132

the report of the Commissioners referred
to, will enable a corrected opinion to be
formed as to the present condition of
those branches of the public service.

With regard to the results
of past
administration,
it may be stated that,
during the period extending from 1st
July, 1853, when this Province was first
established,
to 31st March, 1876, the
latest date up to which the accounts of
the Province have been made up for audit,
the total actual expenditure of public
moneys, accruing from revenue and loans,
defrayed by the successive Provincial
Governments, amounted to £1,595,204
12s. 11d. This expenditure classified
yields the following results, viz. :--

This classification
shows that over the
whole period of Provincial administration
in the Province four-fifths of the receipts
from revenue and loans were expended on
public undertakings, and that the cost of
the officers of Government absorbed only
one-twenty-eighth of the receipts ; or, in
mercantile language, the cost of management has only averaged about 3½ per cent.

With regard to the quality of the Provincial accounts, it may be mentioned
that Mr. Woodward, no mean authority as
an accountant, states, after having made
an exhaustive examination of them, that
"every penny that has come into the Provincial chest from any source whatever,
has been duly accounted for by the successive Treasurers."

The figures above quoted are further
significant, as showing a steady adoption
from the first of a policy of colonisation,
that is of settlement and public works.
Town and country have been alike developed. Eleven new towns have been
established during the Provincial regime,
some of which contain a considerable population ; and out of the sixteen towns in
the Province, all but two have had a Municipal form of Government conferred upon
them. Outside these Municipal areas, the
Province has been divided into road districts,
and large powers have been conferred on their several Boards.

Before the establishment of provincial
institutions, this Province possessed only a
few bridges ; now, all the rivers in the Province, where the land has been under the control of the provincial authorities, have been
bridged or contracts have been entered
into for the construction of bridges over
them, and the money provided for the
completion of the works so contracted for.
In the catalogue of provincial relics several
other useful items will be found, e.g., 203
miles of main lines of road have been formed
and metalled ; 82 miles of main lines are in
course of construction; 246 miles of district roads have been formed and metalled ;
304 miles of district roads are in course of
formation ; along these 835 miles of road
completed, or in course of completion, 371
bridges, over 12 feet span, have been
erected. A major triangulation
has been
extended over 3,500,000 acres; a minor
triangulation,
within the above, over
2,500,000 acres. These triangulations,
it
may be safely asserted, equal in accuracy
those possessed by any country ; 1,750,000
acres have been sectionally surveyed ;
1,600,000 acres have been sold ; so that
the sectional surveys are about brought to
a level with the sales of land; and the
balance of the provincial estate is 940,000
acres. For it must be remembered that
this Province, so far as the extent of its
public estate has reached, has hitherto only
been a fraction of a Province. Its nominal
area has been about seven million acres,
but up to the present time there have only
been acquired for it 2,540,000 acres. It is
a fair ground for satisfactory retrospect
that so much has been accomplished with
such limited means. This progress, under
difficulties, may be attributed to the self-reliance of the settlers, who for many years
have taxed themselves, and so made up in
some measure for a deficient patrimony.

The proceeds of the land sales for this
Province for the month of May last were
£9,383 14s. ; for the same month, they are
reported
to me to have amounted to
£92,431 in the neighboring Province of
Canterbury. Reference may be made to
the inauguration of a Board of Education
and to the establishment
of 74 common
schools, managed by 116 teachers, and
attended by 4,140 pupils. Under provincial auspices the Wellington College has
been revived, a suitable College building
erected, and a remarkably successful administration for higher education therein
established.

An Asylum, with extensive grounds and
buildings, has been erected, which will
contrast favorably with similar establishments elsewhere. Nor has the chief town
of the Province been neglected.
That
important works have been either guaranteed, constructed, or undertaken by the
provincial authorities in connection with
the harbor of Wellington is sufficiently
apparent by referring to the Patent Slip,
the deep water wharf, and the extensive
harbor reclamations, by which latter works
a new town will, in fact, be created.

Should the Province be abolished on
the 30th September next, its actual indebtedness may be ascertained by reference to the following return, viz. :--