Provincial Councils over their own waste lauds—one-half, however, of the proceeds of these sales was to be handed over to the General Government. A Bill was also put through appointing trustees ta manage the ecclesiastical property held in trust by the Canterbury Association.
Meanwhile, Sir George Grey had, on December 31, 1853, left New Zealand, and Lieut.-Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard, as senior military officer, took the oath on January 3, 1854, as Administrator; a somewhat anomalous position for a gentleman who had represented Auckland as its Superintendent. Colonel Wynyard summoned the General Assembly to meet in Auckland on May 24, probably as early a date as was possible, taking into consideration the difficulties of communication.
In his speech on the opening of the first New Zealand Parliament, the Governor confessed to some natural hesitation about calling Parliament together, he was “holding office but temporarily,” and “bound not to embark in any measure which may embarrass the policy or affect the duties of the permanent Governor of the country.” “But,” he added, “possessing the necessary legal authority, and seeing that Her Majesty’s subjects in New Zealand have a right to the exercise of the powers conferred upon them by the British Parliament, I felt that I ought not to allow considerations personal to myself to disappoint their expectations, and to delay them indefinitely.”
The concluding paragraph seems to cast a curious reflection on the neglect of the late Governor to call Parliament together.
