WELLINGTON EXTRACTS. [From the Spectator, May 2.] LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Wellington, May 1, 1849.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 310, 19 May 1849, Page 1 (Supplement)

WELLINGTON EXTRACTS. [From the Spectator, May 2.] LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Wellington, May 1, 1849.

The Legislative Council of this province commenced its sittings yesterday at Government House. Shortly after three o'clock his Excellency the LieutenantGovernor entered the Council Chamber, attended by the Hon. Lieut.-Colonel M'Cleveity, Commanding the Forces in the Southern Province ; the Hon. Alfred .Comett, Colonial Secretary; and the Hon. Daniel Wakefield, Attorney General. The following members were also present :—The lion. Henry Petre, Colonial Treasurer; William M'Leod Bannatyne, Esq.; ■\Vil.i<im Hickson, Esq. ; George Huuter, Esq.; Alfred Ludlam, Esq.; and George Moore, Esq. Prayers were read by the Rev. It. Cole, M,A,, Colonial Chaplain, after which his Excellency delivered the following address : — Gentlemen of the Legislative Council,— Tt affords me much latisfaotion to be enabled to call you together for the despatch of Public harness, and to have it in rr.y power, now for the first time, to resort to the advice and assistance of a Legislature in carrying on the Government of the Province ; nor is it a source of less gratification to me to reflect that, in thus calling you to share with roe in the responsibility of directing and fostering the energies of our young and rising commuuity, I do bo at a time when the difficulties and impediments in the way of an onward progress are rapidly clearing away, and a bright and promising prospect opening out tor the future. To place before you the means of obtaining information on many points which are important in considering the questions likely to engage your attention, I have directed a variety of statistical and comparative returns to be prepared, and laid before you. Some of those for past years are, I regret to soy, less perfect than I could have wished, owing to the very imperfect records then kept; and some difficulty has aho been experienced in collecting or compariug returns from the more distant settlements, owing to the infrequency and uncertainty of communicating with them. Every exertion, however, which circumstances would admit of, has been made to render the returns as complete and aa useful as possible. The usual financial returns will be laid beforo you as c oon as they can be completed, and it will be my duty in bringing forward the estimates for the year to wake 6uch remarks in explanation of them as each particular service may seem to call for. lam happy to inform you that the revenue 'of the province is steadily and progressively improving ; and although at present not quite equal to the expenditure, I confidently trust that it will be so in another year. I rely upon your assistance and co-opsration in admi nistering the public resources as economically as is consistent with the efficiency of the public service, but I would guard you against the fallacy of supposing that there ib any true economy in reducing the strength of public departments to a degree incompatible with the proj er discharge of the duties expected from them. I *ould remind you, also, that in this province many of the departments have been but very recently called into existence ; and that, in first organizing the establishments necessary to carry on the business of Government, a much larger expenditure is unavoidably incurred in proportion to the revenue than is the case ■when the \a-ious departments of the publics service have been in full operation for some years. It is probable, therefore, that the existing eitablishments of the I'iovince will, with (•ome slight modifications and additions, suffice for conducting the business of the Government when the amount of revenue shall have become doub'e what it is at present. It ou»ht to be a source of great thankfulness to us, gentlemen, that, under the Divine blessmg, this prcvince continues to enjoy peace aad trapquUity } aud

that tiie amicable relatious existing between both raee s of her Majesty's subjests are daily being cemented by a better knowledge of each other, and by a growing conviction that their dependence upon each other is ' mutual, and their interests identical. I Of the many embaiassing questions which at one time existed in reference to land, and out of which in reality arose most of the differences or disagreements between the two races, but few now remain unadjusted ; and these few are, I trust, gradually tending to a satisfactory issue. It affords me much pleasure to announce to you, that since this Council met here in December last, two very important land questions have ! been arranged ; the first relates to a purchase in the Middle Island, comprising the whole country between the Wairau and Otago blocks, and extending from one coast to the other. For the acquisition of this district negociations were commenced and terras entered into early in 1848 ; but it has only been within the last few months, when all the native reserves were determined and marked out upon the ground, that the purchase could be considered complete, and all sources of future difficulty or disagreement removed. The second land question is that of the Rangitikei, a district lying between the Rangitikei and the Wangaehu rivers, and containing about ' 500,000 acres of land, "of which" Mr. M'Lean (thejCommissioner employed on behalf of the Government in negociating the purchase) considers •' a very large portion to be of a most fertile and valuable description, capable of maintaining a numerous European population, and superior to any other part of the island for cattle inns." For the acquisition of this district the arrangements are so far advanced that the purchase money is named and a surveyor engaged in marking out the native reserves. I have every reason to believe, therefore, that in a few days, at the utmost, the purchase will be finally concluded, and the first instalment of the purchase money paid. Two very fine and extensive tracts of country will thus be secured for the purposes of colonization, and as both are mitable for immediate occupation by stock, they will probably become rapidiy located, and a considerable impetus be given to grazing pursuits— a branch of industry of the highest importance in a colony adapted to such occupations, both for the purpose of securing abundant and cheap food, and as a means of creating a valuable and ceitain export. In connexion with this subject I would briefly bring under your notice the rapid progress which has recently been made on the two great lines of road leading to the interior^districts, and the great facilities which will be afforded by them, when completed, to settlers intending to locate there. In Captain Russell's last report, that officer informs me that about thirty chains of unfinished side cutting in the Horokiwi valley, and about ten more chains near Duck creek, are the only obstacles now existing to the passage of a dray from Wellington to Rangitikei, and these it is expected will be removed, and the road opened, duiing the next three months. On the Wairarapa road, also, the most vigorous exertions have been made during the summer months, and great progress been effected. I hope, therefore, if nothing unforseen occurs to interfere with a renewal in the spring of those active measures which have necessrrily been suipended during the winter months, that in the course of the ensuing summer the Ilorokiwi line will be fully metalled and completed, and that of the Wairarapa cleared and levelled quite into the valley, so as to be open for carts, and in a state sufficiently advanced to hold out theptospect of iti final completion during the succeeding summer. Ano her important line of road is also shortly about to be commenced, for the purpose of connecting the Waitohe with the Wairou, by means of which, when completed, a short and easy access will be open from the extensive and already occupied plains of the latter to a good and convenient port at the foimer. In examining the returns which will be l»iid before you, you cannot fail to notice, as a subject of sincere congratulation, the very small ninount of crime committed in the Piovince, as compared with its population, small even as compared with previous jears ; for, I find that in 1844, the convictions before the Supreme Court were 19, in 1847 ihey were only 11, and in 1848, only 10. I refer to this more particubrly now from the recent occurrence of the crime of murder, an offence which is occasionally committed in every country, though happily most rare iv this ; whilst the immediate detection and speedy punishment of the criminal cannot fail to have a salutary effect, and tend to deter others from such crimes in futuie. Startling, therefore, as the interruption to our ordinary quietude has been in the instance I a'lude to, I see nothing in it beyond an occurrence which might and which does take place occasionally every wheie ; there is nothing which ought to alarm or deter intending emigrants fiom coming to our shoies ; and, indeed, I believe that at this moment, theie is no country in the world where life and property are more secure than they are in New Zealand. It has been a matter of deep rezret to me, that this Province has so long laboured under a deficiency of Ministers of religion, and of the means of Christian education. In the Wellington district alone, the European population, exclusive of the military and their familiei, numbers 4,500 souls, of these no less than 2,500 have leturned themselves in the la->t census a belonging to the communion of the Church of England, and yet to supply the spiritual wants ol these 2,500 there has been, until recently, but a single clergyman. I need hardly point out to you the multifarious and onerous duties attaching to such a charge. To officiate at two churches in the town, more than a mile apart, and two iv the country, of which one is five and the other nine miles distant, and each in a different direcj tion, to attend the hospital and jail, and to visit the poor and afflicted, are some of the more apparent and palpable of theie duties— others, and scarcely less im poitant ones, in connection with the younger portion of the community, will readily suggest themselves to you, and you will at once perceive how utterly impossiule it was that one individual should discharge them all, however active aid zealous he mi^ht be ; and I believe the one individual upon whom this fearful a uount of responsibility was tluown, to havebeea most

active and zealous to the limits of physical capability. Lamentable, however, as this state of things was, it was not the worst to which the portion of the community I am speaking of were liable, for the contingency of illness, absence, or any of the many causes which occur to interrupt the ordinary pursuits of life, no provision wai made, and it did so happen, that on. one occasion for three successive Sabbaths there was not an officiating clergyman of the Church of England in Wellington ; and for the whole of that period, therefore, more than one half of the population of the principal settlement of New Munster were deprived of all services of ministrations of religion whatever. To obviate, if possible, the recurrence of any similar contingency, and at least to secure for the public Institutions that religious attendance which every Government is bound to provide, I have appointed a Colonial Chaplain]; and it affords me much pleasure to be able to state that, in consequence of such appointment, an additional clergyman will for the future always be stationed in the district. Intimately associated with the subject of religion, and second only to it in importance, is that of education, an object for which as yet even leas provision has been made in the Province, and more especially in this portion of it, than for religion. I would earnestly commend both these subjects to your most serious consideration, as involving interests of the highest importance to the future welfare of the Province, and as being, in fact, the very points upon which the character and conduct of the rising; generation will so materially depend. Not only do religion and education constitute the means of developing, fostering, and raising the physical, intellectual and moral capabilities of man, — of fitly preparing him for the duties and tiials of life, —of teaching him to become a good subject, a good citizen, and a good member of the family circle* but they are aUo the barriers, and the only barriers, which interpose between him and the commission of crime ; and it has been well observed therefore, that *' there is no evil which may not be feared from ignorance, and no good which may not be expected from a well educated community. 1 ' Another question to which I would invite your attention (and it is one of vital importance to the prosperity and progress of the Province) is that of emigration j with peace and tran^uility reigning around us, with the necessaries of life in abundance, and at mod* crate prices, with large tracts of fine and fertile country waiting only to bo occupied, and with a climate which may vie in healthiness with the most salubrious in the world, there is yet one great drawback to our prosperity—one, until removed, insuperable bar to our onward progress ; we have no emigration. The natural result of this is, that labour, and more especially skilled labour, is both exhorbitantly dear and difficult to be obtained, and the best energies of the settlers are cramped and restricted by an inability to carry out improvements, or extend their operations. In other co« lonies and in the Northern Province of this colony, the proceeds of the sales of land constitute a fund from whiehthe means of promoting emigration are pi ovided, but in this Province, owing to the peculiar arrangements which exist in leference to the demesne lands, no lands are sold in the Province, and no such fund exists. I, of course, exclude from consideration in these re. in ark 8 the Otago district, where the New Zealand Company are still sending out enaigranti ; and I exclude also the prospective Canterbury settlement, not because an emigration in connection with those settlements will not be productive of indirect advantage to all the others, but because the c is every probability that they may shortly be elected into seperate Provineei ; and I both think that each Province should have a distinct emigration fund of its own, and I believe that such a fund might be obtainable in all, if the usual facilities were afforded for the sale of land withui the Proviicos themselves. I should be happy to find that you cm make any recommendations or suggestions for ieniedyinjr for the future the seiious drawback upon the prosperity of the Province which I have pointed out, and I feel assured that the Directors of the New Zealand Company would attach great weight to any representations coining from such a quarter. In connection with the subject of land, it will be my duty to lay before you copies of a correspondence which has taken place between the Local Government and the Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company in reference to providing funds to meet the necessary expenses of acquiring tracts of country from the natives, to enable that body to carry on its colonising operations ; and I shall have to ask. you to make such provision from the revenues of the Province for the purpose, or to take such other steps as you may think the exigencies of the case to lcquire. Of the priocipal laws which I propose to submit to your consideration during this sesiion, an outline has already nppeared in tlvs Government Gazette; for I was desirous that the settlers should have the opportunity of considering and expressing their opinions, upon questions in which their in'erests were materially involved, prior to the provisions which it was proposed to introduce into the ordinances relating to those questions ; being brought forward for discussion and enactment in [ the Council. Every care has been taken in the prepai ration of the bills which vrill be laid before you, to adapt them, as far &<\ possible, to the circumstances and wants of the Province; — but they may yet be capable of much improvement, and it will be your duty to supply such additions, or alterations as your practical txperience and local knowledge may leud you to believe will render them mure efficient or more generally uae« ful. Commend ng, then, to your best attention, the varied and important interests upon wh eh you are called upon to deliberate, aniUflenftning in juu'f 'HI tm, and confiding in your active and zealous discharge of the trust committed to you, I rely with confidence on ycu f>r adyice and assistance ; and I beg to assure YOU, Oil my part, of my earnest desire to co-operate with you i in your effoits to promote the sveHaie, and advance the pio->petity of the Pioiiuce. E. Eyre. Legislative Council Chamber, Wellington, Ist May, 1819. His Excellency then laid on the table the copy of a Correspondence between the Local Government and

the New Zealand Company, with reference to the re« cent purchases of land from the uatives. Notice was given of the first reading of the following Ordinances for Tuesday next:— The Naturalisation Ordinance ; the Ordinance for taking a Census ; the Ordinance to regulate the Sale of Bread ; and 'lie Ordinance to prevent Entire Horses from being suffered to run at large. It was then moved by Mr. Hickson, and seconded by Mr. Moore— That this Council do now adjourn until Tuesday next, ia order to give time for the arrival of the three gentlemen who have been appointed to represent Nelson in the Legislative Council of this Province. The Council then adjourned until Tuesday next, the ! Bth inst., at two o'clock.

Mr. G, D; Lardner, D.A.C.G., quits this colony for England, via Sydney, in the course of a few days This gentleman arrived at Auckland early in 1840, and came to Wellington in February, 1844, to take charge of the Commissariat Department in this place. Throughout a period of five years, Mr. Lardner has had a very arduous and onerous duty to perform. During the disturbances of 1845, in the Hutt Valley and Porirua and Horokiwi districts, at a distance from a port from which supplies only could be obtained, his energies and talent were called into constant requisition, and though the troops had to be supplied in the very depth of a severe and lengthened winter, and provisions carrifd along most execrable roads, by the continued zeal and management of the head of the Commissariat, the British force and allies were as welt and sufficiently rationed as though cantoned in town. It is in time of war that the benefit of a Commiisariat Department is most materially felt, and for the services of Mr. Lardner in that period of trouble and danger, he received the warm eulogistic thanks of the Commanding Officer. Mr. Lardner's loss wiil be felt by a large circle of friends, who, however, sincerely wish, him all prosperity wherever fortune may conduct him, or in whatever place he may be stationed. Mr. Wood, D.A.C.G., for some time past head of the Commissrriat Department at Wanganui, sucseeds Mr. Lardner, and Mr. Sutherland, D.A.C.G , takes charge at Wanganui.