PROROGATION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, 21 October 1867, Page 262

PROROGATION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

(From the Evening Post, 10th October.) The second session of the Fourth Parliament of New Zealand has at length terminated. The ceremony of; prorogation was not particularly imposing, although it seemed to excite a considerable amount of interest, as the Government Buildings and their precincts were thronged by a large number of ladies as well as gentlemen. The guard of honor was formed by the Artillery Volunteer Corps, who, under the command of Capt. Buckley, rauged up in line aloDg the path leading from Government House to the House of Assembly, attended by their own buglers and by the hand of the Hutt Volunteers. The steadiness and’precision with which they performed the simple manoeuvres necessary for the service of the day were highly creditable to the corps, considering the short interval that has elapsed since its formation. They were armed with their breech-loading rifles, but appeared in undress uniform, the full dress not yet being prepared. The House of Representatives met at half-past eleven o’clock, and got through some routine business relative to bills sent down from the House, and adjourned at twelve o’clock. The Legislative Council met at twelve, and continued in session till one, when His Excellency, accompanied by his suite, and followed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives with the mace, and such members of the House as remained in town, entered the Chamber. The titles of nearly a hundred bills were then read by the Clerk, and received the Governor’s assent on behalf of Her Majesty, three being reserved to be sent home for the Royal assent. The Speaker addressed His Excellency as follows: — May it please your Excellency, it now only remains forme, according to the usual custom, to present to you two bills of supply which have been passed during this present session. The first is the usual bill of Appropriation. Your Excellency will find that a liberal provision has been made by it for the expense of your Government; the second is a bill to authorise the raising of a loan of seven millions. In the speech which your Excellency addressed to Parliament at the commencement of the session, you were pleased to recommend*to its-consideration the conversion of Provincial loans into Colonial stock. The object of this bill is to provide the means for converting the whole debts of the Colony, whether Colonial proper or Provincial, into a funded debt. It has been deemed right by the Legislature to accept the liabilities attaching to the Colony—the large sums which, have been borrowed by the provinces—and they are now constituted by law a charge upon the revenues of the Colony. The proceeding is one which may entail considerable sacrifices; but it exhibits at aU events a determination to shrink from no pecuniary liability, whether legafiy or only morally binding upon us. I have now the honor, on behalf of the House of Re presentatives to soHcit your Excellency’s assent on behalf of Her Majesty to the Consolidated Loan Act and the Appropriation Act. The Governor then prorogued the Assembly in the following terms: — Honorable Legislative Councillors, — Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,— I am happy, at the close of a session unusually arduous, to release you from fur<* ther attendance in Parliament. Your zeal and diligence have resulted in a number of valuable enactments for consolidating the civil and criminal law, which cannot but be of great benefit to the country. The liberaHty of the measure you have passed for granting special representation to the Maori population wifl commend itself to that race, and tend to confirm the peaceful and friendly disposition which is everywhere spreading , throughout the tribes recently in rebellion. The endowment for Maori education will contribute to the same good purpose, and assist the natives to qualify themselves for the position of citizens. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, — I thank you for the supplies you have granted for the public service. It will be the duty of my Government to administer these supplies with that economy which is imperatively required. 1 The measures you have passed for improving the character of the public securities will, 1 trust, maintain the credit and charaoter of the Colony, not only-in the money market,'hut wherever the develop ment of popular government is watched with interest.

The Act for perfecting the machinery of the Revenue Departments will effeotiially secure to-the Legislature those constitutional powers over the public purse which have hitherto owed their integrity to the character of our public men, rather than to iany positive legal enactments. . The adjustment of the surplus revenue accounts; and. , the relief of the Northern Provinces from the portion of: the war

loan, which had been specially : charged againstthem, wiU remove causes of irritation which tended to alienate important portions oLthe colony from the; idea of national unity.

Honorable Gentlemen and Gentlemen, — Although you have been unable ,to provide a general measure for establishing local self-government, the claims of outlying districts to powers 'so essential to nourish thef:''spirit of liberty and selfreliance have not been neglected; and I gladly assented to the Bills for conferring such privileges, with a fair share of the local reuenueson the Districts of Westland and of Timaru and Gladstone.

The elaborate Act for organising Municipal Corporations, furnishes to town populations a very complete machinery for their local wants, and frees them, in the administration of their affairs, from the doubts which, uuder existing provincial laws, attached to some of their proceedings.

There is every reason to believe that the depression, under which several important parts of the Colony has for some time laboured has reached its lowest point, and that with the re-establishment of peace the opening of. the northern districts for settlement, the continued and increasing development of the goldfields in both islands, a fresh tide of prosperity wiH set in, and that when you next are called together it will be found that those favoured islands have entered on a career of permanent progresss which internal troubles will not again interrupt. In releasing you from your legislative duties, I would remiad you of the importance of using the influence which the confidence of the people confers upon you to facilitate the administration of the measures you have passed. I trust that by the blessing of God the result of your labours will bs the increased happiness and prosperity of the people of New Zealand.