of the Licensing Laws, for the
amendment of the existing law in respect of the administration of Native Reserves,
for rating Crown lands, and for providing for the grant of assistance to Local Public
Works.

I have recently visited many different districts of the colony. During these
journeys, I have had repeated opportunity of observing signs of increasing wealth,
the spread of settlement, and the energy and activity engaged in industrial pursuits
throughout the country. The impressions which I had thus been led to form are
strengthened by the results of the recent census, and by a perusal of reports and
returns which will be placed before you, showing the revival of trade, the growth of
new and important local industries, and the satisfactory condition of the ordinary and
territorial revenue for the past year.

In the discharge of the high functions committed to me by the Queen, it will
always be my aim to manifest the same scrupulous and loyal regard to constitutional
practice and usage, not only in the letter but in the spirit, which has ever distinguished
the Sovereign whom I represent among you.

You may rely with confidence on my hearty co-operation in giving effect to the
deliberate decisions of the Legislature, and it is my earnest hope and desire that your
labours may be so directed as, by God's blessing, not only to promote the material
welfare of the Colony, but to secure the stability of its institutions, the development
of its great resources, and the permanent happiness of all classes of Her Majesty's
subjects within its bounds.

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