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vincial institutions; that I do not believe in the adoption of a system of responsible
government in the conduct of the administration of the province. It is quite as much
as the colony can afford to indulge in the practice. So far as the provinces are concerned,
it has been an interesting experiment, but a failure; it has been played out. But the
occupation of the building in which we now meet for the first time presents another
interesting feature. Accommodation has been provided within these walls, not only
for the Provincial Council and Provincial Departments, but also for certain Local Departments of the Colonial Government, and for his Worship the Mayor of Wellington
and his City Council. Such an arrangement expresses that which, to my mind, is exactly
suitable to the administrative requirements of a country like New Zealand. The undivided
exercise of power is typical of a barbarous political existence; while the subdivision of
power is the mark of a higher political life. No doubt we are more exposed to the
dangers arising from jealous rivalries and antagonism under the latter order of things;
but the antidote consists in an unambitious co-operation. It is this spirit which the Provincial Government has endeavoured to practise and evoke; believing as it does that the
end of all good government consists in effective practical administration, rather than
the enunciation of sensational policies.

In order to enable you to form a judgment of the last year’s administration, I
must pass in review before you the leading results. When you imposed upon me the
duty of introducing certain measures into Parliament last session, I cheerfully accepted
the task, because I entirely concurred in your view, that the welfare of the province depended
in a great degree on the passing of those measures. At the same time I assure
you that I did not expect to find that those measures would have met with such
hostility in their passage through Parliament, recommended as they were by the almost
unanimous wish of the people of the Province. After, however, the successful issue
of the hard struggle to which they were exposed, I forbear complaint, not only
because if I resorted to it, I should thereby disregard the cheerful advice of the
proverb, but also and especially because I recognise the wisdom of putting the most
charitable construction possible on the political exigencies which demand opposition to
particular measures. At the same time I cannot omit the opportunity of recording my sense
of the cordial assistance which I received from the majority of the representatives of the
province in Parliament. And although it is true that the measures which you recommended
were shorn of their just proportions, yet, without the valuable aid to which I have referred,
it would have been idle, if not presumptuous, in me to have struggled alone, notwithstanding that the case of the province was unanswerable and in fact remained unanswered.
The result then of our efforts to carry out your wishes last session may be thus stated, viz.—
Money was authorized to be raised under the Wellington Debts Act to the extent of
£85,000, a sum estimated to be sufficient to cover your existing unsecured debts and
obligations, so far as then ascertained; but insufficient to enable you to undertake any
important new public works, other than the erection of an asylum, for which indeed the
vote has since been found to be insufficient. The best gauge by which to measure the
character of the treatment you received consists in this plain statement of the result of
last year’s operations, viz.—“The province of Wellington, after paying off the whole
of its unsecured debts and obligations, has actually paid £31,000 off the funded debt of
the province; which is equal to a reduction of the capital debt by 12½ per cent. The
debt, after deducting amounts paid in respect of Sinking Fund, was £246,000; it is now
£215,000.” The question naturally occurs, was it reasonable to deny to the province of
Wellington the power to borrow £15,000 for new public works? The statement which I
have just made verifies in an ample and remarkable manner the assertion of my predecessor
in office, when he declared that the embarrassment of the province was only temporary.
The means by which such a result as I have stated might be arrived at were indicated in
my opening speech last session. The words used were these:—“The Provincial Government
will make efforts to realise certain portions of the public estate which have lately
been unproductive.” Those efforts led to:—

1. The purchase by the Hon. Colonel Feilding
   of 100,000 acres of the provincial estate, for which he paid £75,000 to the General Government. (Appendix A.)

2. The purchase by the Corporation of the city of Wellington of a wharf and certain
   reclaimed land for £50,000. You will find appended to my speech certain returns, reports
   and correspondence, which will elucidate and corroborate my several statements where
   necessary. I now refer you to a return (Appendix B) which exhibits the extent to which
   each particular service provided for in the schedule to the Wellington Debts Act has
   already been discharged. In reference to this return I observe that the accounts between
   the General Government and the province have not yet been finally adjusted. You
   will be gratified to learn that the Hon. Mr. Vogel recently placed £66,000 of our Wellington
   Debentures on the Australian market at £102, being equal to 2 per cent premium; the
   debentures bearing interest at 5 per cent. This cannot be considered otherwise than as
   a satisfactory and successful operation. After the sale to the Hon. Colonel Feilding,
   the Provincial Government decided to request the General Government not to raise debentures
   to an extent beyond £75,000, as it wished for a release from the mortgage on certain
   lands; for which release the amount of the sale to Colonel Feilding undoubtedly entitled it
   to ask. An unexpected demand may, however, oblige the province to avail itself of the