NEW ZEALAND
WANGANUI AND RANGITIKEI PETITION
1864

Thanks to PAPERSPAST - Taken from Wellington Independent, Volume XIX, Issue 2126, 10 November 1864, Page 2

TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B, GOVERNOR OF NEW ZEALAND, &c, &c &c,
May it please your Excellency,
WE, the undersigned Landholders, Residents, and Electors in the Wanganui-Rangitikei Districts, being aware that a Petition is about to be presented to your Excellency praying for the Separation of these Districts from the Province of Wellington, and their erection into a separate Province under The New Provinces Act, and The New Provinces Amendment Act, beg to submit for your Excellency's consideration the following reasons for withholding the consent of your Excellency's Government to the prayer of the Petition for Separation.
Your Memorialsists consider that the present Revenue of the proposed new Province is quite inadequate to the demands which must immediately on Separation be made upon its exchequer.
Your Memorialists submit that the Estimates of income of the petitioners for Separation are founded on the expectation of acquiring land from the Maoris and that unless those expectations are speedily realized the proposed new Province has no certain source of Revenue to fall back upon to meet even the current expenses of Government, interest of Provincial Government and General Government Loans, and the maintenance and continuing of Public Works already complete and in pro- gress.
Your Memorialsists, accepting even the most sanguine calculations of the advocates of Separation, consider that the erection of these Districts into a separated Province must be followed by the stoppage of many public works for which the necessary funds have been voted by the Wellington Provincial Government.
Your Memorialists anticipate with dread of its future consequences a change which, while it will entail considerable present and constantly increasing expenses in order to organize an efficient administration of the affairs of the Separated Province, offers no certain prospect of future gain and no guarantee against a repitition on a smaller scale of the evils of which the Separationists complain.
Your Memorialists consider the present time as most inopportune for the inauguration of a new Government, involving these districts in the turmoil of elections, and placing in office men new to the work just as a war on the West Coast and within the boundaries of the proposed new Province is imminent.
That many of your Memorialists were hastily called upon to decide the question of Separation, and were induced to sign the Petition for Separation under a wrong impression both as to the treatment of these Districts by the Government of Wellington, and also as to the future prospects of the proposed new Province, and beg hereby to withdraw their support from the Petition for Separation.
And your Memorialists pray that your Excellency may be pleased to disallow the petition for Separation of these Districts from the Province of Wellington, or at least to delay your Excellency's consent to the Petition until peace is restored in this Island, and the prospects of the Province are less uncertain than at present they are in consequence of the Maori war.
And your Memorialists will ever pray, &c. &c.
(Signed)

PLEASE NOTE - The signatories have been left in the order they were recorded as - this is to show neighbours and family groups.

Return To HOME

FAMILIES I AM RESEARCHING | MISCELLANEOUS GENEALOGICAL STUFF | NEW ZEALAND — ON LINE GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY RESOURCES | NEW ZEALAND — YOUNG BOY IMMIGRANT SCHEME 1911 — 1914 | NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS AND TRAGEDIES | NEW ZEALAND MISCELLANEOUS GENEALOGICAL INDEXES | NEW ZEALAND LAND WARS — MISCELLANEOUS GENEALOGICAL INDEXES | NEW ZEALAND AND WORLD WAR ONE | NEW ZEALAND AND WORLD WAR TWO | NEW ZEALAND ROLLS OF HONOUR AND WAR MEMORIALS — BY LOCATION | NEW ZEALAND ROLLS OF HONOUR AND WAR MEMORIALS — BY CONFLICT | NEW ZEALAND ROLLS OF HONOUR — MILITARY NURSES | PAKEHA/MAORI TRANSLITERATIONS | PASSENGER LISTS TO NEW ZEALAND | SHAND — FAMILY HISTORY | SOUTH TARANAKI, NEW ZEALAND — GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES | SPONDON, DERBYSHIRE, ENGLAND — GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES | WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL 1865 — 1947 | WESTERN BAY OF PLENTY, NEW ZEALAND — GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES