F.—No.

3

The Select Committee of the House of Bepresentatives, to whom was referred the Betition of the Inhabitants of the Grey Valley and Teremakau Districts praying for annexation to the Province of Nelson, after taking into consideration the Petition, and the Beport of the Commissioner appointed by the Superintendent of Nelson upon the subject, have the honour to report, and are of opinion,— That it is desirable that both sides of the Grey Valley, together with the district northwards of tho Teremakau Eiver (which is commercially connected with the Town of Greymouth), should be under one Government; and are further of opinion and recommend that the prayer of the Petitioners be complied with. N. Edwaeds, 25th August, 1870. Chairman.

APPENDIX A. Sic,— Greymouth, 23rd July, 1870. I have the honour to inform you that, in compliance with the instructions contained in your letter of 29th June, I have made full inquiry into the circumstances of that portion of the County of Westland lying to the north of the Teremakau, so far as they appear to bear upon the question of its annexation to the Brovince of Nelson. In the course of my inquiries I have collected a mass of statistics from the different Departments, both of the General Government and the County, at Hokitika, the Greenstone, and Greymouth. This information I have endeavoured to condense into as small a compass as possible, appending such documents only as are absolutely necessary for reference, and for the complete understanding of the case. Wherever it was possible, I have taken my data from official sources ; but several of the points to which my attention was directed being matters rather of opinion than of certainty, I have sought to obtain the views not only of the members of the Annexation Committee, but of the Managers of the local Banks, and of others who would be likely from their position to give an unbiassed opinion. Much valuable information has been elicited in this way. I have also traversed the country in various directions, so that I am able to speak with some degree of confidence as to the general features of the country, —the quality of the soil, the state of the roads, and the present aspect of the mining industry. The information that I have collected from these various sources will fall naturally under several distinct heads, which I shall take separately before proceeding to summarize the results. Revenue from all Sources, for the Year ending 30th June, 1870. The returns under this head having been compiled entirely from official sources, it will only be necessary here to enumerate the various items from which the revenue is made up, giving tho amount yielded by each. A more detailed statement will be found in the Appendix marked A. The revenue may be conveniently divided into eight heads (See A 1) — £ s. d. 1. Customs, including gold duty, ... £6,043 7 1 „ and import duty ... ... 9,001 14 9 15,045 1 10 2. Post Office ... ... ... ... ... 1,323 17 3 3. Telegraph ... ... ... ... ... 967 3 6 4. Wardens' Courts, including miners'rights ... ... 7,144 15 8 5. Eesident Magistrates' Courts ... ... ... 1,795 18 6 6. District Court receipts ... ... ... ... 99 6 0 7. Land sales ... ... ... ... ... 46 0 0 8. Stamp duties ... ... ... ... ... 682 18 9 £27,105 1 6 Probability of Increase of Revenue and Permanence of Gold Fields. A comparison between the amounts received from the district north of the Teremakau in the financial years 1868-69 and 1869-70 respectively, from the three principal services of revenue—Gold duty, import duty, and tho Magistrates' and Wardens' Court fees (tho latter item including miners' rights and business and publicans' licenses) —will afford the most decisive test of the increasing prosperity of the district. The returns (See B) from gold duty have increased during the past year from £4,687 18s. 2d. to £6,043 7s. Id. ; tho import revenue from £8,233 4s. lOd. to £9,001 14s. 9d. ; and the receipts from Wardens' and Magistrates' Courts from £5,384 13s. 9d. to £8,940 14s. 2d.; —showing a total increase of £5,679 19s. 3d. With regard to the probable permanence of the gold fields in this district, a far more intimate acquaintance with their past history and present condition than I can pretend to would be required to give my opinion on this point much weight.

REPORT OF THE GREY VALLEY AND TEREMAKAU PETITION COMMITTEE.