24 PROVINCE OF WESTLAND GAZETTE.

Province by the Tramway Companies. In my previous addresses to the Council I could only allude to this matter as one which was under the consideration of the Courts of Justice, one of the Tramway Companies having sued the Government in the Supreme Court, and obtained a verdict in their favor of some £15,000. Against this decision an appeal was lodged, and on argument before Judge Richmond in Banco the decision was reversed; the case was then carried by the Company to the Court of Appeal, the result of which was in favor of the Province. A copy of the decision of the Judges will be laid on the table of the Council for your information, and I will not therefore quote more from it than the last clause, which states, "this Court is therefore of opinion that the contract declared upon, is one which the County Council of Westland had no authority to enter into; and this appeal must consequently be dismissed."

If any doubt previously existed as to the Tramway Companies being able to establish a legal claim against the Provincial Government, it is now set at rest, but it should not be forgotten that the County Council, after repeated enquiries and Committees on the subject, decided in July, 1872, "That some compensation was due by the Government, but that the Committee could not agree on the amount to be granted to each Company," and again in March, 1873, "That the matter of Tramway compensation be referred to a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Colony, to be by him decided in equity, and that finding this could only be done by bringing the case to trial before a Judge, the proceedings now determined were commenced." The question which remains for your consideration appears to be simply this, whether you are prepared to accept now, on behalf of the Province, a liability for which you are not legally responsible, in order to remedy the effects of Public Acts done by the County Council (as it now appears without sufficient warrant) which were understood and accepted by the Tramway Companies as legal at the time. It appears to me that in the present condition of our Finances it would be useless for us to accept a burden which there is no possibility of our liquidating by money payment, but, if you agree with me in thinking that these Companies have a moral claim upon the present Government, then I would recommend that a distinct settlement be arrived at by the Council of the amounts to be paid to each Company and that representations should be made to the General Government asking them to introduce an Act at the next sitting of the General Assembly which should provide the compensation so awarded being paid in land. In order to give you an opportunity of fully considering this question, resolutions will be prepared and submitted to you embodying these views.

I cannot close my address to you without very briefly alluding to the question of a change in the Constitution which is at the present time occupying public attention to a large extent, and which will be considered at the next session of the General Assembly. As I do not anticipate it will be necessary for you to meet again before then, I think it is desirable that the Council should give some expression of opinion as to the desirability or otherwise of continuing to maintain Provincial Institutions in their present form. My own views on the question have been on so many public occasions freely expressed, that I feel it unnecessary to say more than that the longer experience I have of the conduct of public