OPENING OP THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 155, 15 April 1859, Page 2

OPENING OP THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

On Tuesday last, the members of. this body met aj; the Freemasons' Hall, which lias been fitted up for the purpose during the present session. ' Besides the Speaker, the members present were—Messrs. Domett (Provincial Secretary), Adams (Provincial Solicitor), Wemyss, Curtis,; Mackay, j Saundors, Dodsori,, Baigerit, Kelling, Sinclair, Wells, Parker, Simuftonds, Hewitson, Marsden, and Bedwood. The Hall was well arranged for the purpose ; the gallery was occupied by several ladies, and the space alloted to the public was crowded. ... The Speaker took the chair precisely at ona, o'clock. The Clerk having read the proclamation convening the meeting, The Superintendent was announced, and amidst some applause, hia Honoe proceeded with the following address :— ... 3fr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial . Council — . ■ ' ■ It having again become my duty to call you together for the purpose of devoting your attention to the public business of this province, it is with, much pleasure that I find myself again enabled to' congratulate you oh its still increasing prosperity. The absence of a single criminal case at the last half-yearly sitting of the Supreme Court again places the province in its usually high moral position, while its material progress, is evidenced by its increasing revenue, both ordinary and territorial. The estimate of the revenue for the past year, which I had the honor of laying before you during the last session, has, I am happy to inform you, been exceeded to the extent of nearly £8000. This includes a refund by the General Government of £2892 Bs. 4d.; and the total increase over the previous year, quite irrespective of any sums raised under the Debentiire Act, is upwards of £11,000. A comparative statement of the amount of imports and exports for the year ending the 31st December last, gives the former at .£150,498 133. 5d., and the latter at 16s. lid., at the port of Nelson alone; and as "a large portion of wool is annually exported from the Wairau; by way of Wellington, while nearly the whole of the produce of the Amuri district is shipped at.Canterbury, and considerable quantities of gold leave the province by coasting vessels and other means (of the value of which it is impossible at present to obtain a correct estimate), there can be little or no doubt that the value of the whole exported produce of the province has not been less, during the past year, than £123,000. From a return received this day from the Collector of Customs, it appears that the value of exports, for the quarter ending 31st March alone,, amounted to nearly .£50,000. To this gratifying, state of things I have the pleasure to add that the heavy burden of ,£4OOO a-year, imposed by the General Assembly on this province as its portion of the New Zealand Company's debt, was re-consideved hi its last session, and it having been ably and satisfactorily shewn that the arbitrary distribution of this debt had been based on an erroneous estimate of the respective capabilities of the several provinces concerned to bear the burden of it^ and on ah assumption that this province contained 18,000,000 of acres, the fact being that only about half that quantity is to be found, a reduction has been effected on our portion of the debt to the extent of a-year. I have also the pleasure of announcing to you that on its having been shewn to the General Government that a deposit of .£IO,OOO for the purchase of land within this province had been improperly received in and treated as' revenue belonging to the year 1856, that sum has been placed to the credit of the province; and although in the readjustment of the accounts between the general revenue and that of the various provinces made by the General Government, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution Act, nearly the whole sum has been absorbed in the liquidation of the debt of this province to the genera! revenue, incurred under the system of distribution actually carried out in previous years, yet the credit for the sum thus given to the province turned the balance in its favor, and obviated the necessity of providing a corresponding amount out of its present or future revenues. Deeply impressed as I have always been , with the conviction that the welfare of this, as of any new country, depends in a most important degree upon the .general facilities it affords for communication and settlement by the existence of good roads, I have had much pleasure in applying to that purpose the funds voted for it last year; and I trust that by a judicious and liberal appropriation of our now flourishing revenues to this object, we may in another year or two see our province, throughout its whole length and breadth, traversed by a system1 of good and safe bridle roads, which will tend greatly to devclope its unoccupied districts, and to increase our means of intercourse with the neighboring province to the south of us. Our present knowledge of this part of the Middle Island seems to point out three great lines of road, which it should bo our earnest endeavor to open and render practicable. The first should be the great;fine to Canterbury, down the Eastern Coast of the Island, running from. Nelson by the. Pelorus, Wairau, Awatere, and the Kaikoras. Of this perhaps the most difficult part has been completed by the formation of a good bridle road towards the Pelorus Valley, over the Maungatapu, as far as the Heringa River, while the track has been cleared of bush the whole way to the Wairau.' The expense of forming this latter portion of the road, although large, will not, I believe, be beyohd"the sum originaly contemplated; but that which has been done will be comparatively useless,if it be not continued; and looking at the benefits its completion will bestow on the occupants of the Pelorus and Kaituna districts, and the opportunities it will afford for the further settlement of those and the neighboring valleys, as well as the advantage to travellers to and from Nelson and Wairau, by the shortening of the distance between these places, I do not doubt that you will have little hesitation in voting the funds necessary for the completion of this portion of the road. But I hope you will'also provide,for,the permanent, improvement oi the whole line to th'o ; Hurunui, particularly the worst part near the; Kaikoraa, and also, which is indispensable .if - the road is to be made really useful, for the establishment of ferries over the Clarence, Pelorus, atid any other rivers where they may be requisite. Arrangements have already been made for these improvements and only await your sanction of the expenditure they involve to be immediately carried into execution. '. .The second great line which should be rendered easily practicable, is the central road to the South by the Wairau Gorge end Hanmcr Plain. I have the satisfaction to state that the greatest of the difficulties attending this route, namely, at the