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Petitions Presented to The House of Representatives

No. 3. — Petition of the Mayor and Corporation of Queenstown

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No. 3.
Petition of the Mayor and Corporation of Queenstown.

To the Honourable the Speaker and the Honourable the Members of the House of Assembly of the Colony of New Zealand in Parliament assembled,
The Petition of the Corporation of Qwenstown, Lake Wakatipu, Province of Otago, page 5

Respectfully Sheweth—

1.That your Memorialists did, in August last, 1866, succeed to office, as Municipal Councillors in lieu of an irresponsible but duly elected Town Committee.
2.That the said Town Committee represented the feelings and views of the population of the Wakatip District at large, and their actions and proceedings were approved of by public meetings.
3.That in August, 1864, before Municipal Government was established in Otago, the following resolution relating to the establishment of extended country Municipalities was passed:—" That this Committee desire to impress both upon the Colonial Government and the Provincial Council the desirability of endowing up-country Municipalities with either a grant of ground or power to lease the Waste Lands of the Crown for the purpose of obtaining a fixed revenue from the said lands, to be subject to the control of the Provincial Council."
4.That in November, 1865, a resolution, in another duly elected Committee, was proposed, as follows:—" That this Committee address the Speaker of the Otago Provincial Council, and express in said Address a hope that at the ensuing session of the Council a resolution will be forwarded passed by that Honorable Council, for transmission to the General Government, approving of the formation of District Councils, endowed with a grant in aid from the territorial revenue, and supplemented with Provincial funds for central trunk lines of road: The Address to refer to the Borough and Shire Council system at present in operation in the Colony of Victoria.
5.That by another new Committee the preceding resolutions were further endorsed, and steps ordered to be taken to establish Shire Councils, namely, on the 4th January, 1866.
6.That since the period of January, 1866, up to the election of members of this Council in August of the same year, the subject has been continually brought forward publicly.
7.That your Memorialists can testify that the said matter has been duly placed in the hands of James Benn Bradshaw, Esquire, member of your Honourable House, to urge upon your attention; and can further testify that the said James Benn Bradshaw, Esquire, was a member of the said Town Committee, when aforesaid resolutions were passed.
8.That your Memorialists can also testify to the fact that Charles Edward Haughton, Esquire, member of your Honourable House, was duly requested to lay before you the wishes and requirements of this district as above detailed.
9. That they have the greatest confidence that the above named gentlemen can afford your Honourable House every information as to earnest desire of said population to obtain local self-government, in the form of a Shire Council Bill or measure.
10.That your Memorialists have recently pressed upon His Excellency the Governor the value of local self-government; and upon the Honourable Major Richardson, and the Honourable J. C. Richmond, the wishes and requirements of that immense district known as the Wakatip, in this matter.
11.That your Memorialists pray that any District or Shire Council established here may include the area contained and shown on the map hereunto annexed, together with that portion of the Province including the Nokomai Diggings, bounded by the Mataura River, and running thence to the Von River and so on to Lake Wakatipu,—these areas being the natural boundaries of a district of which Queenstown is the chief centre.
12.That your Memorialists continue to urge as hitherto, that the support of such Shire Councils should be derived from the following sources:—
1st.By a land endowment.
2nd.By revenue received from Crown Lands sales.
3rd.By a system of grants in aid, based upon local taxation.
4th.By revenue received for the letting of Waste Lands.
5th.By the letting of lands for depasturing purposes.
6th.By the balance received from Gold Fields revenue, after payment of salaries and administration of justice.
7th.By licenses and fees.
13.That your Memorialists do not ask your Honourable House to pass any pecuniary vote, but press upon your Honourable House the above endowment system.
14.That your Memorialists hope that the Legislature will pass a measure full and clear in its nature during its present sittings, and thus secure such a district as this from the hurtful effects of a one-sided administration of affairs at the hands of the Government of Dunedin.

And as in duty bound your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.

J. W. Roberton, Mayor.
Councillors M. J. Malagham
Councillors Bendix Hallenstein,
Councillors David Weaver, By procuration, H. Manders, Town Clerk.
Councillors John Turner, By procuration, H. Manders, Town Clerk

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