No, 1. Ncto DcalattDr.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

SESSION 111.

WEDNESDAY, Bth AUGUST, 1855. The House met pursuant to proclamation by His Excellency the Officer administering the Government, bearing date the 4th day of July, 1855, the Clerk read the said proclamation by order of the Speaker. Present :—The Honorable the Speaker, W. T. L. Travers, Esq ,J. blacky, Esq., J. O'Neill, Esq., C. J, Taylor, Esq., W. M. Crompton, Esq., L. O'Brien, Esq., R. Hart, Esq., J. T. W. Bacot, Esq., W. Lee, Esq., T. S. Forsaith, Esq., H. Sewell, Esq., Major Greenwood, F. U. Gledhill, Esq., F. \V. Merriman, Esq., W. F. Porter, Esq., H. Carleton, Esq., T. King, Esq., W. Brown, Esq., and Lieut.-Colonel Gray. The Speaker read prayers and took the Chair. The Speaker informed the House that he had received a copy of the Speech which had just been read to both Houses of the Legislature, by His Excellency the Officer administering the Government in the Legislative Council Chamber. The Speaker then read the following speech. Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, When I prorogued the General Assembly of New Zealand in the month of September last, I did not then entertain an expectation that it would become my duty to be present, in the same capacity, at the opening of another Session. It is however, a source of great satisfaction to me that it has pleased Her .Majesty to permit me to continue in the Government of this Colony sufficiently long to see the accomplishment of that ample measure of self-government, which this Assembly, and I believe the Colonists in general, have so ardently desired.