FOUNDING CANTERBURY PROVINCE.

SEVEN!Y-!■'JFT'! ANNIVERSARY. CELEBRATION IN CHRISTCHURCH ON SAT UP DAY.

The celebratiui of the 75th anniversary of th- founding of the Canterbury Settlement was fittingly carried out in Christchurch on Saturday when a function combining the work of the pioneers and the march of progress made over that long period was properly portrayed by a procession. The great work carried out in converting the Canterbury province from its natural and wild state to its present prosperity is due to a great extent to those early pioneers who abandoned their comfortable homes in the Old Count i y to come to the hardships and unending labour of building for themselves homes in the wilderness. Rex A. C. Purchas, in his sermon at St. Peter's Church, made reference to the high ideals of these early pioneers, and the great \vork of John Robert Godley, who organised the Canterbury Association. THE CANTERiBUIjtY ASSOCIATION. A description of the Canterbury Ssttlement from '"Tales of Banks Peninsula" is as follows :

"The Canterbury settlement was at first started in 18-18 by an association in England, composed of men of influential position, who were deeply impressed with the necessity of a thorough reform in the management of the colonies. Their object was to establish a model colony, in which all the elements of a good and right state of society should be perfectly organised from the first. Unity of religious creed being deemed essential, the settlement was to be entirely composed of members of the Church of England ; religion and

the highest class of education were to be amply provided for ; and everything was to be ordered and ananged so as to attract men of station and character, and a high class of emigrants generally, to embark their fortunes in the undertakings. The scheme was carried out by men whose hearts were in the work, among whose numbers the names of John Robert Godley and Lord Lyttclton are conspicuous. In their hands the enterprise lost nothing of the high character that was first impressed upon it, although many modifications of the original plan were found desirable, and judiciously carried into-effect, The principles of religious exclusiveness was necessarily soon abandoned, and the first ideas of the projectors may have been imperfectly realised in other respects, but it is only just to acknowledge the debt of gratitude that Canterbury owes to its founders, as even the measures of success that crowned their efforts is appreciable in the tone and spirit of its people at the present time. The party of emigrants, numbering 701, left England on September 7, 1850, in four ships, and arrived at the port, now called Lyttclton, almost together in December of the same year. Mr Godley, the agent of the Association, was already in New Zealand, and considerable preparations had been made at the port for

the immigrants' reception. When the Canterbury Pilgrims (as they were called) first viewed the new

country from the summit of the volcanic hills that skirt the seaboard, they saw before them a bare expanse of plains, stretching from thirty to sixty miles to the foot of the divid-

ins ranges (the backbone of the country), broken only by a Tew patches of timber, and with no','other sign of civilisation than the solitary homestead of the Messrs D6ans, .who had settled there some years before. The only approach to the v oeV<Sl : land was over the mountains, about 1200 feet in height, or round by sea to Sumner, and thence by the Heathcote River to Cnristchurch, as the chief town was named. Those who can look back from the Canterbury of to-day to the time when they commenced to spread over the country, to bring their new land under the plough and spade, must feel astonishment as well as pride at the really wonderful results that little more than sixty years have produced. Looking over the Plains now from the Port Hills the eye is delighted with the beautiful panorama spread out before it.. The whole face of nature has been changed. In place of thje once bare Plains, with nothing to mark the distance or break the monotonous expanse of !3vel grass land, the spectator sees before him a timbered country, with well grown forest trees, smiling homesteads, well cultivated fields, and cheerful hedgerows stretching far and wide in every direction ; here and there a river glistening in the sun, and the city of Christehurch, only six miles distant, almost concealed amidst the trees.

The first settlers that arrived here under ths Canterbury Association were the late Dr Watkins, the late Mr D'Oyley, the late Mr Matson (manager for the late Captain Mutcv), the late Mr Dickon, the late Mr Funnell, and the late Mr Hammond, of German Bay. The next arrival was that of the late W. Ay liner and his family, who brought with him the late Mr Moore, the late Mr Morgan and his family, the late Mr August Porter (brother of the late Mr John Porter), and Miss Catherine Edgeworth, now Mrs Garvor. He was the first incumbent of Alciroa, but previous to his arrival two clergymen of the Church of England did temporary duty—-the late Rev. Mr Thomas and the late Rev. Mr Fen ton (cousin of the late Mr 11. 11. I'Ynlon). On Mr Aylmer's first arrival at Akaroa the only buikl ing available was Commodore Lavaud's original house, containing four small rooms, and a small, bouse" built of clay, that used to stand at (he back of the present Courthouse. This wa-i close packing for ten people. Mr Justin and Mr If. Aylmer u>cd to live in the round house. Mr and Mrs Aybner and part of the family walked over from Pigeon Bay, but Mr Justin Aylmer and ten others had the pleasure of coming in a cutter of 17 tons burden, named the Kaka, commanded by Captain Kane, later of Timaru. The trip took no less than a week, the last night ofF the Akaroa Heads being very stormy and disagreeable, as, owing to the crowded state of the

little craft, the hatches could not be kept on. So long was the delay in the vessel's arrival that Mr Bruce sent out,a boat to look for the Kaka, and one of the crew of that boat was Mr Gerald Fitzgerald, who was afterwards Resident Magistrate at Hokitika. . ■

The first schoolmaster in Akaroa 1 was Mr Wadsworth, who came out in the same ship as Mr Garwood. He "" was a very capable man and liked, but he soon left, and entered the civil service in Victoria, Where he held a good position.

The first Church, of England ser* vice was held in. the French Magazine, which was also used as a Court- ; house, and stood on the site of the present Courthouse, and the seats were borrowed from the Roman Catholic Chapel. Shortly after this,: ' Archdeacon Paul and Mathias paid a. visit to Alcaroa for the purpose oft- i holding a wholesale marriage and . christeninng of the Natives. The Maoris flocked in great numbers, apparently delighted at the idea. Many ' of the children, had been baptised 1 before by clergymen of various denominations, but they had it done over and over again to make all i sure. Some of the ladies left, long strings of their children outside > building whilst they werlt in to be married." ■»..< ■"A '"PTTT7V T-*r» Amnnnrn* r \

THE PROCESSION. v x ' PIONEERS HONOURED. PROGRESS THROUGH CITY ' i — 1 I The great progress that Canterbury has made in the 75 years that, it has been a province was graphic- f ally poitrayecl in 'the procession, in Sv which representatives of that unfortunateiy fast dwindling band of pioneers, to whose efforts those of to-day owe so much, were given a place of honour says the Christ- 1 church 'Tress." contrast beiween the old days and the present a.. was strikingly depleted in a variety *{ of ways. Old folk, whose lined but , Jieoilul countenances spoke of in- ■ comi table spirit, and. many of whom have passed the allotted span of - iiee score years and .ten, rode be- ? , y° un ß' boys and girls, and a bullock waggon and antiquated horse- | Min-car stood out in sharp contrast V nun* e r of modern motor-cars, which could accomplish in one hour to-day what in the fifties would have represented a long and trying jour- 1 How much easier it would hav«£ jjjS been to colonise and settle a country v'Jffl had such means of' transport beep, available to,; 'the pioneers". thought which rose as '.one

t.lic ancienl manner of getting' from one place to another, but a second question which immediately followed the first was : Would our pioneers have done their work so well in such circumstanccs with fewer difficulties to overcome, and would they have left behind them so many qualities to admire and deeds to emulate ? OLD TIME TRANSPORT. The first section of the procession, which moved off from Park terrace at 2 p.m., was lead by a party of pioneers mounted on a bullock dray, which was drawn by a learn of ciivht bullocks, driven by Mr Stephen f.e Comtc, whose French forbears landed at Akaroa many years ago, the animals being lent for the occasion by Mr J. 0. Coop, of Little River. One or two of the old timers were appropriately dressed for -their parts in with on their backs, and as they were drawn between the lines of spectators handclapping and occasional cheers greeted them. The bullocks looked strangely out of place as they walked along the asphalted thoroughfares but if they felt out of their element they shewed no signs of it, and no difficulty was experienced in keeping them under control, even although their driver failed to live up to the reputation for hard sweating which is supposed to be the forte ol" bullock drivers the world over. immediately behind followed a Sydney dray, whose age and retirement from active service were evident fioni the mossy appearance of its wheels. Four little girls, attired in the picturesque costume of the early days, travelled in the dray. By way of contrast, came a mod"!;i pantechnicon, and when the pro-, cession reached the Square it was joined by Lwo tram-cars, one a palace car of the type that was popular before the advent of the electric transport, drawn by a solitary horse, and the other a modern car, with the signs "Sports Special" displayed. THE PiONEERS. r l he .-.econd portion of the procession comprised .survivors of the passengers who came to Cantcrlnuy three -quarters of a century ago on the ships Charlotte Jane, Randolph, Sir George Seymour, Cressy, Castle i'.dui, and Isabella Htvcus, and who were acc< minodated in motor-cars. I he"e were also representatives of local bodies, decorated motor vehicles and a nuniiyr of ancient bicycles ridden by persons in fancy costumes. The honour of being placed at the hea.il of the motor section of the proccs.-ion was given to the early pioneers, and of those now surviving a goodly muster attended. The nilgrims rode in cars, and each ear buie a banner whereon was printed the name ol the ship by which the party had voyaged to New Zealand. The cordiality with which the public hailed the pioneers as thev passed through the streets of the C ity must have been gratifying to them, and lh<- olea.--Ilie they felt was reflected in their faces.