to defeat the purpose and operation of your other Executive Laws; and it was only when the election of members was considerably advanced that I was enabled to surround myself with advisers responsible to your House and to the country. My course then appeared clear. A dissolution of the Provincial Council had taken place. The gentleman who had led the Government under my predecessor up to the date of that dissolution, and of my own election, had been re-elected by a large majority of the largest and most influential constituency in the Province. I therefore invited that gentleman to form an Executive Government, which, notwithstanding the existence of some minor differences between us, he consented to do. The issue is, that I meet you with an Executive Council, which, so far as it is formed, is identical with that of my predecessor. It is, however, legally incomplete—one of the requirements of the Executive Council Ordinance, 1861, which prescribes the appointment of a Provincial Solicitor, who shall be also a member of the Provincial Council, not having been complied with. This non-compliance with the terms of that Ordinance has been forced upon the Executive Government by the Electors of the Province, who themselves declined to re-elect either of the gentlemen belonging to the legal profession who solicited their suffrages. The only course left open for adoption by the Executive Government under these novel circumstances, was to obtain legal advice and assistance beyond the pale of the Provincial Council. A Bill to amend the Executive Council Ordinance 1861, has been prepared, and will be laid before you.

This measure, if suffered to become law, will prevent any difficulty arising from a recurrence of events similar to those I have described; and the possibility of a future Superintendent being at any time placed in the position of sole administrator of the Government, will also be removed.

The expenditure proposed for Main Roads throughout the Province, you will perceive, when the Estimates are laid before you, to be very considerable; and I feel assured that you will unite with me in opinion that no outlay of public monies is more desirable. The proper conduct of this branch of our service is now of the utmost importance, it being essential that the immense sums now being expended on Roads should be so employed as to afford means of communication to the greatest number of our population, and that the work once performed shall be permanent. Impressed with these convictions, it is probable that I shall submit to you, in the course of this Session of Council, resolutions having for their object a more efficient conduct of this department.

A subject to which I would prominently direct your attention is the unsatisfactory state of our Land Regulations. I believe you will concur with me in the opinion that immediate steps should be taken to settle definitively the terms upon which the Waste Lands of the Crown within the Province should be alienated. I am aware that it does not come within your jurisdiction to legislate upon this subject, but it is in your power to determine by resolution what shall become law. Many reasons combine to render an early settlement of this question necessary, not the least of which is the damage which the Province sustains through a comparative suspension of Land Sales, whereby a serious deficiency in Land Revenue, and the mischievous retardation of settlement upon country lands have resulted.

From the discussions upon the Land Question, which preceded the late elections, and from the expressed opinions of the members of this House, and of other gentlemen who may be fairly supposed to represent at least a moiety of the constituency of the country, the conclusion is inevitable that a great diversity of opinion exists, not only with reference to the price at which the Waste Lands of the Crown within the Province should be sold, but with reference also to ulterior conditions of purchase. Such being the case, and bearing in mind my own recently expressed views on this subject, and also those of the gentlemen who form my Executive Government, you will not be taken by surprise when I state that upon the terms and conditions upon which the waste lands shall be sold, we are not unanimous.

This want of accord is to be regretted, as it prevents me from laying before you at the commencement of your sittings resolutions on this important subject, which might immediately receive your attention. But as the present Executive Council only consider themselves as acting temporarily, and have signified to me their intention of resigning office immediately on the meeting of Council, it will be a duty for the Executive which may forthwith be formed, to prepare, in conjunction with myself, the basis of a plan for the satisfactory disposal of the Waste Lands of the Crown: And I may here state that whatever resolutions are arrived at by this Council, whether in accordance with my own opinion or otherwise, shall receive from me all the support I can give them, in order to settle finally and satisfactorily a question which it is most advisable should as seldom as possible be disturbed.

I would direct your attention to the desirability of revising the whole of our Provincial Ordinances, with a view to their reconstruction and consolidation; many of these Ordinances having application to circumstances which were liable to frequent change, supplementary laws have often been resorted to, amending, and, in some cases, partially repealing previous enactments. This practice has been found to be attended with much inconvenience, and has led in some cases to uncertainty as to the state of the law, besides encumbering our Provincial Statute Book with an unnecessary number of enactments bearing on the same subject. I have to propose to you that during the next recess your Government should be authorised to cause a complete revision and reconstruction, where necessary, of all existing Provincial Laws, to be made in such a manner as to provide, as far as possible, that the whole of the law in force upon any given subject shall be found in one Ordinance. In order to secure this desirable end, I would further suggest that in all future legislation, when circumstances require (as they will do in a constantly progressing colony), amendments, additions, or, it may be, repeal of Laws, the requisite changes should be effected by the introduction of new Ordinances, complete in themselves, and a total repeal of those on the same subject previously in force. By the adoption of this course it is believed that not only would