road upon the old settled districts have
become, in the opinion of all those who are
most competent to form a judgment on the
subject, so small, as no longer to be worth
considering. Even the quarrelsome Ngati-rua-nui
tribe evidently desires peace, and
only offers resistance to the survey and
occupation of the land. There can be but
little doubt that the operations of the force
now on foot under Major MacDonnell will,
if accompanied by the offer of fair terms of
submission, lead to the final pacification of
the whole of the southern part of the
Province. From the northern districts,
such information as I have all tends to the
belief that the natives have had enough
of fighting and will surrender without
further opposition the lands which have
been taken from them.

Under these circumstances, I feel no
hesitation in saying that the time has come
when all the old farms and clearings ought
to be re-occupied, and I hope to see in this
coming spring and summer a great movement outwards. In spite of the heavy
expenses of freight and landing, we are
actually importing meat and breadstuffs,
cheese, butter, bacon, grass seed, and, in
fact, farm produce of almost all kinds, the
prices of many of these things being
enormously high. Surely, then, there can
be no want of encouragement to farming
enterprise.

As the consideration of the best manner
of disposing of the confiscated lands is
already engaging the attention of the
Legislature, and there are other matters
connected with the business of the province, such as the proposed investigation
of Dr. Samuel’s claims, the amendment of
the “Town of New Plymouth, Exchanges
Commission Act,” and various financial
arrangements, in respect of which my
presence may be some service, I intend
going to the Seat of Government, by the
steamer due on Thursday next. Amongst
other matters which I am anxious to
discuss with the Colonial Government, I
may mention that of carrying a railway
behind Mount Egmont from Patea to
New Plymouth. My attention has been
specially directed to the importance of
securing sufficient reserves of land to
induce a company to undertake this work,
and the merits of the project ought to be
considered at once, before other arrangements are made which might interfere
with it.

I find that I have omitted hitherto to
make any allusion to the sittings of the
Compensation Court under the New
Zealand Settlements Act, which have
recently been held in this Province.
Through the agency of the Court, or

rather by means of arrangements made
out of Court, and which the Court has
ratified, all the claims of friendly natives
for land taken between Stoney River and
the Waitara have been settled, without
money payments, and without taking for
the purpose any land beyond either of
those rivers. An oversight was made in
surrendering to the claimants in the
Oakura district all the reserves which had
been made for public purposes in and
around the townships; but even with the
whole of these the compensation given
cannot be considered as at all excessive.
Since the first agreement the natives have
consented to surrender about twelve acres
near each township to be applied to general
public purposes for the benefit of both
races.

In the Waitara district also the arrangement made is quite as favourable to the
Government as could have been hoped,
considering the large proportion which
the friendly claimants bear to the rebels
in that district. In this case the reserves
around the military townships have not
been touched, but the rural reserves together with the open land seaward of the
military settlements, and a moderate share
of the civil township have been surrendered
to the friendly natives. These lands are
given back to tribes or hapus, collectively,
and it remains for the Native Lands Court,
which is shortly to be opened here, to give
to each claimant who applies a separate
holding under Crown Grant. It is hardly
possible to over estimate the beneficial
change which this final settlement of
titles will produce in the condition of the
Province.

To sum up what has been said as to the
prospects of the Province as they now
appear, I think that in any event except
that of a general renewal of the war, which
I look upon as in the highest degree improbable, we may confidently calculate
upon a gradual but steady progress,
similar in kind to that which was taking
place before the war, but on a greatly
increased scale. The development of any
source of mineral wealth would no doubt
greatly stimulate this progress, but no such
stimulant is necessary. Granted only the
blessing of settled peace, and it will be
found that the healthy climate and kindly
soil of this beautiful Province are sufficient
inducements to attract immigrants of a
respectable class to our shores and to
guarantee the steady advancement of our
material prosperity.

I now declare this Council to stand
prorogued to Saturday, the first day of September next.