NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)

Published by Authority.

J. WOODWARD,
ACTING PROVINCIAL SECRETARY

VOL. X.] SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1863. [No. 25]

SPEECH OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

ON CLOSING THE
THIRD SESSION OF THE THIRD PROVINCIAL COUNCIL OF THE PROVINCE
OF WELLINGTON.

MR SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PROVINCIAL
COUNCIL—

I beg to intimate that I have assented on behalf
of the Governor to the following Acts, viz:—

An Act to provide for the Management of Public
Cemeteries.

An Act to Provide for the Management of the
Wairarapa Race Course.

An Act to Amend the District Highways Act, 1852.

An Act to make provision for the inspection of
Cattle previous to exportation, and for regulating
the driving thereof.

An Act to enable Landowners to drain their lands.

An Act to authorise the Superintendent to purchase Land to satisfy the awards of the Compensation Committee.

An Act to appoint John Morrison, Esq., of Adelaide Place, King William-street, in the City of
London, to be Agent for the Province of Wellington.

An Act to bring into operation the Wellington
Town Board Act.

An Act to Appropriate the Revenue of the Province of Wellington for the year commencing
the 1st day of April, 1863, and ending the 31st
day of March, 1864.

An Act to Amend the existing Dog Nuisance Act.

And further, that I have reserved the following
Acts for the Governor’s assent, viz:—

An Act to establish Marine Boards for Ports in
the Province.

An Act to authorise the construction of a bridge
over the Wanganni River and levying Tolls on
Traffic over the same.

Some of these Acts will, I have no doubt, be
hailed with great satisfaction. The Drainage Act,
which in its present form, can only be regarded as
a tentative measure, will, I believe, be found wherever it is brought into operation, to confer such
important benefits as will justify you, in a future
session, more fully to develop the principle embodied in it.

The readiness with which you have not merely
agreed to the proposal made by the inhabitants of
Wanganui in regard to their bridge, but have conceded to them far more liberal terms than they
themselves had ventured to ask, will, I feel assured, be warmly appreciated by them, and will
induce them to lose no time in commencing that
great work upon a well considered plan.

Though I doubt the expediency of increasing
the number of the City Commissioners from six
to nine, and still believe that three paid Commissioners would have been more effective, I may
be permitted again to express a hope that the
inhabitants of Wellington, with the certainty they
have now of a considerable revenue accruing from
the Town Belt, with the promise of a grant, in
aid which will in all probability be equal to the
amount of the local assessment and with a large
amount of prison labour virtually at the disposal of the Town Board, will no longer hesitate to
take upon themselves the management of their own
local affairs.

The necessity of having some one in England
authorised to act on behalf of the Province, in
advising and assisting intending Emigrants, and in
diffusing information respecting its resources and
capabilities, has been so long felt, that I do most
sincerely congratulate you upon the appointment
of one so eminently qualified to discharge all the
duties of agent as Mr J. Morrison. It cannot fail
to be most gratifying to him, that the desire he
has ever evinced to promote our interests, and the
services he has in many ways already rendered,
should at length have been acknowledged by the
present appointment being conferred without any
solicitation on his part, and by the unanimous
voice of the Legislature.

That the scheme of Immigration proposed by
the Select Committee will be attended with even
a moderate success, is to my mind more than
doubtful. "Single men" may possibly be in a
position to avail themselves of the terms offered;
but it is vain to expect that "single women" or
"married couples" of the strictly labouring class
can do so. It appears to me that it would have
been better to have accepted Mr Morrison’s
proposal as far as single men are concerned, but with
respect to single females and married couples, to
have required them to pay not more than half the
passage money, giving promissory notes for the
other moiety. With a judicious selection the
amount of the promissory note would in each
case have been so trifling that no difficulty would
have been experienced in recovering it. As I
gather, however, from the debates that the Government is not precluded, in the event of the
Committee’s proposal being found impracticable,
from adopting some other system—I shall not
hesitate in such a case to modify the Committee’s
terms in the manner I have just mentioned. Under
any circumstances I propose to supplement the
Committee’s scheme by at once notifying, that the
Government will be prepared to assist settlers desirous of bringing out their friends and relatives.