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have, before now, been in operation. I trust you will enable me to offer a more adequate bonus. The attention of the Government has been directed to the vast importance of Russian Flax as a staple article of export; and I propose to place a small sum on the Estimates for the purpose of stimulating agriculturists to cultivate the plant, for the advantageous growth of which it appears that this Province is peculiarly adapted.

Among the Public Works which have been initiated since last Session, there is perhaps none more important than that of deepening the Upper Harbour. I am glad to say that vessels drawing 12 feet will be enabled very shortly to load and discharge at a Dunedin wharf, and that this desirable object will be effected at a cost quite within our means, and trifling compared to the benefit which will accrue.

It is much to be regretted that, from untoward circumstances, the Graving Dock has not yet been commenced. Should the arrangement for its construction not assume a more practical form before the Session is over, it may become the duty of the Government to take the matter in hand, in which case it will be necessary that it shall be empowered by Ordinance so to do.

I need not impress upon you how much the prosperity of the Province depends upon the Port of Otago being rendered in every respect available for commerce: the direct loss which the Province has sustained by the want of a Dry Dock, and the neglect of Dredging is incalculable. It would be a wise and enlightened policy to spare no money in improving our Harbour, and to make the dues on shipping as light as possible.

You will be asked to make provision by which we may be enabled to resume Immigration on a large scale; and, in doing so, we must not lose sight of the fact that Capital as well as Labour is wanted.

Pastoral Leases under the new Land Act have been extensively taken up, and a large immediate revenue to the Province thereby secured. In granting these Leases, the Government by obtaining the consent of the Runholders to dispose of a large area of the most available land in the Runs over which the Leases have been granted, has made ample provision for settlement.

The system of supplementing District Road Rates at the rate of £2 to £1, as sanctioned by the late Council, has produced the very best results. A great many districts have already availed themselves of this provision, and I trust that we shall be able during the current year to meet all demands which may be made in this direction.

Among the important works for which you will be called upon to provide, and to which I deem it right especially to allude, is the formation of a track to the West Coast. I am glad to say that we have obtained the Provincial Government of Canterbury to form the track through that Province to the Haast. The opening of such a means of communication cannot fail to be of immense advantage to the mining population in both Provinces.

The construction of the Jetty at Oamaru has, I regret to say, been greatly delayed in consequence of unforeseen difficulties. The work has, however, again been resumed, and will, it is hoped, be brought to a speedy termination, although it is somewhat doubtful as to how far it will answer the object in view. I think provision should have been made for the construction of a breakwater—a work which, from the abundance of material upon the spot, could be constructed at a much smaller cost than is generally supposed. From enquiries at present pending, I am led to believe that £20,000 would be ample for this purpose—an amount of money trifling compared with the advantages to be derived from the work, enabling as it would vessels of large tonnage to load and discharge with safety in all weathers. The extent to which such a work would add to the value of the exports of this Province would, I believe, amply warrant a much larger immediate expenditure than that now indicated.

The Government has received many applications for assistance from the Dunedin Corporation. It is proposed to refer the consideration of these applications, and of the financial position of the city to a Select Committee.

There are various questions deeply affecting the moral welfare of the community—indeed, I may say its future safety—which it seems to me to be imperatively necessary that we should deal with at once. I would allude especially to the serious evil which is growing and festering in our midst, viz., the large number of children—the offspring of profligate parents—who may be said to be homeless, and who are being utterly neglected or trained up to vicious habits. It appears to me that the State must in self-defence take steps to repress this evil. It will cost us much less to do so now than it will by-and-by. I believe an industrial school, which might be made to a large extent self-supporting, would be the most effective remedy. There is an excellent site for such a purpose at Look-out Point, upon the thirty acres reserved for a lunatic asylum some years ago.

Another matter somewhat akin to this is the providing of some means whereby the convicts in our penal establishment may be classified, and the more hardened offenders be kept separate from younger and less experienced criminals. At present, instead of a reformatory, our penal establishment is more calculated to become a school for crime. It seems to me that a strong stockade will be the simplest and most economical way of meeting this difficulty. A Select Committee will be proposed to you, so that this most important question may be considered with a view to devising a remedy.

Another crying evil in our punitive system is the want of gaol accommodation which necessitates runaway seamen being herded with criminals of the deepest dye; it is an evil which is highly disgraceful to us as a community, and one which, I trust, will not be permitted to exist longer. With a view to obviate it, it is proposed to provide on the Estimates a sum for a small addition to the Lock-up at Port Chalmers, and to let runaway seamen undergo their sentences there.

With regard to the Gold Fields, it is unnecessary for me to refer to the action which the General Government has seen fit to adopt, in depriving the Provincial Government of their administration—the whole correspondence between the General Government and myself will be laid before you. The Executive Government, you are aware, has resisted this encroachment upon the rights of the Provincial legislature, in which course I feel assured that it will be amply borne out both in the Council and throughout the Province. It is difficult to discover for what reason the Gold Fields should have been treated as distinct from every other interest in the Province. Gold mining has become a settled industry, and the mining population are quite as much entitled to manage their own affairs, through their elected Superintendent and representatives in the Council as any other class or interest in the Province.

I feel assured the mining population will have the good sense to perceive that the attempts which are being made to alienate themselves and their interests from the rest of the Province, are neither intended nor calculated to benefit them, but, on the contrary, these attempts if successful will simply end in bringing the Province more completely under the yoke of the North, and in perpetuating the results which that connection has already produced. To test public opinion on this subject, an Ordinance will be submitted to you providing the means for taking the votes of the whole people of the Province, upon the question of whether the Province should still continue to control the Gold Fields.

In voting supplies for the Gold Fields Districts, I propose that we shall do so irrespective of the General Government action to which I have referred. It was the intention of the Executive, previous to that action, to have expended a large amount during the ensuing year upon roads and other public works on the Gold Fields, and although the non-sale of the Wakatipu Runs may to a certain extent interfere with this policy, yet, when the Estimates come before you it will be seen that liberal provision has been made in this direction.

You will be asked, in dealing with the revenue to apportion it fairly and equitably all over the Province; and not only to localise the expenditure, but wherever it can be accomplished to place the control of that expenditure under local management.

I have earnestly to recommend to you to be guided by a decentralising, diffusive policy, believing as I do that centralisation is not conducive to the interests of the Province.

It is impossible, I apprehend, that the present state of things can be permitted to continue much longer. Provincial Legislatures must either abrogate their functions, or assert their position by exercising the powers appertaining to them under the Constitution.

For my part, unless I am assured that the people of this Province deliberately desire it, I shall be no party to the abrogation of those functions. The Provincial system has a great work to perform, and it would be suicidal on the part of the people to relinquish it. It is said that the system has been extravagant and expensive. If so, it has been our own fault, and the remedy is in our own hands.

There are many important matters of a practical nature, with which it will be necessary to deal by Ordinance. It appears to me, however, that for the present it is expedient for us to confine our attention almost exclusively to administration. In the existing unsatisfactory state of the relations between the General and Provincial Governments, the probability is that our Ordinances would share the same fate as those of last Session; notwithstanding the fact that the Constitution Act confers upon us the power of making laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Province, provided such are not repugnant to the laws of England.

It is perfectly clear that if this Province is to progress, and make the most of its resources, it must be by means of the Provincial Legislature. We are far more competent to do for ourselves what the General Government is seeking to do for us, than it can possibly be. We can do so much more efficiently and much more economically.

The spirit and intention of the Constitution Act evidently is that the General Government should be federal in its action, and the circumstances of the Colony pointed to this as the advisable form of government, otherwise what necessity was there for creating distinct machinery for Provincial legislation?

The General Government, however, has overstepped the line, and its action has been, for the past nine years, gradually to undermine the Provinces—to involve them in an enormous debt, and in a permanent colonial expenditure from which they derive no practical benefit. It needs no great power of reflection to perceive that had the General Government confined itself to purely federal functions, the large amount of Customs and Stamp Duties now