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for the construction of different public works without exceeding the amount voted. A detail of the particulars of the unauthorised expenditure will be laid before you.

In the department of Roads, the works have been carried on systematically, and a considerable extent of country will be opened up when the works now in progress shall have been completed. The extension of the road by the Mataura, above the Ferry, opens up to this place, as the converging point, a wide extent of country, both in this Province and in that of Otago. The line of road to the Bluff is now in process of being surveyed, and I trust that it will be practicable for vehicles through its whole extent before another year passes. The completion of this line I conceive to be of the utmost importance to the interests of the whole Province, and I have placed a large sum on the Estimates with the view of having it completed and made practicable at the earliest possible time.

The Survey staff has been constructed under the able direction of the Chief Surveyor, and the recent acquisition of various indispensable instruments will now permit it to get fairly into working order. I trust that in a short time the surveys will be well in advance of the sales, and a steady progress maintained in the sectional survey of the available agricultural country within twenty miles of the coast. This, when accomplished, will prevent the confusion and heartburnings which are so readily engendered when unsurveyed land is sold to any considerable extent.

A fresh survey of the Harbours, although as yet incomplete, will put the Government in possession of information which will enable it to determine the proper positions of various buoys and beacons; some of those which have been formerly laid down do not appear to have been advantageously placed, and the late unfortunate accident at the entrance of the river appears to be in some degree attributable to defects in the position and appearance of those beacons, which do not very distinctly indicate the exact course which ought to be followed. The reports of the Chief Surveyor on this and some points connected with the Bluff Harbour shall be laid before you.

The vote of £1000, as a reward for the discovery of a paying Gold field, which you passed in the last session, has lapsed without the appearance of a single claimant. A considerable extent of the Province has been explored with this view. Gold in small quantities has been found in nearly all places, but it does not appear that any person has as yet found it in quantities sufficient to enable him to declare a paying Gold Field. I have not placed any sum on the Estimates for this year as a reward for the discovery of a gold field.

The Disease in Cattle has not appeared in this Province. I am informed that the disease is extending in Australia. The Regulations for its prevention which I have thought necessary to proclaim, under the authority of the “Diseased Cattle Act, 1861,” will be laid before you. That Act superseded the necessity for any Provincial Ordinances on the subject; and all such Provincial Ordinances have accordingly been disallowed. The “Diseased Cattle Ordinance, 1861,” however was not the only Bill passed in this Council during its former session, to which the Governor has declined to assent. The “Loan Ordinance” and the “Provincial Government Ordinance” have also been disallowed. The correspondence on this subject will be laid before you. The prosperous condition of the Provincial Revenues renders a Loan Ordinance unnecessary for the present—and, with some modifications, the Provincial Government Ordinance will be again introduced in this session.

The “Immigration and British Agent Ordinance” has been returned with a message from His Excellency the Governor to this Council, recommending an amendment, which I will communicate to you. To the “Appropriation Ordinance, 1861,” His Excellency has been pleased to give his assent.

It was the intention of the Government of Southland to examine and consider all the Provincial laws now in force in this Province, and during the recess to alter and consolidate those, and draw up such other Ordinances as might appear to be required at the time that this Council next assembled. This object has been kept in view, and a number of Bills will be laid before you; but there are yet a few other measures which the Government has considered it advisable to abstain from bringing forward at the present moment, upon which, nevertheless, it will be desirable that legislation should take place in a future session, and thus obviate the necessity of having to refer to the Statute Book of any other Province for the purely Provincial laws.

To one only of the measures which will be brought under your consideration in this session, I will now briefly advert. The “Education Bill” proposes to divide the Province into Educational Districts, each of which is to be of no greater area than will admit of children from all parts of it attending a school centrally situated within it. As population increases, additional schools will be established in each district when necessary. School reserves shall be made in each district, the revenues accruing from which shall be applicable for educational purposes within the district in which they arise. Half the cost of the school buildings originally erected in each district to be borne by the Government, the other half by the ratepayers in the district, who will thereafter maintain them. The salaries of the teachers to be borne in part by the Government, in a ratio inversely proportioned to the extent of settlement in the district.

The position of the Government will be this:—It will initiate the Educational System, and bring it into operation in every district, support it for a time to the extent necessary to render it effective, and gradually withdraw that aid as each district becomes more wealthy, and better able to maintain its schools; but always reserving to the Education Committee the supervision of all the schools—a condition which is of vital importance; for experience has shown that careful and frequent inspection is absolutely essential to the prosperous and effective working of any Educational system; and in carrying out the principles of this Bill, I conceive that the Government will fulfil its duty of placing the means of education within the reach of all.

The Estimates for the next nine months will be laid before you. They have been prepared with due consideration. The prosperous state of the revenue will allow of very considerable sums being applied to the construction of roads which will connect the port