58

been frequently described—a vanishing quantity; it has actually vanished, so far as the Province is concerned, at any rate. I have not deemed it prudent to place any sum on the Estimates of this year as available for appropriation out of Capitation money, after making allowance for the payment of interest and sinking fund on our borrowed money. Now, had this state of things occurred in a year when the land revenue had happened to be small and no other provision had previously been made, the progress of the Province would have been absolutely arrested; for it would have been a violation of all prudent finance to borrow money for daily services such as I have indicated. Nor is a considerable fluctuation in the land receipts from year to year an imaginary event. Land revenue cannot be treated as a constant quantity; whereas the sources of revenue to which I have referred are reliable, and on an average tend to increase nearly in the same proportion as the requirements of the services for which they are specially raised. As an example of this, I refer you to a return in reference to the revenue derivable from the Kaiwarra tollbar during the last four years, from which it appears that there has been an increment of at the rate of more than 30 percent in four years on this branch of income which has accrued annually by an increasing series. (Appendix A.)

A fortunate foresight has guarded the Province against the disaster which might have occurred from the collapse of available contributions out of Colonial revenue. The extent of the self-reliance exhibited by the Province may best be tested when I state that the sum authorised to be raised this year is—

By Education Rate ... ... ... £6,000
By District Road Rate ... ... 8,298
By Tolls ... ... ... ... ... 6,850

Making a total of ... ... ... £21,148

Here you have the key to the policy which has extricated this Province from its difficulties and placed its affairs on a firm basis. Without it, your recommendations would probably not have been conceded: with it, you are enabled to face the collapse of a long accustomed source of revenue. These self-imposed burthens may sometimes be thought heavy; but the effort has fostered self-respect and an independent spirit of local autonomy, which are invaluable possessions to any community; and it has, moreover, been marked by practical success.

Having adverted to the general principle underlying the policy pursued in this Province, I pass on to a review of the practical administration during the last year. Appended to my speech you will find annual reports from the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Chief Surveyor, Provincial Engineer, Provincial Surgeon, Officer in charge of the Asylum, Inspector of Police, and Warden of the Gaol. (Appendices B. to H.)

These reports are more than usually voluminous, accurate, and painstaking, and will furnish you with the best possible account which can be rendered of the results of the administration in the departments over which the respective officers severally preside. I may unaffectedly state to the members of the Executive Government believe that success in administration depends upon constant earnest attention; that they set an example of this, and that it is gratifying to be able to state that their efforts are seconded (in the main) by a diligent and loyal staff of civil servants.

Although the recent sale of public land by auction occurred in the present financial year, yet, as the preparations for it were chiefly made during the past year, its success may fairly be claimed amongst the results of the past year’s administration. This success was most marked; the proceeds of the sale accruing to revenue on the day of auction and subsequent days amounting, as I am informed, to £24,984. Without detracting in any way from the credit due to the officers engaged in the preparation for sale and final disposal of the land in question, results so favorable to the Province, as I have been able to record, could not have been obtained had not a sound principle of disposal, previously initiated, been adopted and followed out. The credit of initiating this system belongs to the period of the administration of my predecessor, who referred to it in his speech to the Provincial Council in 1866, where he says, speaking of the commencement of the surveys of the Manawatu land, “that in conformity with the resolution of the Council, no land will be sold until it has been marked and numbered and the main district lines of road laid off.” Had the old system of disposal of the land been adopted, according to which land could be purchased before survey by a system of free selection in quantities, restricted only in a minimum direction, it is true that we might still have had to congratulate ourselves on effecting a large sale; but the tendency of such a system would have been to limit, instead of expand, the settlement of the land by a population, which must be regarded as the true object in the disposal of public lands. You will observe, therefore, that I do not consider it would have been so