LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

West Coast Times, Issue 571, 24 July 1867, Page 2

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

(ABEIfrGED MOM THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT.) Tuesday, July 9, 1867. The ceromony of opening the second session of the fourth New Zealand Parliament took place on Tuesday, the 9th inst. At the appointed hour bis Excellency, accompanied by Captain Lyons, R.N., Her. Mr Thatcher, Private Secretary, Major Gray, A.D.C., and several officers of the Charybdis, arrived. The guard presented arms, and his Excellency proceeded to the Council Chamber. The " faithful Commons " having been sent for soon assembled, and his Excellency delivered tbe following: — SPEECH. " honorable legislative councillors, " Gentlemen of the House of Repressxtatives, — " I am happy to meet you again in Parliament, and to recur to your assistance and advice. "It has afforded me much satisfaction to have been iible to give effect to the wish expressed by me at the close of the last session, to visit the southern portion of the colony. I have thug had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with most of its leading towns and rising- settlements, in all of which I. have, as the Queen's representative, met with the most cordial reception. By the people of Auckland also, on tbe occasion of my recent visit to tliat part of the country, I have been most warmly and loyally received. It has bein a pleasing duty to me to report-to the Secretary of State that in no part of the empire has Her Majesty more loyal subjects than the inhabitants of the districts through which I have travelled. I could not but be gratified by the rapid progress which, it was evident the colony generally had made, while in the settlements which have sprung into existence during the last few years in the interior, and on the "West Coast of the Middle Island, I was at once struck by their extent and importance, and gratified by the presence, notwithstand-. ing the circumstances under" which they were forced, of that regard for the law and order which is tbe characteristic of our nice. I can say with confidence that, security for life and property, and respect for the law*, exist in as marked ft degree in those recently populated districts ns in any part of her Majesty's dominions. ".T eonerptukte'yoU on there-establish-Jte6nt ot peace generally throughout the North Island, iv no part of which do I anticipate iv future any systematic or- sustained hostility to' the Queen's authority. " The attitude of some Hau Hau fanatics who, in October last, threatened the town and settlement of Napier, was such as to cause a temporary anxiety, but by the judicious measures adopted by Mr McLean, and gallantly given effect to by Lieut-Colonel Whitmore and all classes of the inhabitants of tbe district, the offenders wore severely punished, tranquility was Speedily restored and Las not since been disturbed in that neighborhood. On the West Coast, also, the natives who had for yeara been hostile to tbe Queen's authority, met with a serieus check at Pungarehu, from Lieut-Colonel MSDonnell and the Colonial Forces under his command, since which time many of them have returned to their allegiance and others have expressed their intention of doing so. The conduct'of her Majesty's Colonial Forces, both European and rative, on these and other occasions deI serves the highest praise. " During the recess'l have made, a journey, I partly on foot, through the North Island, and lliave traversed. Native Districts which it had, ■or some time past, been deemed unsafe |to miter. I ererywhere found the embers of Bsaffection dying out, and I was received by pne Maori population, even in districts recently in rebellion, in such a manner as to inspire confidence in the future peace of the country. " A necessity having arisen for revising existing arrangements for the transmission, of .mails between the Australasian Colonies and the United Kingdom by way of Suez, it was deemed expedient that the whole question of Ocean Postal Communication, so far as' it affects these Colonies, should be discussed at a Conference of Eepresentatives of the several Australasian Governments, I accordingly accredited Representatives on the part of this Colony to the Conference. The result of the deliberations of that body will be laid' before you, and will, I trust, meet with your approval. This result appears satisfactory, • not only as providing for the establishment of an efficient and comprehensive system of Postal Communication with all parts of the world, but also as demonstrating tbe great benefits which may bo derived: from cordial and united action on this and other subjects affecting these Colonies as a whole. "The Act for the establishment of Post Office Savings Banks has bean brought into operation during the past year, and the extent to which it has already been made use of.

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