PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2731, 17 November 1871, Page 2

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

The following is the Governor’s prorogation speech : Honorable Legislative Councilors, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives — 1 thank you for the attention you hj ive bestowed on the public business, and the cons deration y n have given to those measures which have been proposed during the session, with the object of promoting the advancement and prosperity of the Colony. 1 have to congratulate you on the progress you have made in the noble policy of colonisation, which was inaugurated during the session of the last Parliament, and has been continued by you during the present session. Every one who has the welfare of the Colony at heart must eagerly welcome the desire of tire people of the country to open up means of communication, which has found expression in your measures for promoting Public Works and Immigration, and for contracting radways. Fortified by the support which you have .given to the colonizing policy, it will be the duty of my Ministers to give effect to it to the utmost extent consistent with provision being made for the employment and settlement of the immigrants introduced, and with care being exercised that the labor required for other enterprises is not unduly absorbed by public works. I hope that in a few months immigrants will commence to arrive under the new system, and will continue to do so with regularity, in numbers sufficiently large to supply the need for increased population, but not so large as to overstock the labor market, or to oven ax the means at command for comfortably settling them I hope, also, that within a very few months railway works will be under construction in different parts of the Colony. I observe with much satisfaction the support you have given to the Californian Service, and trust that the course you have taken will lead to the establishment of a permanent service, which, whilst it brings New Zealand into near and convenient com raunication with Britain, also opens the way to large business relations with the prosper ous and enterprising people of the United States, it is with great gratification I notice a great improvement in the gold produce of the Colony, and I am pleased to observe that you attach very great and deserved importance to the valuable industry of the gold miners. 1 am also able to congratulate you on the improvement in the prospects of wool and flax produce, and it is with great pleasure I foresee better days in store for those who follow agricultural pursuits. The presence in London of the special agent of the Colony, himself a colonist of 30 years’ standing, intimately acquainted with its wants, and who in former sessions occupied a prominent place in the deliberations of the Parliament of the Colony, will, I trust, greatly aid you in (he construction of the public works you propose, as well as lead to the judicious selection of the immigrants you require, and to the making of the proper arrangements for the passage to this Colony. His presence will also, no doubt, tend to render permanent those friendly relations, which, I am glad to say, exist between the Imperial and Colonial Governments. I am sanguine that excellent effe ts'will result from the pecuniary assistance you agreed to render to the Road Boards, : and from the Highway Boards Act. I regret that the shortness of the session and other reasons prevented your legislating on the question of education. Your attention has, however, been given to the subject, and its principles have been discussed in the House of Representatives ; and it is perhaps well that on a subject on which there exist so many differences of opinion, time should be given to the constituencies to consider more fully the bearings of the measure which was proposed to the House of Representatives. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives — I thank you for the supplies you have granted for the public service, which shall be administered with due care. I am glad also that you have revised the taxation in some particulars, with a view to providing ways and means to meet the necessary expenditure of the Government. Honorable Legislative Councillors, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives— Since the commencement of the session there have not been wanting many indications of a growing inclination among the few remaining malcontents of the Native race to return to their allegiance and resume friendly relations with the Europeans. The presence of highly intelligent representatives of the Native race in the House of Representatives and the judicious manner in which, I am informed by Ministers, they have exercised their functions, fully justify the wisdom of the recommendation the House of Representatives made that persons of the Native race should be called to the Legislative Council. On the best method of giving effect to that recommendation, I will consult my responsible advisers. I shall forward to Her Majesty’s Government, for presentation to Her Majesty, the Addresses you passed in both Chambers of the Legislature. On the suoject of the labor traffic which is being carried on between some ©f the Australian Colonies, the Fiji Islands, and some of the various other islands in the Pacific Ocean, I have no doubt that the melancholy death of Bishop Fatteson and his companions will deepen the interest which has already been excited on the question at home, and that Her Majtsty’s*Government will bestow upon it the attention it merits. In r leasing you from your labors, I venture to express aa earnest hope that, under the blessing of Divine Providence, the measures you have authorised will promote the prosperity of the country.