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FOURTH PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

OPENING ADDRESS.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council.

Your meeting on this occasion possesses particular importance.

The embarrassments in which the province is now involved have resulted in a crisis that must be met by a decisive policy which, within a reasonable period, may be expected to afford relief. Conceiving it to be the duty of the Government at this juncture to state its views without reserve, your attention will be invited chiefly to the three following important subjects, viz., the embarrassed state of the province, the means of extrication, and the restoration of permanent prosperity.

The floating liabilities of the province amount to the sum of £35,000, a detailed statement of which will be laid before you. The official retrenchment has been carried to the verge of impairing efficiency, and I can hold out no hope of further reductions; but in one department — that of the Bluff Harbour — an increase must be proposed to secure its efficient conduct. It must be manifest, therefore, that retrenchment is not the solution of our difficulties. These I find to be such as to prevent the Government from turning to advantage the resources undoubtedly possessed by the province, and to impede the healthy settlement of the country. Emigration from, rather than immigration into, the province appears to prevail; and should the present unhealthy state of the public credit continue, I see no hope of the latter being resumed, or the former discontinued. The provincial estate cannot be utilized, the public creditor is unpaid, the salaries of the public servants are many months in arrear, and the ordinary revenue is wholly insufficient to provide for the necessary machinery of Government.

The utter futility of continuing for any lengthened period to carry on the government of the province under such circumstances must be apparent to you. It therefore becomes your duty to devise the best means of extricating us from our humiliating position, and placing this part of the colony in the position of importance which its natural resources entitle it to occupy. Two courses appear open to you, viz., direct local taxation, or re-union with Otago. As regards the first, a considerable sum would require to be raised for general purposes alone without meeting the requirements of the country for roads, education, and municipal improvements. In the opinion of the Government, a population of 7500 people could not, without entirely crushing its energies, bear so heavy a burden, and this proposition will probably not be entertained by you. The other alternative, that of re-union with Otago, will, in the opinion of the Government, furnish the only solution of the difficulties by which we are beset. Resolutions recommending this course — upon the basis contained in the report of the Commissioners appointed on behalf of the two provinces — will be proposed for your adoption. Upon that basis re-union is alike feasible and honorable, and would secure the interests of every section of the community, achieve a real independence, relieve your Government of the disgrace of contracting liabilities it has not the power of liquidating, and offers a reasonable prospect of the speedy settlement of the country. I have, therefore, to ask you to consider the subject calmly and dispassionately, divesting your minds of political antipathies. We have reached a period in our political career which admits of no trifling. Elected on a special question, with a community anxiously looking to you for guidance.