NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)

Published by Authority.

VOL. XI.] FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1864. [No. 23.

SPEECH OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT ON OPENING THE FOURTH SESSION OF THIRD PROVINCIAL COUNCIL OF THE PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.

MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL,—

Recent events will I trust constitute a sufficient apology to you for my absence on the day appointed for the opening of this session; more especially, as I am enabled, by the visit I have paid to the scene of the late conflict, and by the intercourse I have held with the natives all along the West Coast, to speak with far greater confidence than I otherwise could have done, both as to the present and future prospects of the Province; and also, by my personal communications with the Honorable the Colonial Secretary, to submit to your consideration various important measures already stamped with the sanction of His Excellency's Government.

In reference to our relations with the native population of the Province, they have, as you are well aware, been of a very critical character during the past year, requiring on the part of the Government the utmost circumspection, discretion, and firmness. It is well known that a large proportion of the natives of this Province stood committed to the cause which, in the Provinces of Auckland and Taranaki, has involved its supporters in armed rebellion, and the probability of such an occurrence in this Province, I need not say, has been a subject of daily anxiety to myself and the officers of the General Government to whose administration the details of native affairs have been entrusted.

I am glad now to be able to report most favorably of our position.

The attack on Wanganui, threatened by a body of fanatics, infatuated by an insane delusion, evoked the loyalty of a large section of the natives of that district, who, to the number of nearly 400, took up arms in defence of the European population, and vigorously repelled the onslaught on that portion of the Province, which may be said to have already commenced by the downward march of the followers of the "false prophet."

The conduct of the friendly natives on this occasion entitles them to the highest commendation, and to our warmest gratitude; and it is not a little creditable to the European population at Wanganui, that upwards of twenty years intercourse with these natives should, at a period when so much dissatisfaction and distrust exist elsewhere, have resulted in the maintenance and exhibition of a disposition so thoroughly loyal and friendly. It will be my endeavour (as it has ever been) to co-operate with the General Government as to to promote and secure the continuance of such feelings between the two races who inhabit this Province.

Another event little, if any less satisfactory, has within the last few days occurred, in more immediate proximity to Wellington. The Ngatiawa chief, Wi Tako, who is known all through New Zealand as having been one of the most zealous supporters of the King movement, and who is, perhaps, the ablest man who has espoused that cause, has now abandoned it, and signed a declaration of allegiance to the Queen.

There is little doubt that this may be accepted as the abandonment of that cause by all its supporters between Wanganui and Hawke's Bay, and it will, I trust, be shortly followed by an announcement to that effect. I cannot quit this subject, without expressing my own firm conviction that, to the discretion of Wi Tako, and his firmness in holding back the less prudent members of his party, may be attributed almost entirely the fact that this Province has hitherto escaped being involved in the open hostilities which have inflicted so much damage and loss upon the settled districts of other parts of the Colony.

These facts and the entire success which appears to have attended the campaign in the Waikato, by which the large tribes of that district are