Document Information

Date: 1866-02-22
By: Nova Scotia (House of Assembly)
Citation: Nova Scotia, House of Assembly, Debates and Proceedings, 23rd Parl, 3rd Sess, 1866 at 1-5.
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DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OF NOVA SCOTIA. 1866.

THURSDAY, Feb. 22.

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Shortly before 2 o’clock p.m. the Speaker took the chair of the house, and after a few minutes the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod conveyed the command of His Excellency for the attendance of the House in the Council Chamber.

The House of Assembly having attended in obedience to His Excellency’s command. His Excellency opened the Session with the following Speech:–

Mr. President, and Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council:

Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly:

1. It afford me unfeigned satisfaction, in meeting, for the first time, the Legislature of this my native Province, to be able to congratulate you upon a condition of prosperity never before equalled in the history of the Colony.

2. While we have enjoyed the blessings of peace and immunity from pestilence, the labors of the Husbandman and the Fisherman have been crowned with success: and the sale of Crown Lands, the development of our Coal and Gold Mines, the receipts from our Railways, and the Trade and Revenue of our Province, are greatly in excess of any preceding year.

3. A soldier myself, and intimately connected with the organization of the Volunteer movement both in Great Britain and in this Province, you can well understand the deep gratification it has afforded me to find the spirited manner in which my countrymen have responded, by the organization of a Militia Force so efficient, to the call to prepare for any emergency which may at any time demand stout hearts and trained arms for the defence of the inestimable privileges we enjoy as subjects of the Crown of Britain.

Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly.

4. The Public Accounts will shortly be placed before you. The Estimates for the year will be prepared with as much regard to economy as due consideration for the interests of the country will permit.

Mr. President, and Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council:

Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly:

5. You will learn with regret that, notwithstanding the united efforts of the British North American Colonies, the Government of the United States have adhered to their determination to abrogate the arrangements for Reciprocal Trade which have for the past eleven years contributed so largely to the harmony and commercial prosperity of both the neighboring Republic and these Colonies; but I am sanguine that by mutual aid and co-operation among the Provinces, and under the fostering care of the Mother Country, the trade of British North America may be so directed into new channels, and our valuable fisheries so protected, as to meet the emergency thus forced upon us and avoid any material commercial inconvenience. The correspondence upon this subject will be submitted to you.

6. You will be gratified to be informed that the efforts to represent the products of this Province at the Dublin Exhibition resulted very favorably–a large number of medals having been awarded to our exhibitors; and from the necessity which now exists to make known as widely as possible the great natural resources of these Provinces, you will, I doubt not,m make suitable provision for the due representation of Nova Scotia as the great International Exhibition to take place in Paris in 1867.

7. Contracts, based upon the legislation of last Session, have been entered into during the recess of Parliament for the extension into during the recess of Parliament for the extension of the Railways from Truro to the border of New Brunswick, and from Windsor to Annapolis. These documents, and the papers connected therewith, will be laid before you at an early day.

8. In accordance with instructions received from Her Majesty’s Government, circulars were transmitted to the persons in charge of all

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the Prisons in the Province, making enquiries as to their condition. These documents, with the answers to the enquiries made, will be submitted for your consideration; and I will be glad if some means should be devised for the due inspection of all places of imprisonment, in order to promote an improvement in the system and uniformity of discipline.

9. Your attention will also be invited to the important question of Immigration, in the hope that a larger number of those seeking a new home may be made acquainted with the great advantages which are here offered to industry, capital, or skill.

10. I confidently hope that, deeply impressed with the gratitude due to a beneficient Providence for the blessings so liberally bestowed during the past year, your united deliberations will result in promoting the continued prosperity of this highly favored land.

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