LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 214, 18 November 1854, Page 5

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Meetings of Ei/ECToSfc.—On Wednesday and Thursday, the Bth and 9th inst, Mr. E. J. Wakefield met some of Iris constituents tit Ricearton and Papanui: Mr. Wakefield spoke for about three hours on each occasion. Very little discussion took place at Riccarton, few but Mr. Wakefield's supporters being present. At Papanui Mr. Filz Gerald replied. A show of hands was called for in favour of Mr..Wakefield, when several were held up. None was called for against him. On Friday a meeting was held to meet Mr. Wakefield at Raiapoi. Very little interest was take,n in the proceedings". Mr. Wakefield spoke at his usual length. Mr. John Hall replied. After a languid and desultory conversation,"a vote of thanks to Mr. Wakefield for attending to give an explanation at Kaiapoi was passed, but any opinion as to his (.political conduct was reserved. Mr. Wakefield's reception was very cold ; —he lost the time he devoted to the Kaiapoi meeting.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. .^Sm, —I perceive that Mr. Sewell has forway(lf(l r a copy of his letter to the llev. H. Jacobs of Nov. 2 for publication in youv paper. I shall feel obligedbyyouradmitting the following reply to the charges that gentleman has there brought against the Committee who drew up the statement to which his letter refers. Before I begin I must beg to state that the letter he has sent to the paper is not a correct copy of the one written to Mr. Jacobs: there are one or two omissions in it, which I shall have occasion to notice as I go on. In the first place I would say that Mr. Sewell lias no right to designate the written statement forwarded to Mr. Gresson as the case upon which Mr.Gresson's opinion was founded. The Case laid before that gentleman consisted both of the written statement and of the documents sent with it; every assertion in the statement being accompanied with reference to the page from which it derived its authority, so as to en-

able Mr. Gresson fairly to study the context and form his own opinion on the subject. The Committee furnished Mr. Gresson with every document they could find bearing upon the subject, and it was from those the opinion has been derived, as will be evident to any one who chooses to take the trouble to compare the opinion with them. So that, could Mr. Sewell prove every assertion in the statement to be, as he says, destitute of foundation, he would not have gained his point unless he could also shew that we had falsified the documents which were sent with it.

The first sentence winch he takes exception to, he has mis-quoted. In the statement it is, " Previous to July Ist, 1850, the first part of the first body of land purchasers paid their money and received their land orders," &c. [I would here state that the italics in this part of the statement, and in several other instances, are either your own or Mr. SevveH'i ; at least they did not exist in the copy as sent to that gentleman by the Trustees, and from which I believe you have printed it.*~| Mr. Sewell states no land orders were issued at that date.

The argument was to prove that this first body of colonists had entered into contract with the Canterbury Association previous to the Association's obtaining1 their Act of Parliament, and that, therefore, they were the parties alluded to in the 11th clause of the first Canterbury Lands' Act, as the " first colonists," whose rights are there guaranteed against any subsequent act of the Canterbury Association. The statement is substantially true, and had the word " receipts" been substituted for " land orders," it would have been literally so. In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th clauses, Mr. Sewell enters upon the question of the town reserves with a courageous perseverance worthy of a better cause.

He quotes the 6th term of purchase to prove that because the town land is only spoken of as being sold in allotments at £24 and £12, and that whereas the town reserves had not been actuary staked out in allotments at the period of the arrival of the colonists, therefore (as he would have us infer) the Canterbury Association was at liberty to purchase them as rural land. He states also, what will lam sure be news to all those land purchasers who were in the colony at the time, that they consented to Mr. Godley's laying out a town of 500 acres, and that they selected their town and rural land accordingly! It is so likely that the land purchasers would have left 500 acres of rural land to lie unselected between their rural sections and the town !

Mr. Sewell objects to our assertion that the Committee of Management acknowledged that the agreement for the 1000 acres of town land was binding upon.them, and he states that " the fact is precisely the opposite of what is stated." I will not weary your readers with quoting all that the despatch says upon the subject, but it may be found at page 201 of the Canterbury Papers. After stating that an obstacle of a technical nature, viz., the necessity for the 1000 acres, may present itself to selecting' Port Lyttelton as the capital; they then proceed to excuse themselves on the grounds both of the presumed impossibility of finding sufficient land at Lyttelton, and the needlessness of it, as there were so few land purchasers entitled to allotments. They then suggest two plans for meeting the supposed difficulties. The first is the one Mr. Sewell has quoted. The second, which he has omitted, recommends Mr. Godley to lay out the full area of 1000 acres, including unavailable as well as available land. This you will observe was to be Mr. Godley's course, if the impracticable site of Lyttelton was chosen, they never doubted that on the open plain the full 1000 acres would be laid out. Mr. Sewell has also unaccountably omitted to notice the paragraph which immediately follows. "It will however be necessary that whenever fixed the map and survey of the capital with all its subdivisions and allotments should be at once most accurately laid down. In particular the line of boundary between the town and rural land must be exactly defined." This boundary fine, as Mr. Sewell well knows, was laid down outside, not of the 500 acres, but of the 1000 acres, and has never been altered at any time. Mr. Sewell further quotes the 35th clause of the terms of purchase, which gives power of modification of the terms to the Association, and the latter part of the 18th clauso, which refers to the manner of giving effect to the provisions for giving a bonus of town sections to the first purchasers, and would have the

public to conclude that the effect of the two taken together would be to enable Mr. Godley in concert with the colonists to alter the terras of purchase to suit their convenience! ! Mr. Sewell must be marvellously oblivious of two facts: first, that the 9th clause of the first Canterbury Lands' Act provides that no alteration can be made in the terms of purchase without the consent of the Crown is first obtained ; and that, secondly, that particular clause never has been altered. Mr. Sewell asserts that the separate funds of the Association were solvent when the lands were purchased under the Bth clause of the 2nd Act. I can only say, we gave as our authority to the contrary the letter of the Government auditor, and I think any one reading his letter will come to ihe same conclusion. How any fund could be called solvent which, had to borrow £10,000 at the very time the purchases -were in process of completion is more than I can well understand. Mr. Sewell denies that the Colonial Bishopric Trustees refused to return the £10,000 while there was a Bishop Designate. I would ask how could they surrender their trust without rendering themselves answerable to the Bishop whose property they were holding ? ■Mr. Sewell objects to our stating that the Canterbury Association applied the £ 10,000 to the general purposes of their scheme. When used in contradiction to Ecclesiastical the word general may be fairly used as synonymous with miscellaneous. Mr. Sewell is however I think mistaken in supposing that the money was borrowed solely on the property of the Miscellaneous Fund. The emigration Barracks surely belongs to the Emigration Fund, and yet they form a conspicuous item in the schedule of the Mortgage.

In the letter as sent to Mr. Jacobs, the sentence about the Land purchasers is as follows, " The land purchasers themselve?, in January, 1852, through a committee of their body," &c. The words in italic, Mr. Sewell has judiciously left out in the printed letter! Whatever the land purchasers may have recommended in January, 1852, cannot be pleaded as an excuse for a mortgage effected in October, 1851, and whatever the recommendation may have been, we may be quite sure it was not that the .Bishopric Fund should be alienated, which is the case in point. Mr. Sewell further denies the truth of the statement that the lands in the schedule of the mortgage deed, had been selected and appropriated prior to the passing of the 2nd act, and goes on to state that the plans were transmitted to England, there to be appropriated and couveyed, and that while these transactions were pending the 2nd act passed. Sir, this is a mere play upon the word "appropriate." Mr. Sewell would have us believe, that appropriation must needs be connected with conveyance by deed. This however is mere assertion, and I believe Mr. Gresson's opinion will bear me out in denying it. I would also remark that in the two first editions of the terms of purchase not one word is said as to the necessity of conveying the reserved and appropriated lands, and further that if in September 1850, the Association were empowered to reserve, appropriate and convey without pay' inent, how can they account for the neediess expenditure of £4,000 in the purchase of the lands in question? The truth is, the lands were selected and ap printed in the colony, and the plans were sent home, that they might be conveyed to the Association. If this be not so, what becomes of the roads and squares ? They have never been conveyed to the Association, and yet no one doubts their legal appropriation to public use. Mr. Sewell complains we have omitted to mention what passed between him and the Church committee, on the subject of payment of the Lyttehon church debt. We could not do so, for nothing passed! Mr. Sewell it is true sent us a copy of his despatch to Lord Lyttelton ; but the committee declined to give any opinion on its merits. In the part of his letter alluding to the grants of lands at Kaiapoi, a sentence occurs in the written which is omitted in the printed letter. As however it is an assurance highly consolatory to our good neighbours in the north, I shall take the liberty of inserting it for their benefit. Mr Sewell says," I shall be prepared in case of need to support them," I trust in justice to the members of the Committee whom Mr. Sewell has so rashly accused of misrepresentation, that you will if possible publish this in your Wednesday's paper, so that

the public may judge how far we have deserved his aspersions. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Nor. 11, 1554. Alfred C. Barker. • [Iv the copy of Mr. Gresson's opinion forwarded to this office, the portions printed in Italics were underlined in the manuscript. Dr. Barker ou^ht to know that underlining a word is a direction to the printer to use italics. The Italics are neither our own, nor Mr. Sewell's.]

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PORT AND THE PLAINS. To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Nov. 16, 1854. S rRj —Allow me through the medium of your paper, to correct an error into which Mr. Dampier has fallen, respecting a ■ meeting held here in furtherance of Mr. Hughes's improved Bridle Road. Mr. Dainpier in his place in the Provincial Council, is reported to have said that "the opinion of the meeting he had alluded to, was almost universal in its disapprobation of the Sumner Head." Now, T am satisfied that I shall be borne out in my statement, by most of those present at that meeting, that the opinion ■was not in any way in disapprobation of the Sumner Road, but simply in approbation of Mr. Hughes's Road, and that only because it was considered of so great importance to the various interests of the Settlement to have the communication improved speedily. In fact they wanted something done. The opinion of Lyttelton respecting theSumner Road is very well shown in the petition presented in its favour signed by 136* of its inhabitants, and I know that it has given much satisfaction to them to learn that the Government has proposed its construction, and they further trust to see them soon conduct it to a successful issue, even should it be possible, or rather advisable, to speculate with the Public Funds in waterworks. I will further add, that I do not think the people of Lyttelion, are very much alarmed at the construction of imasrinary wharves and jetties at Gollan's Bay. They do not fear that it will be necessary to defend her interests in that quarter. I am, Sir, your obedient servaut, Jas. Spowebß>. * The petition was accidentally presented with only 118 signatures, a sheet containing 18 more, ought to have been attached.

Akaroa, Nov. 4, 1854. (From a Correspondent.) (Continued from our last.) The settlers on the plains had to contend with great difficulties and privations at every step of their career, and yet they have already a considerable exportation of agricultural;produce to the Australian colonies, which only requires for its development tbeimprovement of the Sunnier navigation, and the introduction of a larger and smarter class of vessels than at present run between the Port and the Plains. The settler at Akaroa had literally no difficulties to encounter, and had tbe advantage of a large Government expenditure for many years, and yet at the present moment they are dependant, to a great extent, upon their Maori neighbours at Wui-nui for the agricultural product they consume. How and why is this? Mainly, because they hare not been pressed by their necessities to create an export trade by which they might procure the means of purchasing what they could not themselves produce. The settlers on the Plains who cannot get the smallest piece of scantling or stick of firewood ■without paying for it in hard cash has the strongest possible inducement for exertion. He appiies himself energetically \o the cultivation of his land, and the sale of his crops enables him to pay for the timber arid firewood be requires. The vessels from the bays take his produce to port for shipment, and thus we have three distinct classes of men fully employed, and profitably working into each other's hands, the fanner, the sawyer, and the sailor, besides the merchant, who is the medium through which their several transactions are arranged. Now Aknrua has never i-xperieuced anything of this kind. The French settlers built pretty houses, planted vineyards and flower-gardens, and lived chiefly upon the expenditure of the Government establishment, assisted by the whaling vessels frequenting the harbour. Akaroa was a large .restaurant for the South Sea whalers. Whaiing was profitable: money flew about freely, mid the restaurateurs made little fortunes without the trouble o( engaging in any paiticu-

lav asiiieuhural pursuit. But times • chunked. The French' Government, finding iheir political views defeated, withdrew their support-from ihc place. The Nanto-Bordelaise Company llilllsferred its interests to other hands. The. whales deserted the coast ; the -whaling-stations were abandoned to the rats, and the whaling-ships ceased to frequent the harbour. No more money came into Akaroa. There was no extent of cultivated land, no market for produce, no articles of export. Some of. the settlers it turned to Fiance, some died, others went to the diggings, none came to supply their place. Those who remained behind, having no motive for exertion, lived quietly on their means"; houses became deserted, .rotten, ruined; the land was allowed to go out of cultivation; the fences disappeared piecemeal; the roads cut by the French Government became choked with shrubs and fallen trees, the timber bridges over the creeks rotted unheeded, and so completely did the laisser allez system prevail amongst all parties concerned, that even the fine Ma«>azin, or store, built by the French, and now used by the Government as Post Office and Customhouse, had been allowed to fall into a ruinous state of decay.

Such is the history of Akavoa, which might be, and we trust at >ome future clay will T>e, the metropolis of the Peninsula, and the seat of a thriving trade. Let us examine how this "is to be effected. The first source of the future wealth of the Peninsula lies in the magnificent forests which surround Akaroa and the bays between it and Port Cooper. But there are.three great obstacles to the proper organization of the timber trade which niust.be removed before any real improvement can be effected. The first of these is the want of land communication between Akaroa and the bays, and of postal communication between the Peninsula and the Plains. The second is the low moial condition of the sawyers themselves, who have no means of investing their earnings except in drink, and who only work when compelled to do so by absolute necessity. The opening of the new bridle road will be the first and one of the most important steps yet taken towards enabling the settlers of the Canterbury plains to avail themselves of the. timber of the Peninsula. It requires to be followed up by cutting footpaths through the dense forests which clothe the mountains up to their summits fr<»m the town of Akaroa to the bays on the coast, and to establish a weekly mail from Lyttelton, giving facilities to the inhabitants of each of the bays to |establish foot-posts to the nearest "places where receiving houses can be established. By 6 years these paths, if carefully set out in the first instance, will be improved into bridle roads, which would bring the timber cutting districts within a morning's ride of Akaroa, and the facilities thus afforded for sending orders to the bays, and of making arrangements for loading the crafts without delay or disappointment, will enable men of some capital to eusrage in the trade without the ruinous risk which at present attends any attempt to bring timber into the market, otherwise than in small quantities, and at a price which amounts to a prohibition of sale, so far as the majority of would be-purchasers are concerned.

The opening of the Stunner bar, and the establishment of a steamer plying weekly between the river and the Peninsula, calling at each of the bays for cargo according to instructions received at Akaroa through the Post-Office, would so materially reduce the freight and other expences attendant on the trade, that timber might be landed on the Ferry road at 16s. per hundred feet with a far greater profit to all parties concerned than is now derived from the present high prices. Perhaps, however, the greatest difficulty arises from the disorganised condition of the sawyers themselves. The system of allowing timber to be cut on the Waste Lands of the Crown is a great evil, although perhaps an unavoidable one. The sawyer, having no interest in the soil, is of course unwilling to spend any money in cutting roads to lessen the cost of getting out the timber, or in mechanical appliances from which he could derive no permanent benefit, whilst the scene of his operations is in most cases ruined for future settlement by the loss of the best timber, and by the increased cost of clearing land encumbered by fallen trees. The only remedy for this appears to lie in giving facilities to the sawyer in acquiring land of his own. And it is very interesting to observe the rapid progress of men so circum-

stanced. The hush is cleared systematically, and the cleared patches ure soon fenced in and brought under cultivation. The spare earnings are invested in stock and improvements. In three years the sawyer finds himself the owner of a well-fenced farm, with scarcely any expenditure of capital beyond ihat required for the first purchase of the land, his earnings at the saw supporting his family comfortably until by growing his own consumption he becomes comparatively independent. The great obstacle to the purchase of timber sections appears to be not in the price of the land, but the want of a survey of the peninsula, and of a proper system of roads through the timber districts. The best mode of laying out these districts for sale appears to be to set out a main frontage road up 'the centre wj|each valley, communicating with the beach at the point best suited for the shipment of produce. Ench settler would then have his share of the water frontage and convenient access to the beach, and the sections having a slope towards the main road, there would be no difficulty in gettintr timber down from the very summit of The hills, although the rise might be too great to allow of any roads into the valley except along the coast line. It is scarcely to be credited that so far from taking any steps', to give access to the timber, the Canterbury Association have allowed purchasers to select sections in the bottoms of many of the valleys in such a way as completely to block up all access to the back land, nay, still worse, although the French Government cut a good bridle road round the harbour of Akaroa from the town of Akaroa to the French hum and the Little River; the Association in their agreements with land purchasers have ignored its existence, and it is now blocked at several points by the fencing in of the private properties through which it passes. Perhaps enough has been now said to shew.the value .of Banks's Peninsula, and the importance of the Akaroa bridle, or "bridal" path, as it is wittily termed by those whose only ideas of Akaroa are connected with peach jam, and honeymoon excursions. The opening of the Peninsula would not only-be productive of great benefit to the trade of Akaroa, but would be an inestimable boon to the trreat bulk of the settlers on the Canterbury plains, and by reducing the price of timber and fuel would do more towards lessening the discomfort and painful privations which still press so hardly on our wives and daughters, than any other measure that could be devised. It is to be hoped, therefore that in the consideration of the estimates for the enduing year, the Provincial Government will deal with the question of road communication on the Peninsula as one affecting the general interests of the whole settlement, feeling assured that the money spent in opening up new country is not sunk, but simply invested on ample security to be repaid with full interest at no distant period of the history of the settlement. NELSON. Political Meetings.—During the piesent week the constituency which elected Mr. Travers, and which, as we have shewn, declined to pass a verdict upon, his political conduct until further informed of his proceedings, have met their other representative, Dr. Monro, whose conduct during the late political crisis has been the exact reverse of Mr. Travers's. Dr. Monro, it should be remembered, from his understood conservative tendencies, was not the popular [ candidate for the Waiinea district, and therefore laboured under a great disadvantage, compared with his colleague, in coming before a popular assembly to justify his votes and measures. Yet Dr. Monro invited the Waiinea electors toirjiet him on Wednesday evening last in the same room where Mr. Tiavers addressed the electors a few evenings previously. On this occasion the meeting was also a full one —more full indeed than the one of the previous week, and composed to a great extent of the same individuals. Unlike the former meeting, however, the [statements and explanations made by the speaker, instead of falling on an audience cold as stones, were received with warm and repeated hursts of applause, and the avowed political opponents of the honourable member joined in a most unqualified approval of the support he had given to constitutional Government, and the opposition he had offered to faction and folly.— Nelson Examiner. Supreme Coukt.—His Honor Justice Stephen arrived at Nelson by the steamer from

Wellington, and a silting1 of the Supreme Court was held there, commencing on the 2nd inst. Provincial Council. —His Honor the Superintendent had summoned the Provincial Council to meet on the 4th inst. for the despatch of business. Another Victim of New Zealand Rivers. '. A vacancy has occurred in the Provincial Council by the death of Mr. Otterson, who appears to have been universally respected. He was drowned in attempting to cross the Wairau rirer. .