ECCLESIASTICAL & EDUCATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 8, 1 March 1851, Page 5

ECCLESIASTICAL & EDUCATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS.

.The Lord Bishop of New Zealand and the Bishop Designate of Lyttelton, in concert with the other resident clergy, were most anxiously engaged, during his Lordsljiip's stay at the settlement, in consulting for the future well-being of the new diocese considered especially in its l'elation to the rest of the province of Australasia.

It was impossible to do more at present than to make temporary provision for the due supply of religious ordinances to the inhabitants of the Canterbury Settlement, and for such-educational institutions, as the

pecuniary means at present at the disposal of the Agent of the Canterbury Association, would admit.

It was determined to commence an elementary and commercial school at Christchurch, as soon as possible, for both boys and girls. The want of such an institution begins to be greatly felt on the plains. •

Mr. Cridland, the architect, has already furnished designs for a large, temporary, wooden building, to be used both as a school and a church ; a portion of the eastern end being separated from all common uses, and shut in by drapery during school-hours.

It will probably be felt as a disappointment by some persons, that the senior department of the College cannot at once be commenced at Christchurch, or at some place in the neighbourhood of the future capital. This was found to be impossible ; first for want of the necessary accomodation, (a want which is temporarily supplied at Lyttelton, by the simple adaptation of a portion of the Emigration Barracks ;) and secondly, because there are no funds available for the erection of proper buildings.

As soon as the Bishop designate reaches England, his best and persevering efforts will be applied to the collection of funds for this great purpose. Meanwhile, Mr. Cridland has 'prepared a series of designs, embodying the economical principles and arrangements for discipline, which were contemplated in the drawings brought by the Bishop Designate from London. Mr. Cridland's designs are, in other respects, adapted to the building materials available in the colony. The Bishop Designate entertains, we believe, the confident hope that he will "be able to send from England, by monthly instalments, a sum sufficient to erect all the parts of the college necessary for the full and efficient working of its discipline and scheme of general instruction, should the funds of the Canterbury Association derived from land sales be found insufficient for that object after providing for liabilities already incurred. Meanwhile, the upper department opens at Lyttelton with four pupils, and with the immediate prospect of seveial additions from the other settlements of New Zealand. Assuming that the college buildings are commenced out of the first funds derived from the above sources, and are ready for occupation by the time the Bishop Designate returns to the colony; and that the estates attached to the scholarships, for which he has already procured funds in England, are at that time sufficiently productive, he proposes to hold examinations in the Greek and Latin languages, and in Mathematics; at which, as we are informed, any person being a member of the Church of England, and whose age does not exceed twenty-one years, may compete. The successful candidate will immediately enter upon the enjoyment of any emoluments u which may be derived from the foundations referred to. The following are the foundations at present: —1. The Somes Scholarship. In the examination for this scholarship, a preference will be given to the next of kin of the founder, Mrs. Maria Somes. It is endowed with fifty acres of rural land, and one quarter of an acre section in the Port town of Lyttelton, 2. The Rowley Scholarship, of fifty rural

acres, and one town section at Christchurch. 3. The Charles Buller Scholarship ; endowed with one hundred acres of rural land; and two to"*rn sections at Christchurch. 4. The Hulsean Chichele Professorship of History, at present vacant. There is reason to hope that a gentleman in England distinguished for his talents and learning may be persuaded to accept it. Meanwhile the Bishop Designate, acting upon the expressed wishes of the munificent founder, (Edward Hulse, Esq., M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford,)) that [the attention of the Professor should be called, in the terms of the trust-deed, to the Reformation, and the period immediately preceding it, proposes to present a prize o£ books, to the value of not less than five guineas, to the author of an English Histoi-ical Essay, founded on the following passage, selected from the Colloquies of Erasmus :— " Exulat Christianus Danorum rex, pius Evangelii fautor: Franciscus Galliarum rex hospes est Hispaniarum, nescio guam ex ipsius animi sententia, vir certe dignus meliore fortuno: Carolus inolitur monarchiae proferre pomasria: Ferdinandus rerum suarum satagit in Germania: balimia pecuniarum urget aulas omnes: periculosos motuscoercitant agricolas, nee tot stragibus ab instituto deterrentur; populus meditatur anarchium ; periculosis factionibus collabitur ecclesiae domus : hinc atque hinc distrahitur ilia Jesu tunica inconsulitis." Erasmi Colloquia Puerfera. The Bishop Designate also offers to the students of the College, two prizes of books, to the value of five guineas each, for the two best poems, one in English and one in Latin, on the voyage of the five ships, containing the founders of the Canterbury Settlement, and on the foundation of the colony itself; these poems to be recited at the opening of the College. Full particulars relative to the Examinations and Prizes here mentioned may be obtained on application to the Rev. H. Jacobs, of Port Lyttelton, the classical Professor and Tutor. It would be wrong to conclude these remarks without formally recording the first Confirmation that has taken place in our new colony. The Lord Bishop of New Zealand confirmed twelve young persons in the temporary church at Lyttelton, on Wednesday the 19th instant. The building- was filled with a most attentive and devotional auditory. A spirit of deep earnestness seemed to pervade the whole assembly ; and furnished the omen, that our Church settlement is hereafter to be the home of a religious and high-minded community.

The present number of children in the commercial school at Lyttelton is fifty-one ; in the children's depart ment of the Grammar school, six ; in the senior department, four.

Sunday last was set apart as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God for the safe arrival of the five ships containing the founders and fathers of the Canterbury settlement. The holy Communion was administered in the temporary church at Lyttelton. The morning- sermon was preacl - ed by the Bishop Designate, and that in the evening by the Rev. W. B. Dudley. Appropriate services were also held at Christchurch and at Sumner. The whole of the collections amounted to about 25/. These monies will be devoted to the spiritual instruction of the Maories.