PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 890, 21 November 1871, Page 2

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on Nov. 16th. The following is the Governor's speech : Honorvble Councillors— I thank you for the attention you have bestowed upon the public business, and the consideration you have given those measures which have been proposed during the session with the object of promoting the advancement and prosperity of the Colony: I have to congratulate you on the progress you have made in the noble policy of colonisation which has been inaugurated during the session. Everyone who has the welfare of the Colony at heart must eagerly welcome that desire to people the country and open up its means of communication which had found expression in your measures for promoting public works, immigration, and the construction of railways. Fortified by the support you have given to the colonising policy, it will be the duty of my Ministers to give effect to it to the utmost extent consistent with provisions being made for the employment and settlement of the immigrants introduced, and with care being exercised that the labor required for other enterprises is not unduly absorbed by public works. I hope that, in a few months, immigrants will commence to arrive under the new system, aud will contiuue to do so with regularity in numbers sufficiently large to supply the need of our increased population, but not so large as to over-stock the labour market or, to over-tax the means at our command for comfortably settling them. I hope also that within a very few months railway works will be under construction in different parts of the Colony.

I observe with much satisfaction the support you have given to the Californian service, and I trust that the course you have taken will lead to the establishment permanently of a service, which, whilst it brings New Zealand into near and convenient communication with Great Britain, also opens the way to large business relations with the prosperous and enterprising people of the United States. With great gratification I notice the great improvement in the gold produce of the Colony. I am pleased to observe that you attach very great and deserved importance to the valuable industry of gold mining. I am able to congratulate you on the imprcvexents i:i the prospects of wool and flax producers, and, with the greatest pleasure, I foresee that better days are in store for those who follow agricultural pursuits. The presence in London of a special agent for the Colony, himself a colonist of thirty years' standing, intimately acquainted with its wants, and who, in former sessions, occupied a prominent place in the deliberations of the Parliament of the Colony, will, I trust, greatly aid you in the construction of the public works you propose, as well as lead to the judicious selection of the immigrants you require, and to make proper arrangements for their passage to the Colony. His presence will also, no doubt, tend to the pei manence of those friendly relations which, I am glad to say, exist between the Imperial and Colonial Governments. The session has been profitable in its results in respect to that most important stimulus to civilisation, local Municipal G-overnment. I am sanguine that an excellent effect will result from the pecuniary assistance you have agreed to grant to Road Boards, and from the operation of the Highways Act. I regret that the shortness of the session, aud other reasons, prevented your legislation on the question of Education ; your attention has, however, been given to the subject, and its principles have been fully discussed in the House of Representatives, and it is perhaps well that on a subject on which there exists such a difference of opinion, time should he given to the constituencies to consider more fully the bearings of the measure which was proposed to the House of Representatives. Gentlemen" op the House op Representatives— I thank you for the supplies you have granted for the public service, which shall be administered with due care. I am glad also that you have revised taxation in some particulars, with a view to providing ways and means to meet the necessary expenditure of the Government. Honorable Councillors and Gentlemen op the House op Representatives—• Since the commencement of the

session there have not been wanting | indications of a growing inclination among the few remaining malcontents of the native race to return to their allegiance, and to resume friendly relations with the Europeans. The presence of the highly intelligent representatives of the nativo race in the House of Representees, and the judicious manner in which, I am informed by Ministers, they exercise their functions, fully justifies the wisdom of the recommendation made by the House of Representatives that persons of the native race should bo called to the Legislative Council. On the best method of giving effect to that recommendation I will consult my responsible advisers. I shall forward to her Majesty's Government, for presentation to her Majesty, the addresses you have passed in both Chambers of the Legislature on the su' ject of the labor traffic which is being carried on between some of the Australian Colonies, the Fiji Islands, and various other islands in the Pacific. Ido not doubt that the melancholy death of Bishop Patteson and his companions will deepen the interest which has already been excited on this question at home, and that, her Majesty's Government will bestow npon it the attention it merits. tn releasing you from your labors, I venture to express to you my earnest hope that, under the blessing of Divine Providence, the measures you have authorised will promote the prosperity of the Colony.