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Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 18, 10 May 1851, Page 5

Mr. Howard, the gentleman who has been appointed Postmaster to this place, arrived in the " Mary," from Nelson last Friday, and. has entered upon the duties of his office.

This appointment lias given great offence to the Canterbury colonists. A distinct, though verbal understanding was entered into with her Majestj^'s Government, before the Canterbury colonists sailed from England, that all appointments to local offices within the settlement should be made from among the settlers themselves. As soon as we arrived, the appointment of a Postmaster became necessary ; the Resident Magistrate recommended to his Excellency one of the

first body of colonists, who was in every way qualified for the office. This recommendation was passed over, and the Postmaster at Nelson was appointed to our settlement.

In all the English colonies, from the first establishment of Virginia to the present hour, the most unfailing source of discontent, fretfulness, and hostility to Government has been this; that the colonists whose enterprise, energy, skill, and capital have been devoted to rearing up their new community, have been deprived of the privilege of working their own system, in their own way ; and have seen every place of power, profit, or emolument under the Government, given to strangers, who, having no stake in the colony, have no sympathy with its founders, and are comparatively indifferent to its success. No man in the British Empire is better acquainted with this part of the history of our colonies, than Earl Grey, and therefore when his Lordship determined that the experiment of Canterbury should be fairly tried, he wisely resolved, and conveyed his resolution to the colonists, that this great abuse should not exist in the settlement they were about to form : that the local offices in the colony should be filled by members of their own body, and that thus upon themselves should be thrown the responsibility for the failure or success of the enterprise. The appointment of Mr. Howard is, so far, a breach of faith. With whom the fault lies, whether with the government at home or in the colony, or whether it arise from some misunderstanding of the intentions of the. Home Government, we do not know; but we think it our duty to call the attention of the public to this appointment, and to the principle which it involves ; and to urge our fellow-colonists to protest against it ; or otherwise to warn them, that if every Government office in the colony be filled by officials from other parts of the colony, if CanterburjT be used merely as the means of rewarding the services, or satisfying the claims of hungry expectants of government patronage or promotion in other parts of New Zealand, it will be too late for us to complain; we shall have no one but ourselves to thank.

Let it however be distinctly understood, our objections do not extend in the slightest degree to the appointment of Mr. Howard individually. If a removal from Nelson to Lyttelton be considered a promotion, we are willing to accept the fact, that Mr. Howard has met with the approval of government, as evidence of his entire fitness for his office, and we may venture to assure him, that, however much the colonists may disapprove of his appointment as a matter of principle, as far as he is personally concerned, he will receive a cordial welcome to our settlement.