CANTERBURY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 17, 3 May 1851, Page 6

CANTERBURY.

(From the Nelson Examiner.)

From the first announcement of the intended Canterbury settlement, we have taken a warm interest in its progress, and have paid great attention to every circumstance which has appeared to bear upon the undertaking, either as tending to promote or retard its welfare. It was on this account, nearly three years ago, when the Wairarapa was spoken of as the site most desirable for New Canterbury, and the suitability of that district was so warmly advocated by parties at Wellington, that we strove to show how unfit it was for the purpose, and the certain ruin which such a selection would entail on the early colonists. Fortunately for those who contemplated making New Canterbury their future residence, (and we believe also for those who -would have made it subsidiary to Wellington, for in this, as often happens in other cases, the attainment of narrow selfish ends does not, in the long run, always secure the largest amount of benefit), a spot far better adapted for a settlement was selected, which, instead of by its distance from the port, requiring from forty to sixty miles of inland carriage, possesses a good harbour that may be reached by a road of eight or ten miles. Nor is this the only advantage which the Port Cooper plains possess over the Wairarapa valley. The latter has a considerable native population, either residing in immediate contiguity, or able to pour down its numbers from the interior whenever caprice or any other motive might stimulate them to do so ; and to avoid the troubles and annoyances which the natives have given, the older settlements, the Canterbury settlers will willingly, we apprehend, forego some advantages which proximity to a native population undoubtedly gives.

The anxiety we have felt for the success of the Canterbury Settlement has not arisen from any sympathy towards the principles on which it has been founded. These, from first to last, we have dissented from altogether, believing them to be based on a mistaken notion of \\uman excellence, and that they are chimerical and impracticable. We question the wisdom of striving to bring together people of only one -religious sectrand of excluding, if riot by direcT prohibition, which would be impossible, yet by i every possible social discouragement, those of

all others. To us this seems so far from tendii?'' to advance civilization, and to enlarge tb scope of human sympathy, as altogether a r&l trogade movement, and calculated to foster bigotry, create intolerance, and narrow the range of man's benevolence. There is nothing either in religion or politics so calculated to give men an overweening estimate of the worth of their own opinions, and to destroy respect for the opinions of others (which is the basis of all true liberty), as this isolation of creed, now being attempted by our southern bretheren Could it by possibility succeed to the extent desired, we should see a degeneration of intellect in spite of high-sounding plans of education A and moral training. Such schemes are not - suited to the genius of Englishmen. Much of our greatness as a nation, and of our social and political freedom, have sprung out of the circumstances of our mrxed opinions, arising in part from a mixture of races, and of the unfettered scope which all have enjoyed. For a section of our countrymen to say, We will live alone, we will no longer meet you in the mar-ket-place unless we can meet you in our temples, sounds strange at this time of day, and we are surprised to find among the advocates of this system, men of undoubted attainments, who might have been expected with clearer perception to have read the great book of the world's history, and to have found in their own understandings a reason, looking before and after which should tell them that their plan could not succeed, and that it ought not, if it could. Although, therefore, we may respect the motives of the promoters of the Canterbury Settlement, we feel bound to deprecate their measures.

In speaking of these class settlements—the Free Church Settlement at Otago, (confessedly, however, an imperfect scheme), and the Church of England Settlement at Port Cooper—care must be taken not to confound their objects with those of the early New England colonies, nor to suppose that any similarity exists between the circumstances under which they have been formed with those which drove the Pilgrim Fathers from their native shores to erect their altars in a distant land, where they might in freedom worship God according- to the dictates of their consciences. In the persecuting days of the Stuarts.it was natural for men of one faith to cling together, and go forth in bands in search of that liberty of conscience denied them by their rulers at home ; but in our times there is no need of a sectarian exodus for conscience sake—for whether in England or in her colonies, universal toleration has been established, and in a colony of mixed creeds there is nothing to prevent each making what provision it pleases for its own religious and educational purposes, or from obtaining the full benefit of the contributions made to the funds of the settlement by those holding their own opinions, as every land-purchaser might be required to say what particular sect he would wish to endow. Thus Canterbury, instead of incurring the risk of becoming the dwarfed offshoot of a particular church, might have been made in reality, what it only now- professes to fbe—a healthy representation of English society in all its phases. Holding these opinions, it may be asked what particular concern we can have* for the success of the Canterbury Settlement, more than for any other in New Zealand ? It is not because it is a Church of England Settlement that we regard the success of Canterbury with so much interest, but because we look upon it as a great experiment of " systematic colonization," which hitherto, as we are told (and we are not going to dispute the assertion), has never been fairly tried. In consequence of this, and of the exertions made in its favour by men of influence * at home, a. larger number of persons have theii^ attention directed to Canterbury than ever before bestowed a care on an infant colony ; and in proportion to its success or failure, so will the colonization of these islands become popular or otherwise with; the English people. It is of great importance, then, to us, who are alrerdy settled in the colony, and who desire to s'ifi a constant influx of capital and labour to W shores, that its character shall not be dis<W dited by the failure of what will pass with the world, whether really so or not, as a well matured plan of colonization. Putting aside the sectarian feature of the Canterbury scheme, which has no necessary connexion with social _and .'-systematic 4iolonisation^-we-ai:enaiixiou6~ to witness hoyv the experiment will work, of transferring from one country to another a "complete section of society."!' If it succeeds,

colonization will become as popular with the t,i«her as with the lower orders of the people ' i-knd no one will deny that a great gain will thus accrue to the colonies at large. Looking back to the lectures, speeches, and tracts, which have been published by the promoters of the Canterbury Settlement, it would seem that they at least were confident of success; but we have sometimes felt a distrust that the readers of the glowing pictures we have seen drawn, who contemplated proving the reality, will find colonisation in its first stages even at Canterbury, such holiday work as they were likely to expect. Already too, we fear, some derangement of their "systematic" plan must have been experienced, and the old relationships of employer and labourer been found difficult to preserve. It was no part of our present intention, however, to speculate on the success or failure of the Canterbury Settlement, but having had our attention drawn to it by a file of Lyttelton papers, just placed in our hands, we have from a perusal of their contents, been inadvertently led to make these remarks, and have thus left ourselves without space for extracts.