SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SIR GEORGE GREY, UPON PROROGUING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 66, 2 October 1862, Page 6 (Supplement)

SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SIR GEORGE GREY, UPON PROROGUING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Monday, lorn September, 18G2. HONORABLE Gi NTLLMFN OF THE LEGISLATIVE Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives. The business of (his Session of the General Assembly having been brought to a close, it is now my duly to release you from the task of legislation, which under the present circumstances of the Colony has been one of extraordinary difficulty. I return you my sincere thanks for the measures you have passed to assist mo in the work of restoring this Country to tranquility, and of bringing its native population to obey the law and acknowleged the authority of Her Majesty’s Government. \ our care for the welfare of tile natives, and your desire to admit them in all respects to the privileges and rights of British subjects, have been shewn in a marked manner during the present Session. The Act you have passed to secure them the practical advantages of ownership in their lands, and to give them titles which can be recognised by our laws, will, I trust, if administered with discretion and judgment, contribute very greatly to remove the distrust and disaffection prevailing amongst a portion of the native population. It will be my care to endeavour so to administer tins law, il it should receive Her Majesty's assent, as toseeure the beneficial results which it has evidently been your object to attain. 1 will transmit to her majesty the addresses you have adopted relating to the government of the .Natives, and the adjustment of the past and future liabilities attending it. The Imperial Government will, without doubt, give to these subjects that full and impartial consideration which their importance demands. GENTJ.I.Mi K OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 1 thank you for the ample supplies you have voted for the Public Service of the Colony. The increase which you have made in the salaries of the J udges, will*tend to maintain the independence and reputation of tlie Bench, by helping to secure a succession of men of high attainments and character to occupy it. There is no object to which tile public funds can be more worthily' devoted, than the maintenance of the dignity, and the social as well as ttie intellectual elevation of the chief administrators of the law. It is particularly incumbent on me, to acknowledge the liberality of your contributions for the benefit of the Natives. All the assistance in your power to give towards the success of the experiment of int roducing Civil institutions among them you bestowed, in voting the whole of the amount

which was asked to meet the expenses of the experiment. You have further consented to impose upon the future resourdes of the colony, the burden of a loan for a large sum of money, to bo expended in defraying past liabilities, in remedying existing evils, and in providing for future exigencies, resulting from the relations between the Government and the Natives. These are large liabilities to be undertaken by so young a colony —and prove the sincerity of’your desire for the welfare of those on whose behalf you undertake them. I think it due to the members representing the Middle Island, especially to acknowledge the public spirit and sympathy with their Northern fellow colonists,which they have shewn in cheerfully taking so large a shave of the burdens arising from political troubles peculiarly affecting the Northern Island, and from the removal of such troubles the principal advantage they can reap, will be such as must necessarily spring from the prosperity and welfare of these important islands regarded as a whole. It gives me great gratification to observe that you propose to appropriate so considerable a sum to the re-establishment of the ruined settlement of Taranaki, and the re-instatement on their lands of those settlers who since so bravely contended against, and have endured with so much fortitude, the various calamities which have befallen them. It will bo my earnest endeavor to effect these objects with the least possible delay. I desire you to accept my assurance that the large sums thus to be placed at my disposal as the contribution of the Colony towards the settlement of the Native question, shall be expended with the utmost regard to economy, and in accordance with your views in supplying them. iioXOK.UILK GENTLEMEN' AND GENTLEMEN,— The Act for the Management of the Gold Fields of the Colony, will, it may be hoped, remedy many defects in the existing laws relating to tin’s subject and materially assist in the orderly and successful development of the great mineral wealth ot these Islands. The Act for increasing the number of members representing the Southern portion of the middle Island will secure for it an inlluence in the Legislature more in accordance with its rank and importance as a component part of the Colony. In the meantime, it will be the object and desire of the Government to give to its interests on all occasions that anxious attention to which its rapidincrease in wealth and popiuatimi justly entitles it. I have assented with pleasure to various practical measures passed by you affecting the administration of justice and the commercial interests of the country. I trust that under Divine Providence, these measures and all our efforts may tend to t.-u: complete re-establishment of peace, and lo assure Ihe prosperity of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects in the Colony. I now declare this Assembly to stand prorogued to the 31st day' of December next.