✨ Provincial Council Speech
NEW ZEALAND
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.
(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)
Published by Authority.
All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature thereto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those persons to whom they relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.
WILLIAM FITZHERBERT, Provincial Secretary.
VOL. VI.] TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1857. [No. 11]
SPEECH OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT OF WELLINGTON DELIVERED
AT THE OPENING OF THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL
TUESDAY, 9th JUNE, 1857.
MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL,—I have convened you thus unexpectedly in consequence of the “Scrip Extension,” and “Hutt Compensation” Acts having been disallowed, on the ground that they ought to have been reserved for the Governor’s assent.
As these Acts were passed for the purpose of affording redress to a numerous body of settlers, who have already entered into contracts and engagements, which this disallowance will prevent them fulfilling; I have felt it my duty, in order to obviate the disappointments and hardships which would otherwise be entailed, to lose no time in asking you to re-enact these measures upon the understanding that they will be reserved for His Excellency’s assent.
I at the same time gladly avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded, to call your attention to the singular plea, upon which the Act authorising me to raise an additional loan of £25,000, has also been disallowed, and by explaining the effect of that disallowance, to remove any anxiety in regard to it, that may possibly exist in the public mind.
The Colonial Secretary in his despatch of the 11th of April, intimates that it has been disallowed, because “the Loan intended to be raised under this Act, is for the express purpose, amongst other things, of constructing a Light House, while the 19th section of the Constitution Act prohibits any Provincial Legislature from making any law for the erection and maintenance of Light Houses.”
If however you will refer to the Constitution Act, you will find that it contains no such prohibition; but on the contrary, that it clearly places Harbor Lights under the control of the Provincial Councils. For as the rule adopted in the Constitution Act, (which confers upon the Provincial Legislature common as upon the General Assembly, a general power of legislation), is, not to specify the powers granted to the Provincial Councils, but to enumerate the powers expressly withheld from them, the same rule must be applied in construing the section relating to Light Houses. By that section, then, the Provincial Councils are restricted from making laws for the erection and maintenance,—not of Beacons and Light Houses—but of Beacons and Light Houses on the coast.
Next Page →
Wellington Provincial Gazette 1857, No 11
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🏛️ Speech of His Honor the Superintendent of Wellington
🏛️ Governance & Central Administration9 June 1857
Provincial Council, Scrip Extension Act, Hutt Compensation Act, Loan, Light House
- William Fitzherbert, Provincial Secretary
- William Fitzherbert, Provincial Secretary