ADDRESS OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 282, 14 July 1855, Page 3

ADDRESS OF HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

On Proroguing the Provincial Council, 10th July, 1855.. Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the Provincial Council, —Whatever disappointment I may have felt that this session should have come to a close, and that several questions of importance should still remain unsettled, still, when I consider that two of the most difficult and embarrassing subjects which could have been presented for your solution, —the management of the Waste Lands, and the settlement of the affairs of the Canterbury Association, —have been disposed^of in a manner which cannot but prove satisfac--1 tory to the people and beneficial to the Province, and that enquiry and deliberation on these masters has occupied a much longertime than any other subjects would have required, I cannot but acquiesce in the necessity of postponing to a future session the consideration of other questions upon which legislation is urgently needed, You have requested me to unite with you in recommending to1 his Excellency|the Governor an elaborate scheme for the disposal and management ofthe Waste Lands of the Crown within the Province. Without committing myself to an unqualified approval, in all their details, of the regulations which, you have adopted, .still believing that they are based on the principles I ventured to express at the opening of the session, that they are generally acceptable to the people, and that they are eminently calculated to advance the prosperity of the Province, I need not say I will cordially concur in your recommendation to his Excellency for their publication according to law; and that 1 will do all that lies in my power to secure their being brought into immediate and efficient operation. Considering that the Waste Lands of tlie Crown in New Zealand are charged with certain general liabilities, in the form of a per centage on the price for which they are sold, I entirely agree in the conclusion at which you have arrived, to fix that price at the same amount which is paid throughout the rest of the colon/,—namely.! ten shillings per acre. The impolicy and injustice of compelling a purchaser of land to pay a larger share of those burdens in one part ot the colony than in another, is apparent beyond the need of argument; and I cannot but hope that the General Assembly will, at its next meeting, pass some general law. by which this principle, which seems to have been recognized in all the Provinces, will be finally adopted; and that a unifoim fixed

price will be imposed upon all the Waste Lands of the colony. I am aware that in expressing this view I may be charged with a modification of opinions I have frequently asserted, as to the expediency of handing over the Waste Lands entirely to the Provincial Governments. Gentlemen, I still entertain those opinions; nor, considering the question of the Waste Lands by itself, do I see any reason for changing them. But experience has shewn me tliat this question unfortunately cannot be considered by itself, but is mixed up with a financial question of the greatest importance, —namely, bow the general burdens imposed on the revenues of the colony are to be borne by the several Provinces. The General Assembly has determined that it will not" relieve the Land Fund from its share of those burdens; and much as I regret that decision, it is impossible but that my views as to the disposal of the' Waste Lands should be affected by it. I have, therefore, come to the conclusion that the best solution of the question, as it is now presented to us. and that which will be most acceptable to the colony generally, will be found in the hope I have ventured to j express, namely, that a uniform fixed price may be charged by the General Assembly on all the lands of the colony, out of which ] the general burdens shall be paid, leaving the Provinces their present power of imposing upon the occupation of the lands any additional conditions or restrictions which the peculiar circumstances of each Province may require. I therefore agree with you not only in the price you have named, but also in the necessity of imposing certain restrictions on the occupation of the Waste Lands, which shall prevent their falling into the hands of speculators, and shall, as far as possible, secure their possession to those who will use them for purposes of actual settlement. This principle has been adopted in the Province of Auckland, and has been sanctioned by his Excellency. In Otago, a similar plan has been proposed. In both these Provinces the expenditure by the purchaser of a certain sum of money on the land, over aud above its price, is made a condition necessary to the completion of the contract. But the creation of these incomplete contracts, involving subsequent enquiry as to the fulfilment of the conditions, and endless disappointment .and discontent in the event of forfeiture through non-fulfilment, appears to me a very unsatisfactory mode of obtaining the desired end. The plan recommended by \ou of requiring the purchaser, prior to the sale, to lodge a sum of money, in trust, to be practically returned to him again iv the form of an improved value of his property, by the construction of roads, and the importation of labour, although similar in principle, will he far more beneficial in its operation, whilst it is free from the serious practical objections to which the schemes to which I have adverted appear to be liable. But the regulations you have now proposed may claim their adoption upon other a:id very weighty considerations. I mean that they amount to a continuance of the same priuciple in the disposal of the Waste Li.nds in this Province, which was established at the foundation of the settlement, and which obtained the sanction of the Crown by Royal Charter, and of the Imperial Parliament by repeated enactments. Deprived of the one feature peculiar to this settlement, by which purchasers of land were compelled to contribute a certain sum towards the endowment of the Church of England, — a condition fair and reasonable, as applied to an unoccupied territory in which no one was compelled to settle who objected to contributing to such an object, but which could hardly be consistently maintained by the

representatives of a community comprising members ?of various religious denominations all possessing equal civil rights—deprived, I say, of that one feature, the plan now proposed is substantially the same as that under which this settlement has achievied an amount of prosperity which has but few examples in the history of qolonization. A srstem constituted under such high sanction, attended with such successful results, and now declared by the people throuyh their representatives to be adapted to the" circumstances of the Province, ought not. I think, to be lightly disturbed, and I cannot doubt will readily receive the assent of his Excellency. With regard to the affairs of the Canterbury Association, having abstained from the first of urging any particular course upon jour attention, I am the more anxious to assure you how heartily I concur in the measure to which I have this day given his Excellency's assent. 'The course you have adopted in accepting the liabilities incurred by the Association in founding the settlement, is one befitting the character of the Province, and one which will surely tend to. establish its credit and in the end to promote its best interests. I ought not to allow this "occasion to pass upon which the ties between the settlement and its founders are formally dissolved, without expressing what I am sure are not only your sentiments and my own, but those of the community generally which we represent — the grateful sense which will ever be entertained of the entirely unselfish- and disinteVested labours of those who allotted to themselves the arduous task, of adding a new colony to the Kmpire. That complaints sometimes of real, sometimes of imaginary • or unavoidable mismanagement have found expression amongst us,, in language not unfrequently embittered by individual disappointment, is not to be denied. It may be readily admitted that such 'complaints have not been groundless. It may well be doubted whether in such an undertaking it would have been within human possibility to have avoided eliciting some, and sometimes even just, complaints. But the conclusion of our relations with the Canterbury Association will always prove that the colonists as a body have risen above the narrow feelings of temporary disappointment, and partial dissatisfaction, to take a wider and juster view of the great work as a "whole, which has been done by the Association, and to give them the honour which is their due. At the same time it becomes my duty to point out to you that it will not be wise in us to underrate the magnitude of tlie liability which the Province has undertaken, especially at a time when it is engaged in an unusual effort to restore a regular and steady immigration from the mother conntry, when it is prosecuting costly public works, and when its resources are tem.porariiy curtailed by the demands made on the Land Fund by tlu General Government. The estates transferred to the Province are indeed of [considerable and of increasing value; and form a substantial security for the capital of the debt; it will be only be by careful and prudent management that they will he made to provide for the charge which 'lie Province has engaged periodically to meet. Much, therefore, as I regret making so large a dtmand on your time, it will be absolutely necessary for me to call you together at the earliest possible period, after the deeds of transfer shall have been confirmed by his Exc-. Ilency on the part of the Crown, in order that I may submit to you a plan for the maiiageme.it of these estates, and may obtain from you, under the provisions of the Public Reserves' Act, the powers

which it will be necessary to confide in the Government, in order to secure the full productiveness of the property. Gentlemen, I do not doubt the full ability ofthe Province to bear the burden which it has undertaken ; and I am quite certain that the liability having been once assumed, will be punctually and honorably discharged. Amongst other acts of-the Session I notice with great pleasure the incorporation of the Warden and -Fellows'of the College. The promise of such an institution was not one of the least advantages which we were led to expect in emigrating to this settlement. Though delay, and some disappointment have been experienced in the fulfilment of our hopes; it is a great pleasure to learn that such an institution is now actually established, and tliat it is in possession of such a portion of the lands purchased out of the Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund as cannot but constitute, in the course of a few years, a very valuable permanent endowment. The sums you have voted for public works shall be expended in the prosecution of the several purposes indicated with all expedition. lam glad to be able to inform you that the contracts already entered -into on the Sumner Road are within the estimates of the engineer. Upon the other roads —several road parties are organized ; and the contractors have in employment on the Government works very neatly all the labour which it would be at all desirable to abstract from the ordinary occupation on the land. But I think we may now expect the arrival of at least four ships with immigrants from England before the end of the year, which will to a certain extent relieve the present pressure arising from want of labor. lii looking over the estimates as they have passed the Council, I observe that the proposed expenditure for the current year somewhat exceeds the Estimated Revenue. I cannot, however, but think that the Council has under estimated the anticipated Revenues. I cannot believe that the General Government will continue to insist, or that the General Assembly will for a moment sanction their insisting upon taking advantage of a mistake made by the Genelal Government itself and its officers, to deprive this Province of the sum of upwards of Ten Thousand Pounds, which it has called upon us to refund. I car.not believe that ids Excellency, when fully informed of the circumstances, will sanction such a wrong. But the bare possibility of such an act of spoliation being committed, contrary, as I am bound to conceive not only to justice but to positive law, proves the necessity of that, of which the want is being felt in every Province of the Colony: I mean, a settlement ofthe share ofthe Revenues which is to be allotted to the Province, by positive statute, instead of as now by the caprice of the financial advisers for tlie time being of his Excellency. And this necessity seems to me the greater, because a careful examination of the accounts of the. General Government which have been published in detail by the Auditor General, up to the 30th of June, last year, proves, so far as I. can comprehend those statements, that there are, or ought to be, large balances in the general chest, which have not been brought to ac-i-------coitnt; and that the portion ofthe current revenues of the colony now claimed and received by the General Treasury, is very much greater 'ban is necessary to meet the general charges. It seems, therefore, to me unavoidable that the balance should turn in favour ofthe Provinces after the next meeting of the General Assembly ; and therefore that the Provincial ReVenue for the current year

Ifshould exceed the sum at which it has been I estimated. I I have received from Mr. Speaker the f Resolutions which you passed on the subject * of continuing the government ofthe Province ; on the system of Ministerial Responsibility . aiK^-the resignation of members of the ExW, ecAitive Council. It will probably be my I j duty to advert to this subject more fully at |? the opening of the next 'session of your IpOouncil. I shall therefore abstain from oc--1 cupying your time on the present occasion, pi cannot however but remark that whatever m difference of opinion there may be as to the p mode of cairying the principle of responsim bilitj' into effect, in no part of the Colony H has, that principle been more practically reft cognised or more beneficially felt than H amongst ourselves. The Provincial CounX cil has effectually modified the pdicy and || controlled the action of the Executive Go--11l vernment without the shadow of any colli|l sion between the Council and the Superin- || dent. No other system could have .more |§ effectually attained the end proposed. And p| yet the time has been far from favourable If^to the result. The Council suddenly eng largedj parties unformed, men .-untried, fc .leaders unproved, subjects under discussion || which were not unlikely to have excited || angry dissension, —these have been the cleft men Is amidst which the business of the Gq|f vernment has been smoothly and successJ§ fully conducted in the Council, and the harj§- monious action of the Executive and the f| Legislature been preserved. In any changes jf which it may be desirable to make, I trust | we shall not throw away the experience of I four sessions ; that we shall look rather to I the real end to be gained, than to the fashion £ ofthe machinery, or the phrases by which i it^is described. % v Gentlemen, I will conclude by congratuII lating you upon the complete success of the H experiment of enlarging the Provincial |- Council. The regularity of attendance, and the I active interest of the members in all the f questions which have been before you. I proves how idle was the fear expressed by I some, that, if the Council were enlarged, I men would be wanting. The extension of i political privileges creates at once the taste - and the capacity to enjoy them. : Gentlemen, 1 have named the earliest day for your reassembling, for the purpose which I mentioned, upon which I can expect the requisite documents from the seat of Government. I therefore declare this Council to stand prorogued to Tuesday, the 18th day of September next.