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.

HENRY BUNNY,
Provincial Secretary.

VOL. XX. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1873. No. 30.

Speech of His Honor the Superintendent on opening the Twenty-fifth Session of the Wellington Provincial Council.

MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL,—

In obedience to your wishes, as expressed by resolution, I introduced, during the last session of the Colonial Legislature, a Bill intituled “An Act to authorise the raising of a Loan of two hundred and ten thousand pounds, for the purpose of constructing certain Works of public utility in the Province of Wellington, and for charging the sum so borrowed against the said Province.”

No time was lost in the introduction of the Bill; no opportunity was omitted of advancing it through its different stages; and no efforts were spared in the endeavour to make it become law. In these exertions to carry out your wishes I received the able and cordial support of the great majority of the members representing constituencies in this Province.

Notwithstanding, the passage of the Bill was obstructed by repeated postponements and vexatious delays, and the Bill itself ultimately rejected.

I do not propose now to invite you to inquire into the question of who was to blame for this failure and disappointment. I refrain from doing so, because the inquiry could lead to no immediate practical result.

Under the circumstances to which I have referred, it became the duty of the Provincial Executive to consider seriously the position in which the province was thus placed. Two courses were open to us — either to bow down to the opposition manifested to your wishes, and quietly acquiesce in the arrest of that progress on which the Province had entered, or to address ourselves to the task of making the best of adverse circumstances.

We decided on the adoption of the latter course, and lost no time in introducing a bill intituled “The Wellington Harbour Reserves Mortgage Release Act 1873.”

The object of this bill was to revive a Provincial Act which enabled the Superintendent to hypothecate a certain portion of unreclaimed land in the harbour of Wellington, and proceed with its reclamation. The condition of the powers conferred by the revival of this Act which was imposed in the bill we introduced, consisted in the payment of £25,000 to the Colonial Government.

This Bill received the ready assent of the Colonial Legislature, and showed clearly that neither branch of the Colonial Legislature was really hostile to the interests of this Province. Thus ended the Session of the Colonial Legislature so far as the legislation exclusively affected the Province of Wellington.

Immediately after the close of the Session, the Provincial Executive took counsel together, and decided to make application for a loan of £100,000 on the security of the unreclaimed land which had been conditionally released as I have described; out of which amount it was proposed to pay £25,000 to the Colonial Government, and devote £75,000