Wellington Provincial Gazette – 1869 – No. 15

Page 91

✨ Provincial Council Speech

NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)

Published by Authority.

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

A. FOLLETT HALCOMBE,
Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XVI. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1869. No. 15

Speech of His Honor the Superintendent on opening the fifth session of the fourth Provincial Council of the Province of Wellington.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council—

I need scarcely assure you that it is a matter of deep regret to me that the anticipations I indulged in on opening your last session, that the depression then existing would by this time have ceased and your finances have been re-established, have not been realized; but it is still more painful to me to be unable to express even a hope of the Colony emerging from its present difficulties as long as the present policy is pursued.

It will not, I think, be denied, that never since its foundation has the Colony been placed in so critical a position and with so little prospect before it of any immediate relief. It is no doubt unpleasant, if not humiliating to make such admissions, both because the grave disasters which have befallen us are undoubtedly in a great measure attributable to the colonists themselves, and also, because to retrace our steps, if not impossible, is beset with almost insuperable difficulties; but still, however wedded we may be to our past opinions, however disposed blindly and doggedly to adhere to them, it is not the less our duty, not to shut our eyes to the realities of our position, to the magnitude of the emergency—not to persevere in a line of action which has already been so ruinous, unless we are thoroughly satisfied that it will ultimately prove the wisest and safest course.

Without discussing the wisdom of the policy of Confiscation adopted in 1863, or whether it would not have been infinitely more prudent to have substituted for it the principle of Cession, it will be admitted that Confiscation necessarily implied the power to hold and occupy the lands. Has the Colony ever had or has it now this power? How much of the confiscated lands, whether on the West or East Coast do we at this moment retain possession of? What chance have we of reconquering it, and if so at what cost? These are questions that force themselves upon our consideration, but to which I fear no satisfactory answers can be given by the Colony.

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