NEW ZEALAND.

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)

Published by Authority.

All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signatures thereto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those persons to whom they relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

WILLIAM HICKSON,
Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XIII. WEDNESDAY, 11th JULY, 1866. No. 19.

SPEECH OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT ON CLOSING THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FOURTH PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council,

Having already assented to—

"An Act (No. 2) to alter and amend an Act to make void the election of certain members of the Provincial Council, Session 1, No. 26"

I beg now to intimate that I have also on behalf of the Governor, assented to the following Acts passed by you during the present session, viz.—

"An Act (No. 6) to indemnify the Superintendent of the Province of Wellington for the expenditure of certain monies for the Civil Government and public works and undertakings of the said Province."

"An Act (No. 7) to grant a retiring allowance to John Wallace."

"An Act (No. 8) to amend an Act of Session 13, No. 10 of the Provincial Council, Wellington, entitled, 'an Act to amend the Licenses Ordinances in force in the Province of Wellington.'"

"An Act (No. 10) to amend and consolidate the laws relating to scab, cathar, and sheep inspectors."

"An Act (No. 12) to appropriate the revenue of the Province of Wellington for the year commencing the 1st day of April, 1866, and ending the 31st day of March, 1867."

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

"An Act (No. 1) to provide for the management of the Hutt Public Park and Race Course."

"An Act to authorise the Superintendent to raise a loan and to provide a sinking fund for the redemption thereof."

"An Act (No. 4) to provide for the management of the Wairarapa Race Course."

"An Act (No. 5) authorising His Honor the Superintendent, with the advice of his Executive Council, to enter into a contract with any person or company for the construction of a railway from the City of Wellington to the Hutt District."

"An Act (No. 9) to incorporate the Board of Works for the City of Wellington and for other purposes."

"An Act (No. 11) to authorise the Superintendent to raise a loan for the purpose of extinguishing the Native Title to land in the Manawatu and other districts."

Believing, as I do, that, in common with other Provincial Legislatures, we have fallen into the error of placing upon our Statute Book laws hastily framed and passed, I feel induced to congratulate you upon the increasing disposition of the Council to confine its legislation, as far as possible, to amending and consolidating acts.

In the Scab enactment of the present session you have repealed no fewer than five Acts, and have substituted for them a law intelligible to all. I sincerely hope that, when you next meet, the Government may be found prepared to submit to you Consolidation Acts on other subjects.

While fully concurring with you in the expediency of raising the price of land, I should have been glad if ample notice had been given of the change, for I believe that a very considerable extent of land would, in the course of the next few months, have been sold at ten shillings an acre which will not be bought at £1 an acre, thus causing a very material falling off in the estimate of your territorial revenue for the current financial year.

I trust you will pardon me for saying that I very much fear that the occupation clause, under which his claim may be occupied during which the land must be occupied before he is entitled to a Crown grant, will, by letting in mere speculators, tend very seriously to mar the success of the Small Farm Associations. This fear is now fully participated in by the promoters of the movement, who have not yet been able to see their way clearly out of the difficulty. I feel much pleasure in presenting to you the petition, praying you to reconsider your decision.

But by this as it may, it is satisfactory to know that under the system upon which the Awahou and Upper Manawatu blocks will shortly be brought into the market, all bona fide settlers will have ample opportunity of locating