LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Church Trustees.—The following letter addressed to Dr. Donald, one of the Church Properly Trustees, has been numerously signed by members of the Church of England in this Province:— Lyttelton, 23rd Oct., 1854.

Dear Sib,- —We, the undersigned members of the Church of England, Laving observed that a meeting of Church Trustees is called for the 26th inst., beg that you will urge on that body the great importance of at once dividing the Province into districts, and of proceeding to an election of Trustees according to the provisions of the Church Property Trust Ordinance.

We are anxious to press this on your attention, in the first place, because we have always understood the present body to be merely constituent, and in the second place, because we feel that it is so very desirable that the proceedings of what may be called our first Church Assembly should meet with as general concurrence as possible, and that the interest of the Church at large should be aroused in those proceedings. This we believe will only be attained by the measure suggested, and we trust that it may be consistent with your opinion to advocate the adoption of it. We remain, &c, To^W. Donald, Esq., a Church Property Trustee.

Christchuech.—We resume our record of the events of the past week. On Friday there was a ploughing match. The Society had offerred very liheral prizes in order to induce competitors to come forward. And in this respect it was fouud they had acted wisely. There were 7 competitors with horse teams, and 8 with bullock teams. Three of the latter were ploughs drawn by two bullocks only, and with one of these we observed this striking peculiarity, the bullocks were in reins, and driven by the ploughman himself. It was regretted that this peculiar feature was not taken into consideration by the Judges. But they, of course, had a simple duty to perform, and of this, they acquitted themselves with great discretion" and judgement. We hope that the Committee will, on a future occasion, be induced to offer a prize for this particular display of skill. The advantages are manifest, if we can plough with two bullocks and without the expense of a driver, the saving of labour and expense will of course be a [great gain. Great difficulty had been experienced by the Committee in finding a suitable place for the match, and many days were spent in visiting every available spot round Christchurch. Nothing more suitable was found nearer the town, and indeed we may say that no better spot could have been fixed upon for the match to come off. It was a beautiful piece of level grass land, and sufficiently moist for the purpose, upon Mr. Bong's farm, about 1 and half miles from Fendalltown. The plots were staked out and numbered, and each of the candidates as they arrived, drew for their number, the horseteams working at one side of the field, aud the bullocks on the other. There was a large attendance on the field from a very early hour, and the interest in the labour of the several competitors was kept up throughout the day. No similar display in England has ever exceeded this first attempt in the province, in the quality of the work performed, as assuredly it could not

in the manly frame and bearing of the candidates. The ploughs and horseteams were driven by persons employed by the owners, but the bullock teams were in every case the property of the ploughman. About 3 o'clock the Judges gave their decision, which was read by W. G, Brittan, Esq., the President of the Society. He briefly addressed the people who were assembled on the field, and stated that he would read the .decision as it came to him. The Judges were of course not supposed to know any thing1 of the candidates, they confined themselves to the quality of the work done, and awarded the prizes according to the numbers they found on the pegs at each section. He then read . out the number of the prizes in the order in which they came, and Mr. Brown announced the name of the owners and ploughmen:— HORSE TEAMB. Owner. Ploughman. "" Ist prize to No. 6. —Mr. Fendall—Mr. Mcßrackney. 2nd do. to No. 3.—Mr. Willock— „ Mclanchlin. 3rd do. to No. 2.—Mr. Fisher — „ Contts. 4th do. to No. I.—-Mr. Bridge — „ Wilson. sth do, to No. 4, —Mr. Jeffreys — „ Owen No. 5 was commended for the straightestploughing. BULLOCK TEAMS. Ist prize to No. 3.—Mr. Harper. 2nd do. to No. B.—Mr. Campion. 3rd do. to No. s.—Mr. Morgan. 4th do. to No. 6.—Mr. Wilkinson. sth do. to No. 4.—Mr. Hill. A better prize would have been awarded to No. 6, bat for a degree of slovenliness in the finish. The following is a list of those who entered but to whom no prizes were awarded. HORSE TE4M3. BFILOCK TEAMS. No. s.—Mrs. Deans—Dolton No. I—Parish1 —Parish — 7.— Mr. Norman—Metcalfe — 2—Young — 7—Bartrnm. The decision of the Judges appeared to give general satisfaction, and the conclusion of the proceedings elicited three hearty cheers for the welfare of the Society. The judges upon the occasion were Messrs. P. Kerr, W. Tod, and Parkinson. Akakoa. —An Inquisition was taken on tha body of Joseph Zillwood on Saturday last. The evidence shewed an extraordinary amount "of premeditation : the unfortunate man had carefully made up his accounts, and written letters to different parties some weeks before his suicide ; he himself stated afterwards that he had determined on the act for three weeks previous. The Jury, without hesitation, returned a verdict of felo de se. After the inquest, tLe body was interred at night, without funeral rites, pursuant to the Coroner's Warrant.