The Lyttelton Times, Wednesday, December 7, 1859.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 739, 7 December 1859, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times, Wednesday, December 7, 1859.

Some few items of intelligence from home and our neighbouring' colonies which do not find a place in our columns deserve not to be passed over in silence. ■.'■;'. .

The mail brings very'little Canterbury news from England; with the exception of one item—that railway negotiations have progressed satisfactorily. Perhaps without waiting for another session the Council can proceed to consider details* -

Otago is still harping on the Waitangi difficulty—still believing that Canterbury is straining every nerve, leaving no stone unturned to secure the settlement of the question according to our views. The public of Canterbury will be surprised at this assertion, having not heard or uttered a word on the subject.; and the Council and Waste Lands office will be not less surprised, as a simple question with a still more unmeaning answer in the one, and a single short letter from the other,- comprise the whole of the proceedings taken officially by the province in reference to the subject. Wellington has hail its answer from the Colonial Secretary to the petition signed by 150(5 inhabitants praying for a dissolution of the Council in consequence of the l dead-lock.' The Colonial Secretary refuses to grant the prayer because the reason of the petition is not fpunded on fact. Perhaps the General Government may have good reasons for what they have done; but it is a pity that they preferred to state bad ones.

The ' New Zealander' refers to the bad accounts from the Southern Provinces, and refrains 'from triumphing over us in the same manner as we have done over them. It states that the 'Lyttelton Times' spread stories of the distress in Auckland; how men were reduced to work at Is. 6d. per day. We recollect numerous rumours to that effect; but are aware also that we determinedly declined to insert any unauthenticated statement of the sort, the only remark which might be objected to was one in the middle of a paragraph quoted from a paper of another province in which Canterbury was a joint sufferer with Auckland.

His Excellency the Governor is to come southwards in the steam frigate Niger, visit-

ing Otago and Canterbury, this province last, whore.he will arrive, we understand, before Christmas. His Excellency and Mrs. Browne will not come down to Wellington for any lengthened visit till March, when the Assembly is expected to meet. Mr. H. G. Gouland, an old official of Canterbury, having served as Sub-Collector of Customs both in Lyttelton and Akaroa from 1850 till 1855, and for a short .time afterwards as Provincial Secretary, has been appointed Resident Magistrate at Lyttelton. Ho lias a right to the title of an experienced magistrate having served in the same capacity for the past few years at Col)ingwood, on the Aorere (Nelson) diggings. As a man having some local acquaintance he will receive a welcome at entering upon his duties which an entire stranger could scarcely expect.