NEW ZEALAND

OTAGO

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.

Published by Authority.

Vol. VIII. DUNEDIN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1864. No. 328.

ADDRESS OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT,

ON OPENING THE NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL OF THE PROVINCE OF OTAGO, TUESDAY, 11th OCTOBER, 1864.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council—

In conformity with the understanding upon which the present Executive Council entered office, and in accordance with the expressed wish of your House, it has become my duty now to assemble you in Session, in order that such supplies as are necessary for the further conduct of the Government may be granted, and that an opportunity may be afforded you of reviewing its administration during the short recess which has just expired, and of giving your aid in devising measures and enacting laws calculated to promote the further prosperity of the Province.

It is almost needless for me to refer to the circumstances which led to the acceptance of office by the present Government, or to the financial difficulties which were then impending. Those difficulties were fully recognised by you, and the system of Departmental retrenchment which has been adopted, and a partial suspension of Public Works during the last four months, received your sanction.

When I last addressed you on the 14th June, I was enabled to express the belief that the time had passed when any serious apprehensions need be entertained for the financial safety of the Province. The history of the Province during the intervening period, and our present position, have confirmed that belief, and have strengthened the settled conviction that our foundations are of too solid a character to be easily or permanently shaken.

It would be idle to deny that we have passed through a season marked by extraordinary vicissitude in commercial and monetary affairs, or that a considerable amount of hardship and distress has existed amongst us during the past winter. But Otago has not been singular in this respect, and it will be found, on a careful consideration of the many causes to which the recent period of general depression may be distinctly traced, that there is some ground for wonder, and much for thankfulness, that we have hitherto escaped so scatheless.

Although I may well congratulate you that the Province has so far safely passed through a period of more than ordinary trial, and while I feel justified in asserting that by the exercise of a wise economy in our administration, a recurrence of similar difficulties is not likely to occur through causes attributable to the Province; yet we are exposed to danger from external causes, which we shall do well to consider, and if possible avert. In my Address to you of the 7th April last, I alluded to the obstacles which prevented the negotiation of our Provincial Loan in Great Britain, and endeavoured in the light of existing facts to point out the source and nature of those obstacles. I also expressed the opinion that, in order to secure the advantageous sale of our Provincial securities, a Colonial guarantee for their ultimate liquidation should be sought and obtained. In furtherance of this view, I proceeded to Auckland shortly after the close of your last Session, and in conference with Ministers, and subsequently in writing, urged the claims of this Province to participate in a share of the credit of the Colony. Also, in order to place the Provincial Government beyond the possibility of embarrassment, I applied for authority to draw upon the Colonial Treasury for from £40,000 to £50,000, should any necessity for doing so arise. Through correspondence on this subject, which I will cause to be laid on your table, it will be seen that both of the propositions made by me were favorably considered by the Government. It will, however, be satisfactory to you to know that the Provincial Government has not found it necessary to resort to the Colonial Treasury for pecuniary assistance.

While my opinion, that it is desirable to secure for our Provincial Loans the credit of the Colony, is still unchanged, events have transpired which appear to place the Colony itself in an unusually hazardous position. Instead of occupying, as it has long done, a high position in the public opinion of Great Britain, New Zealand and its affairs have there fallen into extreme disfavor. The long duration, and enormous cost of the Maori war; the alleged incompetency, sacrifice of life, and frequent disasters which have characterised it; the now widely spread feeling that its objects are unjustifiable, and that the army has, to some extent, become demoralised, to which may be added the unfavorable construction which appears to be very generally attached to the act of the General Government in its refusal to ratify the Panama Contract, are circumstances which have all combined to produce a feeling in the British mind prejudicial to the interests and character of the Colony.

One important proof of the unfavorable opinion now prevalent in England towards New Zealand, is observable in the failure of the attempt to negotiate that portion of the War Loan which has been placed on the market, notwithstanding the low price at which it has been offered for sale.