THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY TO THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 24, 25 July 1868, Page 3

THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY TO THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

. i ■ ,-,,. (From the Daily Times) During its late session, the Provincial Council, agreed to ai* Address to Sir George liowen, on his appointment aa Governor of New Zealand. His Excellency has made the following reply :—: —

Mr Speaker and Gentlemen : I desire to convey to you my. w-arm' thanks for .the Address in which the Provincial Council of Otago congratulate mo on my appointment to .the Goverment of New Zealand, V I a^much gr'atine i d^by^e--'expr|s?ion of your w^hj-fh^lc should take anjearly opportunity of visiting your great > Pro--mricb.«t<*fl Jkw €lwkya *beaa my* intuition to proceed ta the south Island, so f soon as the state public business, aftfr the cjgsjTpf tb-e^ege^nt ~thc| Colonial Parliament', wul/perinil'. ' I itrust that Lady Jfowen, to^whom you -refer in such kind terms, will be able to accompany me." I assure you that we both look forward with much .pleasure,- and interest to our first visit to yonrfai? city of D.unedin ; to your pastoral and ; agricultural'settlements'; to your coalbeds and goldfields ; and to your lakes and mountain valleys. .. If not on the first, at least on some future -"opportunity, I hope to see, also, those -.wondrous Bays ;on the West Coast of ■ Otago, where Nature has comI binded, in one grand spectacle, the snowy peaks and glaciers of Switzerland with .the gloomy forests and deep fiords of Norway. Permit me, Mr speaker and Gentlemen, to congratulate you on the manner in which the " victorious industry" of the Bettler&j of, Otago has already triumphed over the obstacles of Nature. From the official- statistics, I. perceive that your population, which (including Southland) amounted -to only 6,985 in 1858, had increased in 1867 ; that, during | the same" short interval of nine years, the | number of acres, fenced in your Province increased fro* 19;i39, to 605,572; the number of aores-under crop from 9,363 to 122,208 : the number of horses from 1,680 to 14,458 ; of horned cattle from 20,987 to 81,982, ; of sheep from 223,597 jto 2,431,260. The progress in your trade, your revenue, and in all the other elements oT material prosperity app'earsto beequally remarkable. ,Much of this rapid advance--merit' is, doubtless, due to the Gold discoveries of 1861, and the succeeding years ; but more still to the energy of your people, and to the proverbial geniut of the Anglo-Saxon race For the " noble and truly imperial art of Colonisation. G.. F. Bowbw. ' Goverh'msnt House, Wellington, 10th July, 1868.