And he declared that the permanent possession of its Land Fund by each province would be his first stipulation in agreeing to separation, without which he would not vote for such a couroe. Etc begged the meeting to dwell upon the facts, aud not to be carried away by any cry. If they would only enquire calmly and without bias, they would quickly come to the same conclusion as himself. Mr : Weld said that Mr. Ward had entirely omitted to notice the points on which ho had been asked for an answer. He (Mr. Weld) had begged the separationists to say exactly what they meant by separation ; Mr. Ward had pledged himself not to vote for anything which would endanger the land fund, but he had gone no further. As he had his plan ready he (Mr. Weld) hoped ho would lay it before the meeting that evening. Mr. Ward had drawn a terrible picture of what would happen if the people of the Middle Island con sented to do what they had never been asked; He had never asked them to pledge themselves indefinitely to war. He wanted to know how we could expect England to give np the liabilities she holds over us if the troops are retained, or how we could get rid of the troops if the unity of the colony is not preserved. He did not ask them to go to unlimited expenses in sticking to the North j he had taken office to put a stop to expense, and he defied l any one to Bay that that had not been done to a great extent. Let the advocates of separation show how wo should save money by it, and how we oould get release by Aot of Parliament. Mr. Ward seemed to rest the safety of the Middle Island on tho southern pro vinces Bticking together 5 but had it been found that they did stick together ? He did not believe that Canterbury alone could get separation, and he was sure that on suoh terms as Mr. Ward pro posed Auckland would go against it to tho last man. -,V ; "1 After Mr. Weld- had sat down, Mr. 