NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)

Published by Authority.

VOL. XI.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1864. No. 49.

Report of the Commissioners appointed to determine the site for the Seat of Government.

Provincial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 24th October, 1864.

HIS Honor the Superintendent directs the publication of the following report, addressed to His Excellency the Governor by the Commissioners appointed to determine the Site for the Seat of Government, for general information.

J. WOODWARD,
Acting Provincial Secretary.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Auckland, October 17, 1864.

His Excellency the Governor directs the publication of the accompanying letter, with its enclosures, from the Commissioners appointed to report upon a site in Cook’s Straits for the Seat of Government.

WILLIAM FOX.

Government Buildings, Nelson,
3rd October, 1864.

SIR,—We have the honor to transmit to Your Excellency a report upon the site for the Seat of Government of New Zealand, in Cook’s Strait; a subject which was submitted for our consideration in the commission with which Your Excellency honored us on the 29th July last.

We have the honor to be, &c.,

FRANCIS MURPHY,
JOSEPH DOCKER,
RONALD C. GUNN,

Commissioners for selecting a site for the Seat of Government.

His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.B., &c., &c., &c.

By His Excellency Sir George Grey, Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty’s Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c., &c., &c.

To the most Honorable Joseph Docker, member of the Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales; the Honorable Sir Francis Murphy, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Colony of Victoria; and Ronald Campbell Gunn, Esquire:

Whereas, on the thirtieth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, the honorable the Legislative Council of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled, did resolve that the address hereafter set forth should be presented to me, and the same was accordingly presented, that is to say—

“May it please your Excellency,

We, the Legislative Council of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled, desire respectfully to express to your Excellency our strong conviction that the time has arrived when it has become imperatively necessary for the good government of the whole colony, and for the maintenance of its unity, that the permanent position of the seat of Government should now be settled.

We are of opinion that the just claims and varied necessities of all parts of the colony require that the seat of Government should be placed in a central position... somewhere upon the shores of Cook’s Straits. We desire that the actual site of the capital should be submitted to some independent tribunal by which the interests of the whole colony may be impartially considered, apart from those local claims which are sure to be asserted by the several settlements of Cook’s Straits in the discussion of a question so important to their respective interests.

Impressed with the conviction that continued delay in the settlement of this question will only tend to keep alive those feelings of rivalry and jealousy between different parts of the colony, which seriously impede the action of Responsible Government, and which threaten at no distant period the dismemberment of the colony, we respectfully but earnestly pray your Excellency will cause no time to be lost in giving effect to the foregoing resolutions in such a manner as to your Excellency may seem expedient.”

And whereas on the twenty-fifth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, the House of Representatives of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled, did resolve that the address hereafter set forth should be presented to me, and the same was accordingly presented, that is to say—

“May it please your Excellency,

We, the Commons of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled, desire respectfully to express to your Excellency our strong conviction that the time has arrived when it has become imperatively necessary for the good government of the whole colony, and for the maintenance of its unity, that the permanent position of the seat of Government should now be finally settled.

We are of opinion that the just claims and varied necessities of all parts of the colony require that the seat of Government should be placed in a central position, that is to say... somewhere upon the shores of Cook’s Straits. We desire that the actual site of the capital should be submitted to some independent tribunal by which the interests of the whole colony may be impartially...