16

There remains one point on which you undoubtedly are
entitled to precise information. I refer to the mission
which I have been requested to undertake by the General
Government. I regret, however, that I am not, and shall
not for some days be in a position to state whether or
not I shall proceed next month to England. Should I do
so, I need scarcely assure you that my services will be
at the disposal of the Province. But under any circumstances, as there would be a manifest inconvenience in the
Provincial Council meeting during a session of the
General Assembly, I propose, with your concurrence, to
ask His Excellency’s Ministers for an early dissolution,
with a view of permitting a session of the Council to be
held in April.

I. E. FEATHERSTON,
Superintendent.
Superintendent’s Office,
Wellington, 18th January, 1865.

SPEECH OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT ON CLOSING THE TWELFTH SESSION OF THE WELLINGTON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council,—

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

An Act to authorize the Superintendent to convey to Her
Majesty certain land in the town of Wellington, held
by him in trust for purposes of public utility.

An Act to authorize the Superintendent to sell to Her
Majesty certain property held by him for the use of the
Province.

An Act to increase the sum authorised to be expended in
extending and improving the Public Wharf, at Wellington, by the Appropriation Act, 1864-5.

An Act to grant a piece of land to the Loyal Wanganui
Lodge of Odd Fellows.

An Act to extend the time allowed for raising the amount
authorised by Act, Session X., No. 6, for constructing
a bridge over the Wanganui River.

An Act to confirm certain sales of parts of the reclaimed
land in the harbor of Wellington, made by the Superintendent.

An Act to authorise the Superintendent to purchase the
piece of land adjoining the town of Wellington, commonly known as the Wesleyan Reserve, for the purposes
of a park or recreation ground.

I have reserved the following Act for the signification of
His Excellency’s pleasure thereon, viz :—

An Act to amend the Representation Act, 1864.

Brief as this your last session has been, it will, I venture
to say, ever be referred to as marking an important epoch
in the history of the Colony, and especially of this Province.
Called together for the purpose of facilitating the removal
of the Seat of Government to the geographical centre of
these Islands, you have in the terms on which you have
handed over the Provincial Government Buildings to the
General Government, and in making a free gift of 190 acres
for the Governor’s residence, evinced a spirit of wise
liberality, which I doubt not will be fully recognised and
appreciated by the Government of the Colony.

The concessions you have so gracefully made to Wanganui will, I trust, not only eradicate all desire for the further
dismemberment of the Province, but will also remove
any bitterness of feeling which the Separation movement
may possibly have engendered. Should such happily be
the result of your conciliatory overtures, there is not the
slightest reason why a tender for the erection of the
Wanganui Bridge should not be at once accepted.

While owing to my ignorance of the precise state of the
negotiations at present pending between His Excellency’s
Government and the Agent of the Panama, New Zealand,
and Australian Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, for
the establishment of a Panama Mail service, I have been
precluded from bringing the matter under your considera-
tion during the present Session, I shall not hesitate,
acting in concert with the Government of Canterbury, to
avail myself, if necessary, of the powers conferred upon me
by your resolution of last session; being perfectly confident
that any action taken by Canterbury and Wellington to
secure such an inestimable boon, will be readily ratified and
confirmed by the General Assembly.

After having intimated to you the possibility of my
shortly proceeding to England, it is a very great relief to
me to be able now to announce that after due deliberation
I have abandoned any such intention for the present.

And now it only remains for me to assure you of my
warm appreciation of the flattering testimony you have
just borne to my administration of the Government of the
Province during a period of nearly twelve years—to tender
you my sincere thanks for the cordial co-operation you have
ever afforded me, and to congratulate you upon being in the
proud position—should our fellow-settlers not deem us
worthy of a renewal of the confidence they have hitherto
reposed in us—of being able to hand over the Province to
our successors with all the great objects for which many of
us have so long striven, either already achieved or in process
of accomplishment—with its finances in a sound and
prosperous condition, and with a bright and I trust glorious
future before it.

I now declare that this Council do stand prorogued.

I. E. FEATHERSTON,
Superintendent.
Superintendent’s Office,
Wellington, 24th January, 1865.

Importation of Cattle from Taranaki Prohibited.

PROCLAMATION.

By His Honor Isaac Earl Featherston,
Esquire, Superintendent of the Province of Wellington, in the Colony of
New Zealand.

ISAAC EARL FEATHERSTON, by virtue
of the powers vested in me in this behalf, do
hereby proclaim and declare that after the date
hereof the Province of New Plymouth shall be
deemed to be an infected District within the meaning
and for the purposes of the “Diseased Cattle
Act, 1861,” and that no cattle after the date hereof
shall be imported by vessel or otherwise into the Province of Wellington from such District.

Given under my hand, and issued
under the Public Seal of the
Province of Wellington, at
Wellington, this twenty-fifth
day of January, 1865.

I. E. FEATHERSTON,
Superintendent.

By His Honor’s command,
J. WOODWARD,
Acting Provincial Secretary.

Election of Wardens, Upper Rangitiki Road Board.

Provincial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 20th January, 1865.

NOTICE is hereby given that it has been duly
certified to this Office that the Annual Meeting of the Rate-payers of the Upper Rangitiki District was held on the 10th day of January instant, at the Court House, Mardsen, when the following persons were elected as Wardens for the ensuing term of two years, viz:—

Mr. Halecombe, Chairman
C. Galpin
O. Lattorf
Hunt
Wm. Still
J. Lambert.

J. WOODWARD,
Acting Provincial Secretary.