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any rate to prohibit any further sales of pastoral
land at 5s. an acre, I beg to invite your special
attention to the facts contained in the very able
report of the Crown Lands Commissioner,
which will be at once placed in your hands. He
shows, that while between the years 1853 and
1859, 315,532 acres were sold, in consideration
of £115,702, and Crown Grants prepared for
only 36,726 acres of the total quantity thus
disposed of; that between the years 1859 and 1865
411,838 acres have been disposed of, in consideration of £163,316, exclusive of 151,535 acres
of pastoral land applied and deposited for, and
representing at least £37,000 of revenue, and
further, that during the same period Crown
Grants have been prepared for 241,796 acres; in
other words, he shows that one-third more
land was sold and Crown Grants prepared for
more than six times the quantity of land during
the second period than during the first, and that
whereas during the second period Crown Grants
were prepared for land exceeding in amount
half the total quantity sold therein, they were
only prepared during the first period to the
extent of ⅛th of the quantity of land sold, leaving
arrears to the extent of ⅞ths. After stating
that the increase in the amount of land sales in
the second over the first period is attributable
to the sales of 5s. land, he points out, in order
to correct the misapprehension which has existed
in the public mind in reference to the system of
disposal by auction of pastoral lands at the upset
price of 5s. an acre, that the system has already
yielded to the Treasury £85,967, to which is to
be added a sum of at least £37,000 for lands
under process of sale, making a total of
£122,967 being proceeds from sales of pastoral
lands, as compared with £74,681 proceeds from
sale of all other descriptions of lands (town
suburban and rural) sold within the Province
during the same period.

In order to estimate the effect of the expenditure of £123,000 on the progress of public
works throughout the Province, it is necessary
to admit the current year into the account, as a
part of the proceeds are still accruing, and it
will then be a simple calculation to determine
the extent to which the construction of main
and district lines of road would have been
affected, on the assumption that a sum of
£123,000, being at the rate of nearly £18,000 per
annum for seven years, had had to be subtracted
from the net sums made available for these
services. To these remarks of the Commissioner I will simply add that should the proposal to prevent any further sales by auction of
pastoral lands at the upset price of 5s. be adopted by you, my estimate of the territorial
revenue for the current financial year must be
reduced from £48,000 to £18,000, and that the
inevitable result of such a reduction will be, if
not to involve the Province in financial difficulties, at any rate to render the execution of many
public works urgently required, absolutely impossible.

I may here observe that Mr. Stewart with a
considerable staff has recently commenced the
survey of Awahou and Manawatu Blocks, but
that in conformity with the resolution of the
Council no land will be sold until it has been
mapped and numbered, and the main district
lines of road laid off.

Having in accordance with the resolution of
the Council appointed an Inspector of Schools, I
am for the first time enabled to place you in
possession of an official report on the present
condition of all the Common Schools of the
Province. While the late Inspector frankly
points out the evils which obtain under the
present system of administration of the Educational Grants, and the great difficulties with which the School
Committees have to contend with, in scarcity of
funds, in want of respectable and efficient masters, in their regularity of attendance, and especially in the ignorance of their duties in the
organising body, he at the same time clearly shows
how these evils may be remedied, and the difficulties in a great degree removed. And we
gather from his report these facts, that the number
of Common Schools established with the
assistance of the Government is twenty-four,
the nominal returns from which show a number
of 1016 scholars on the rolls, and an average
daily attendance of 734, or rather more than
two-thirds of the whole; that besides these
twenty-four schools there is every reason to believe that four more at least will be immediately
established in country districts in various parts
of the Province, and that then there will be no
district in which there is a sufficient population
to justify the erection of a school establishment
without the means of educating the children
therein; that the whole of these schools have
been called into existence since the passing of
the Education Act of 1856, before which time
no means of educating their children was placed
within the reach of the population of the Province at large, and further, that judging by
the very general adoption of its provisions, the
Education Act of 1855, with its amendment in
the year 1857, permitting religious instruction
to be given to the scholars under certain simple
conditions, seems to meet with the almost universal approval of the inhabitants of the Province.

These facts, coupled with the intimation that
there is a growing recognition on the part of
parents of their duty to give their children the best
education within their reach, and an equally
strong desire that the standard of education
should be raised, surely justify me in saying that
our educational system has not only been attended with great success, but that it is the greatest boon yet conferred on the Province by its
Legislature.

I shall also, in justification of the policy hitherto pursued of encouraging the formation of
District Highways Boards, of holding out every
possible inducement to the inhabitants of each
district to take upon themselves the management of their own peculiarly local concerns, lay
before you full reports from the various Boards
of Wardens; and when you find that there are
at present in existence twenty-nine of these
Local Boards, that during the past year thirty-three miles
have been formed and metalled, that the total
length of the district roads is 155 miles,
that since 1857 the taxes raised amount to
£12,018, the aid given by the Government during the same period having been £26,264, and
that the estimated amount of the rates for the
current year is £4,600, I feel assured that you
will readily support me in the attempt I have
made in the preparation of the present estimates
to continue to them the same liberal assistance
hitherto afforded. Nor is the report upon the
lines of road constructed exclusively out of the
revenue of the Province less satisfactory, their
total length being 350 miles, which, added to the
district roads, gives a total length of roads in the
Province of 286 miles. Considering the large
sum required for keeping these roads in repair,
I should gladly submit to you the proposal
made last year to tax lands abutting upon trunk
lines could I indulge in any reasonable expectation that it would meet with a more favorable reception.

While the settlers in the country, and also in
the town of Wanganui, have thus shown their
willingness to assist themselves, some of the
Boards having levied the maximum rate authorised by law, it can scarcely be denied that the
inhabitants of this city, now the seat of Government, have evinced a strong disinclination to tax
themselves even for the most necessary and purely
municipal purposes, and yet the improvements
already affected by the Town Board with the
half-penny rate so reluctantly granted, show how
much could be done if a slight increase of taxation
were submitted to. It is to be hoped that the
fatal epidemic which has so long prevailed
amongst us will have so deeply impressed
the minds of all with the necessity of sanitary
measures that there will no longer be a reluctance to provide adequate funds, or to clothe