Hawke's Bay Times. PUBISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY. MONDAY, JULY 22, 1867. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 494, 22 July 1867, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. PUBISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY.

MONDAY, JULY 22, 1867. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

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Mis;u:ai;ly incificient, albeit suinci- : icuiiy c is a system of mail coin-! municati a which leaves important! districts for three whole 1 weeks or more) : yeMr \vv:;vu. any news Awn the! seat of Government, save wL.il may j be lu\ngat ey an occasional sailing' 'craft, or by a ciian.ce such as that ,'which enables ns to-day to give our headers the address with wiiicli His Excellency opened the proceedings ;,of the General Assembly on the 9th ■ 'instant, now 13 days ago. This .'speech, indeed, would not Lave reached !us but for the energetic action of an 1 Auckland gentleman, who. by tele iGraphing the speech at Nelson for 1 transmission to Auckland alter the •'departure of the West Coast steamer from Wellington, enabled our Anckdaud contemporary, the Mow Zealand i.Herald, to publish it in time to send ’ downwards by the Star of She South, i which arrived in port on Friday last. ■1 That portion of the speech which ’iruost attracts attention commences ‘ wid; the second clause, w|dm-i onmr,iI ' ° relates the Colony on the re-establish ’imerit of peace generally throughout

the North Island. Had his Excellency been put in possession of news which readied us about the time of the delivery of the speech, of fresh - barbarous murders and moot bombie i acts of .cannibalism perpetrated by tbe i fanatical rebels on the East Coast, he might have sect: reason Hr at least modifying somewhat his 'positive aud congratulatory tone, bnt at all events | without tnat knowledge LiiCl C alico.J y!i

existed ample evidence iu facts already i well enough known to him, of recent 1 acts of rebellion on the part of tiieso fauatics, and the disappearance of two : men who, there was too good reason to believe, had fallen by their hands, and whose fate was at least doubtful ; whose mangled bodies have since proved such fears for their fate to be but too well founded—to have prevented him from indulging in these congratulations. We shall wait and see what effect the news itself has upon the Assembly when facts are placed in juxtaposition with words. \V r e find that the gallant repulse of the Hau-hau fanatics by the Hawke’s Bay forces in October last is deeincu worthy of special note and approbation, notwithstanding a despatch, ol which we have heard something, and we shall now the Assembly is in session probably hear mure, from the Secretary oi State condemnatory of our brilliant action, and characterising it a murder of the innocents.

The recent Postal Conference in Australia —the establishment of Pust<>ilice savings’ banks throughout the Colony and their so far successful working—.in audit of the accounts be tween the II one Government and the Colony, and the notion taken respecting the adiiuaistraii"U of the Utagi each obtains a share of hG [excellency's notice. V.'e have next some slight indlcaiioii of certain measures which the Mmistry intend to introduce to tin Assembly, compris-ng C>f course') tina|![.u\ jiriation fur the ensuing year ; a bill converting Provincial loans into Lolonial stuck ; a measure of groat importance to the Provinces—-and one for the fostering and encouragement of the gold mining interest. Also a measure for the establishment of local self-government throughout the Coi my, intended, we presume, to supplant existing Provincial institutions ; one for improving existing laws ixl ding to benefit societies, and several others of a legal character conclude the list. Of mure secondary character, the speech alludes to two interesting subjects, the first, the recent tour through i tlie Colony of his Tlxcellency ; and last, not least, an expected visit to lthese islands oi H.ll.Ti. the Duke ol | Edinburgh, second sou of Her Majesty | the Queen.

Of course but little cf the nature of the proposed measures cau be gathered Iroru the speech itself ; and we must accordingly await their appearance before the Assembly in proper firm, merely observing now that there is but little or no indication of the coming struggle between the Centralists and the Provincial parties which we expect to see. Nor is there any indication of any intention on the part of the Government to reduce our oppressive taxation by a modification uf the tariff, still less of any to supplant the abominable system of Customs’ duties by a more equitable scheme of direct taxation.

FIRE IX HASTINGS STREET. THREE HOUSES BURNED. This morning, at 4 o’clock, a destructive lire took place lu Hasliogo street, by which: the Albion Hotel and two other buildings were burnt to tbo ground. We understand that all the furniture from the former plane was aim'd, but all the stock-in-trade, Ac . has been destroyed. The fire-engine *.*.ii*. lirc-mptly O n fl '“ “pot; bnr we learn that some diiiieuhy .. .13 in procuring a supply of water. There is no clue as to the origin of the fire at present. Full particulars of the above will appear in our next.