LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 195, 12 April 1848, Page 2

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Pursuant to proclamation in the Government Gazette, the Legislative Coancil auemblcd yesterday. The Governor, in consequence of certain occurrences in everybody's recollection, did not attend ; but a commission, comprising the Colonial Secretary, the At-torney-General, and the Colonial Treasurer, was appointed for the purpose of opening the Council. Of course, on this account the ceremonies usually attendant on the openiDg of the session were not so brilliant as usual, and we only taw eight or ten Udiet present. The Bpcctators' gallery also was by no means crowded, The members present were— the Hon. the Speaker ; the Hon. Colonial Secretary ; the Hon. Colonial Treasurer; the Attorney- General; the Collector of Customs ; the Auditor-General, W. C. Wentworth, Esq., member for Sydney ; Willum Lawson, Esq., member for Cumberland; Charles Cowper, Esq., member for Cumberland; William Bowman, Esq., member for the Cumberland boroughs ; Captain Dumaresq, member for Hunter, Briibane, and Bligh ; Frwicts Lord, Esq., member for Bathurst; William Bland, Eiq., member for Sydney; J.B. Robinson, Esq , member for Melbourne ; S. A. Donaldson, Esq., member for Durham,- Patrick Grant, Esq., member for the Northumberland boroughs; Alexander M'Leay, Esq., member for Stanley, Macquarie, a d Gloucester; John Panton, Esq., member for Cook and Weitmoreland ; Messrs. Berry, Talker, Lamb, and Allen, Crown nominees. Mr. Donaldson, newly elected for the county of Durham, took the oaths and his seat. The Colonial Secretary presented the following address, which was read by the Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen ol the Legiihtiye Council—

I have called you together at thit early period of the year, in consequence of the approaching dissolution of the Council. lam happy huwever, to believe that whilst this arrangement Will allow ample time for the buiiness of the session, it will equally suit your convenience. It ii consolatory to reflect that, notwithstanding the commercial depression that prevails to so great an, extent in the mother country, and the consequent lowprice of Colonial produce in that market, the chief resources of this colony have continued to increase in a manner alike rapid and surprising. The exports of wool, its main st B ple, reached in the past year, the large quantity of upwards of twenty-two millions of pounds, of the official value of £1,260,000. being an increase on the previous year, exceeding fife million seven hundred thousand pounds, in weight, and equal to the whole export of that article in ihe year IS&3. The export of tallow in 1847, was 69,000 cwt., of the officiul value or £107.000, being an increase on the previous year of 49,0»0 c«t< It is ojr privilege to continue to enjoy under the blessing of Divine Providence a great superabundance, of all the necessaries of life, of the best quality, and procurable at very modera'e rates. Although the advanced, and still riling price of agri. cultural and pastoral labour, consequent 6n its scarcity, h, s lately pressed sj severely on the employers, it has on the other hand been tbe source of highly remunerative employment to the working classes ; but as no community in the aggregate can long continue to be prosperous when the fair profit of the capitalist are liable lo be absorbed in the payment of an excessive or disproportionate rate of wages, I have endeavoured by seeking fresh supplies of labour fiom the mother country, to restore that equilibrium, the maintenance of which between the two classes it 60 eisential to tha general, as well as to their mutual benefit. The anticipations which I entertained in my last opening address to the Council have, I am glad to isy» been fully realised. The whole of the Land and Emigration Debentures have been paid off, and the Territorial Revenue has exhibited so prosperous a state, as to enable me to request Her Majesty's Government to tend out to the colony an addition to the 50u0 statute adults already promised, and of whom the two first ship loads lately armed in the Hyderabad and Lady Peel, an equal number in the ensuiug season. There is every prospect that the whole of this immigration may be effected without ;he necessity of incurring any debt. The territorial revenue will thus remain available aa a security for raising the necessary funds for any additional supply of labor, which circumstances may render expedient. The emigrants now in progress of arriving are to be selected equally from the three great divisions of, the United Kingdom. They are also to be equally divided between the Sydney and Port Phillip districts, and the expense charged accordingly, so that each district will receive the number for which it pays. I will cause to be immediately laid before you the correspondence wliicli Has taken place on the subject with her Majesty • Government, and the Land and Emigration Commissioners* Connected with the supply of labor to the Colony, I will also cause to be laid before you a Despatch from the R.ghi Honorable Earl Grey,hetting fwth the terms ou which her Majesty* Government will be disposed to send out exiles and ticket«of-leave holders, to be subsequently followed by their wives and families, and by a number of free emigrants, equal to tuenumoer ot such exiles artd ticket-ot-leave holders, at the expense of the British Treasury. Thta proposal is made sub* ject to the concurrence of the Legislative Council, and I accordingly rocommend it to your early and attentive consideration. _ , , .. Immediately on receipt of Earl Grey's Despatch, No. 203, of 31st July, 1847, I considered it my duty to cause it to be published for general information. It communicates the important decision at which, tier Majesty's Government have arrived, of proposing to Parliament the erection of the district of Port Phillip into, a separate Colony, under the designation of Vicioria. It also communicates the intentions of her Majesty s Government with respect to iome important alterations: in the Constitutions of this and the neighboring Colonies. The usual abstracts of receipt and expenditure for the past year, will be forthwith laid before you. I am happy to be able to say that the revenue continues in a very prosperous state. The coJlectrona in 1847 show a considerable increase on the previous year, particularly in the dhtrict of Port Phillip. The esu<. males are in course of preparation, and will be presented to you on as early a day as possible. In conformity with my previously expressed intentions, 1 have appointed a board to superintend the temporal regulation of the denominational schools, supported in whole, or in part, from the public fund»> leaving, as heretofore, the religious instruction of the children in theie schools, entirely under the direction of the Clergymen of the different denominations to which they respectively belong; I have also appointed a separate Board to superintend the schooli to- be established on Lord Stanley's National System. I confidently expect that tke appointment of theie Boards may be attended with beneficial resnlts at regards the general education of the people — but I am fully aware that much is required yet to be done in tbi» respect beyond the ssttleoi districts, and it iB my intention, therefore, on submitting the Estimates, to propose to you *n appropriation for this purpose, from the produce of the revenue arising from the assessment on stock in those localities. I have received a Despatch from the Right Honorable the Secretary of State on the subject of establishing Steam communication between England and this Colony, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and by means of vessels fitted with auxiliary screw propellors. This Deipatch will also be laid before you. The great importance of a ipetdy introduction of any means toeffect a certain and rapid postal communication with England, it so obvious, that it is only requisite for me to recommend the subject to your further attentive consideration, and to repeat the expresiion of my willingness to co-operate with you to the utmost of my power in devising the means of speedily accomplishing this most desirable object. I I will also cause to be laid before yon a Despatch from the Secretary of State conveying to me the authority of her Majesty's Government to introduce a j measure authorising the employment of the fundi of the Savings' Bank, iv the prosecution of any public, works of general utility. This will place at the dis« posal of tbe Government a fund which, go soon as toe •tate of the labor market will allow, may be very uiefully employed in facilitating the means of communication between the different parts of the Colony, and will enable the depositor! in the Savings' Bank to enjoy a moderate rate of intereit on their earnings. A. Bill for thi? purpose will be preiented to you on an early day. It will be my further duty to place^before you some of the Despatches on mbjecti of interest to the Colony, which I have received from her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonial Department. Among them is one transmitting a series of Reports relating to the project of constructing a railway «»"- Halif»x to Quebec, His Lordship directs particular

attention to one of these Report! on the result of experience in the United States of America, with regard to wooden railways, and points out the great importance of establishing such meant of communication at the earliest possible period in this Colony. I shall arail myseif from time to time of the usual medium of conferring with you by Message, on any other subjects of importance which it may be necessary to communicate to youChas. A. Fitz Roy. Sydney, 21st March, 1848.