✨ Provincial Council Address
Although the financial position of the Province is one which will require that you
should exercise great prudence and economy,
I cannot consent to look only on the darker
side of the picture, neither, I think, is it even
wise to do so. The great progress which in
this one season has been made in the rural districts is most encouraging to those who are in-
terested in the welfare of the Province, and
who from the number of years during which
its fertile soil has been lying waste have per-
haps almost forgotten how great its resources
are. It is my firm conviction that unless
fresh and unforeseen misfortunes should over-
take the settlement, a very few years will
see it in a far more flourishing condition than
it has ever hitherto reached. I was formerly
inclined to suspect my own opinions as to the
special advantages of the district in which I
have fixed my home of partiality, but am
glad to be able to say that those opinions
have been frequently and fully confirmed by
the views of others well accustomed to judge
of such matters, and having no bias in favour
of this settlement, who have expressed them-
selves to me as to the future prospects of this
part of New Zealand in stronger terms than
I should myself have ventured to use. I
believe it has been in a great measure, a well-
founded faith in the future prosperity of this
district which has enabled the settlers of Tara-
naki to bear up as they have done under
their singular and protracted trials. What-
ever misfortunes we ourselves may undergo,
and however slow the progress of events may
seem, we feel that we have established our-
selves in a place where our families will find
a sure field for profitable industry; and as a
great part of the anxiety of most people re-
sults from the honourable desire to provide
for the welfare of their children, this faith in
the future of the Province has proved a great
support to many in present troubles. But
although the good time for Taranaki ap-
proaches perhaps rather more slowly than
we should wish, I hope and believe that most
of us will live to see it ourselves, and need
not consider it as deferred until our children
fill our places.
The settlement is now recovering from an
almost mortal sickness. It is now in the
trying period of convalescence, when
the patient’s temper and spirits are put to a
heavy strain. But if this period is passed
through with the same fortitude which was
displayed by the community during the
height of its troubles, I can see no reason
whatever to doubt that a more vigorous life
than it has yet known will in a few years be
the reward of so much endurance.
H. R. RICHMOND,
Superintendent.
Printed and published, under the authority of the Provincial Government, by Messrs. WOON and
ATKINSON, of the Town of New Plymouth, Government Printers for the time being.
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Taranaki Provincial Gazette 1866, No 19
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Provincial Council Address on Financial and Legislative Matters
(continued from previous page)
🏛️ Governance & Central AdministrationProvincial Council, Financial Statement, Legislative Measures, Sheep Bill, Cattle Bill, Roads and Bridges Ordinance, Confiscated Lands, Land Disposal, Land Fund, Land Purchase Fund, Allocated Debt, Customs Revenue, Charitable Aid, Public Works, Government Expenditure
- H. R. Richmond (Superintendent), Author of the address
- H. R. Richmond, Superintendent
- Messrs. Woon and Atkinson, Government Printers