THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SPEECH.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 41, 23 November 1871, Page 3

THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SPEECH.

Mr. SrEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE PROVINCIAL Council, — I have called you together at the earliest possible date after the prorogation of the General Assembly, in the hope that you may thus be enabled to dispose of the business to be submitted for your consideration before the termination of the year. The session of the Colonial Parliament which lias just closed has been distinguished for the influence which its measures are calculated to have upon the position of the provinces. The Act passed in 1870, by which the provinces were assured of a capitation grant of thirtyeight shillings per head of their population for this year, has been repealed, and a capitation of fifteen sillings per head substituted under somewhat altered conditions. The effect, of the change will be to reduce seriously the Provincial revenues. A sum of £4,000, granted as special allowance, alone represent the ainout of aid which will accrue to this province from the Colonial revenue, and there can be little doubt that even this sum will he required next year to pay the interest upon money spent by the Colonial Government in this province under the provisions of the Public Works Acts now in force.

The prospect of the allocation of the greater part of the Colonial Loan to various public "works throughout the colony during the session of the Assembly which has just closed, induced me, under the advice of my Executive, to submit a scheme of public works and immigration for this province for the consideration of the Colonial Government. Copies of this Avill be submitted to you. I am happy to say that, although not adopted as a whole by the Colonial Government and Assembly, many of the proposals made have been embodied in the scheme submitted by the Minister for Public Works, and approved fliy the Colonial Parliament. The Auckland and Waikato Railway will, I believe, be proceeded with without delay ; and possibly a line to connect Riverhead with Auckland, thus opening up the communication with the country bordering upon the Kaipara estuary and the rivers flowing into it. The Colonial Government have also pledged themselves to expend £15,000 a year forfouryears successively, in opening up the country to the north of Auckland by roads, bridges, and works of permanent utility; which, if economically carried out, cannot fail to produce the most important results to the province. The Kaipara Railway, the construction of which was sanctioned by you at your last session, has been undertaken, and the works are now being rapidly proceeded with. The lowest tender that could be obtained for the execution of the work amounted to upwards of £42,000, a sum considerably in excess of that contemplated by the Council. Considering, however, the great importance of the work, and the apparent reasonableness of the contract price, I concurred with my Executive in taking the responsibility of proceeding with its construction. The Assembly lias now authorised the Colonial Government to take over this work from the Province, and to charge its execution against the Colonial Loan, upon condition of £25,000 being paid over to the Harbour Board, and you will be invited to concur with me in taking such steps as may be necessary to carry out this arrangement, calculated, as I believe, greatly to relieve the finances, and to promote the prosperity of the Province. The Auckland Harbour Board provision for the constitution of which was made by an Act passed during your last session—has been duly constituted, and promises to work satisfactorily. An Act has been passed by the Assembly empowering the Board to borrow £IOO,OOO for purposes of harbour improvement, which can, however, only be rendered operative by your consenting to release the revenues of the Board from the claim for interest upon the loan from the province. Your attention will be invited to this question. The Albert Barracks and Fort Britomart, together with the lands adjoining the former, have been dealt with by the Assembly. The former has in the meantime been set apart as a place for public recreation. Fort Britomart has been made a harbour endowment, and the lands adjacent to the Albert Barracks, but not included within the Avails, are handed over to the province to be dealt Avith as Avnste lands in such manner as you shall agree upou. It affords me great pleasure to be able to congratulate you upon the progressive prosperity of the Goldfields of the province during the past year. The very large increase in the yield of gold from our mines and the increased traffic incident upon the prosperity of the field, have led me to authorise au expenditure in excess of some

of the votes passed by you during j’our last session, for services and works upon the Goldfields. The interests of the fields —both at the Thames and Coromandel—have obtained a very large share of the attention of myself and my Executive during the recess, and I trust that the proposals which will be made to you in respect of Appropriation ef Goldfields works and services, will receive your best consideration. I have endeavoured to procure the co-operation of the Colonial Government, in the effort to obtain from the native owners the freehold of the auriferous lands as well as of the foreshore at the Thames, and I trust that the result will be the acquisition, at no distant date, of these lands by the Government. The prospect of the opening of Ohinemuri to European enterprise and discovery appears now to be a near one, and you will be asked to make a contingent provision for services which may at any time be rendered necessary by the acquistion of the rightto mine on the lands of the Upper Thames.

The funds placed by you at my disposal for the trigonometrical suivcy of the province have enabled me to proceed with the triangulation of several of the northern districts. One of these has now been proclaimed open for selection under the homestead clauses of the Waste Lands Act, 1870, and I have every reason to believe that the oppoitunity thus afforded of obtaining good land on the condition of bona fide occupation will be gladly embraced by a numerous and valuable class of settlers. I have laid before the Colonial Government the address and report presented by you to me on the subject of the police force in this province, and they have declined to disturb the arrangement now existing by a return to the old system. The correspondence on this subject will be laid before you. An Act has been passed by the Assembly to amend defects in the Bay of Islands Settlement Repeal Act, which will enable the province to deal freely with some of its most valuable agricultural lands, and will also enable me to carry out the engagements made with the Bay of Islands Coal Company. In pursuance of your Address No. 50, I prepared and introduced into the Assembly an Act to provide for Burial Grounds in the neighbourhood of Auckland. You will be invited to provide a sum for the purchase of a suitable site for anew Cemetry, the use of which may, under proper restriction, be gradually substituted for that of the present ground. Papers will be laid before you in reference to the proposal for the Supply of Water to the City of Auckland by a private Company.

There will be submitted to you several Road Bills and Bills in reference to Higways, Licensing, Education, Management of Educational Reserves, and other subjects to which I invite your attention. The financial position of the province, as 3’ou will gather from the accounts which will be laid before j r ou, is at present satisfactory. The usual Estimates will be submitted to you, and by carefully considered votes on your part, and economical administration on the part of myself and my Executive, I trust that tho position of the province will not be impaired while its material prosperity may be largely increased.

I congratulate you on the maintenance of peaceable and friendly relations with the Natives, and trust that nothing may again occur to disturb that condition so essential to tho well being of the province and the colony at large. Finally, I trust that your deliberations will bo distinguished by an abandonment of private and party feelings in the desire to promote the public good, and that they may result in measures calculated to advance the best interests of all classes of the cclonists of this province. T. B. Gillies, Superintendent. Auckland, 22nd November, 1871.