GENTLEMEN of the Assembly.

UNDER the peculiar circumstances of the present session, legislation has not been of an important character. Questions of great public interest have not been dealt with; these have been rightly deferred until they can be considered by a Legislature more fully attended, and assisted in their deliberations by a responsible Ministry.

All the bills which have been passed by the Assembly I have had much pleasure in assenting to on behalf of Her Majesty, and I trust these measures will be found to effect beneficial changes in the law.

In the position in which I now am it would be impossible to deal satisfactorily with many subjects of importance. I shall therefore defer all matters not requiring immediate attention until the contemplated change in the Government shall have taken place.

In the exercise of the power conferred upon me by the Constitution Act, it is my intention to dissolve this Assembly without delay.

In the absence of any measures on the part of the General Assembly determining otherwise, the next session will be convened and held in Auckland, as soon as it may be convenient to the members from the distant provinces to leave their private affairs.

It is my earnest hope and belief that the several constituencies of the Colony, duly appreciating their responsibility, and guided by an all wise Providence, will exercise their important functions in the manner best calculated to secure the services of Representatives who will efficiently aid me in my endeavors to develope the resources of the country, to elevate the moral and social condition of its inhabitants, to preserve that perfect civil freedom and

religious equality which is now enjoyed by all classes and denominations of Her Majesty's subjects, and by these means to promote the happiness and increase the prosperity of the people of this favored Colony.

I now prorogue this Assembly until the first day of October 1855.

REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR ON OPENING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY1

April 18, 1856

I HAVE the honor to forward for your information the address with which I opened the fourth session of the General Assembly on the 15th instant.

ADDRESS OF THE GOVERNOR TO THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY'

April 15, 1856

HONORABLE Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives.

Various causes prevented the last Assembly from legislating on many subjects materially affecting the welfare of the Colony, and it has been reserved for you to undertake that important duty.

Questions involving numerous conflicting interests remain for your consideration and adjustment, and in the solution of these difficulties an arduous task awaits you.

To enable me to call to my councils advisers possessing the confidence of the General Assembly is naturally a subject 1 Commons Papers, 1860, vol. 46, No. 2719, p. 197.

2 Ibid. Enclosure in the Report of April 18.

which will engage your earliest attention. This may be considered the corner stone on which all other legislation should be built; and I now repeat in the most explicit terms the assurance which I gave on the prorogation of the last Assembly, that I would give my confidence to the gentlemen who possess that of the Legislature, and that whenever changes become necessary I would allow no personal feelings to influence my public conduct.

I doubt not that the gentlemen who accept from you a responsibility conferring such an honorable distinction on themselves will consign to forgetfulness all of the past which has no reference to the future; that they will arm themselves with a determination to disregard all private interests, and, devoting themselves heart and soul to those of New Zealand, they will declare what ought to be enacted for the welfare of the Colony at large.

Such conduct will ensure respect from opponents and the esteem of Englishmen, not only in this Colony but throughout the Empire; not only at the present time but in the future, when party feelings and local interests have been obliterated or forgotten, and history records the strength or weakness of those who guided the infant steps of a great country.

If, on the contrary, the men chosen for this honorable trust should prove unequal to it, looking for the applause and preferring the interests of a party or a province to that of the Colony at large, then will the power they are unable to wield remain but a moment in their nerveless grasp, and, once released, it will oscillate backward and forward until seized on by some statesmen worthy of their adopted country, strong in the rectitude and integrity of their intentions, and regardless of all considerations which can in any way hinder the progress of the public weal.

Such are the men whose counsel I desire, and by whose advice I hope to be guided.

I rely entirely on your patriotic aid, and feel assured that, however divided you may be by political or party feelings, your best efforts will always be directed to secure the interests of the inhabitants of this country, mindful that their welfare depends on our efficient and faithful exercise of the powers vested in us by the Imperial Gov

ernment.

GENTLEMEN of the Assembly.

Free institutions, deeply graven in the hearts of Englishmen, the glory of the British nation, framed, amended, and maintained by the wisdom and perseverance of successive generations, have devolved on you as an inheritance. To them we owe much of that enterprise and independence which have been and are the characteristics of our nation in all parts of the world. They have been transplanted for you in their maturity, and their broad shadow spreads already over this favored land.

The history of the growth of these institutions during a thousand years in our native country would be but a tale that is told, and the retrospect of the past but an idle dream, if they teach us no lessons of wisdom. May we profit by them; and when time has consigned all who now hear me to the stillness of the grave, and children's children have succeeded to the inheritance of their fathers, may those who will then review the acts of this Assembly feel for you that admiration and esteem which we cannot withhold from the time-honored men to whom we owe our origin and our laws.

REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT1

April 30, 1856

I HAVE the honor to inform you that on the day previous to the meeting of the Assembly on the 15th instant, I addressed the accompanying letter, marked No. 1, to Mr. Sewell, who is the senior of the gentlemen who held office on similar terms during the first session of the Assembly, and who had at the time of their retirement a large majority in their favor. Mr. Sewell accepted the invitation, and I then placed in his hands the "minute" marked No. 2. Having associated with him Messrs. Whitaker, Bell, and Tancred, this minute was discussed and explained in a "memorandum," marked No. 3. Both documents were then signed and agreed to by Mr. Sewell and Mr. Whitaker the Attorney General, on the full understanding that the terms were subject to alteration and amendment by the Secretary of State, but not until his decision shall have been received.

2. The Assembly having been prorogued for a few days, met again on the 25th instant, when I addressed to the House of Representatives a message (vide enclosure No. 4.), recommending pensions for those members of the Executive Council whose retirement is a necessary preliminary to the formation of responsible government.

3. On the motion being brought forward that the House should enter upon the consideration of this message, Mr. Sewell, in a speech of considerable length, and which I 1 Commons Papers, 1860, vol. 46, No. 2719, p. 208.