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confidence with a suggestion of the General Government,) and will be submitted to you for approval.

On the subject of multiplying Provinces, by splitting up those declared in the Constitution Act into separate Provinces, I spoke my mind so fully in the last Session of Parliament, and again in a late address to my constituents, that I would now only refer to the matters I have just stated, and to the Reports to be laid before you, in order to its being seen how far such a process would be compatible with the progress of colonizing Otago as a whole, and in all its parts, by means of the Land fund: whether it would not be a mere multiplying of expenses, breaking up unity of design, and frittering away the funds by abortive attempts at public works, without the competent professional advice which a small Province could not separately provide. I repeat, therefore, that in my deliberate opinion, the whole affair is a hasty grasping, on the part of the present Ministry, a species of centralization—prejudicial to, and in arrest of the progress of the whole Colony. Should Otago, or any other Province, be alleged to misapply, from lack of judgment or any other cause, the proceeds of the Crown Lands, let the case be investigated and decided on by the Parliament; but I again protest against the rights and well-being of this Province being trifled with by any Ministry of the day at their own discretion.

W. Cargill,
Superintendent.

REPLY

TO THE ADDRESS OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT AT OPENING THE EIGHTH SESSION OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, 23rd October 1859.

SIR,—In returning our thanks for the Address with which you have favored this Council, we beg to respond most cordially to your congratulations on the progress and well-being of our Colony, and the satisfactory evidences adduced by a brief review of our financial and social position.

The reclamation of land from the sea, and the supply of water to the town of Dunedin, are subjects of such importance both as to present necessity and future results, as to merit our most earnest attention.

The various Bills forwarded by your Honor, including the important one on the subject of Education founded upon the Resolutions passed in the last Session, will receive due consideration at the hands of the Council; as will also the proposed addition to the Land Regulations for the purpose of providing against the possible contingency of the disallowance of the Waste Land Act of 1858.

In conclusion, the Council, while deeply regretting the debilitated state of your Honor’s health, desires to express its hearty acknowledgments for your Honor’s past services in the cause of this Province during a long series of years; and we sincerely hope that your Honor may yet be spared in health for many years to rejoice in the advancement and prosperity of a Province which has so far progressed under your fostering care.

RESOLUTIONS

OF PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ON EMIGRATION.

Session 1859.

Resolved—

1. That in the opinion of the Council, the present supply of labour falls far short of the demand.

That the Provincial Council, understanding that the Government have instructed the Home Agents to despatch a ship in October, and one or two between October and April, and three in April and May—approve of these instructions.

2. That in the opinion of the Provincial Council, the Home Agents should be further instructed for the future to despatch one ship every two months; and that they be instructed to offer every inducement to a line of sailing ships, both from London and Liverpool, direct to this port, by guaranteeing a limited number of assisted emigrants by each ship of the line so sailing.

REPORT

ADOPTED BY THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

ON MONEY GRANTS FOR ROADS.

The Select Committee appointed to take into consideration the principles which should guide the Provincial Council in the Grants for Public Money for Roads, humbly report, after deliberate consideration, and examination of the Map of Roads prepared by the Chief Surveyor, and hearing him on the subject:

1. That the public revenue should be held applicable to the construction, in the first instance, of Trunk Roads; and that in the meantime such Trunk Lines as are shown on the Survey Map of Roads be recognised as such.

2. That, as the Province progresses in population and traffic, it will be necessary to increase the number of such recognised Trunk Lines, and such new Trunk Lines should be laid off from time to time, with