PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION IN ENGLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 23, 14 June 1851, Page 5

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION IN ENGLAND.

The accounts which we have received of the proceedings of the Canterbury Association are exceedingly encouraging, as regards the prospects held out of a large and rapid colonization. The whole quantity of land sold up to Feb. 19 was a little more than 17,000 acres, but of this 2,800 acres had been sold in the last seven weeks, and private accounts assure us that there was every appearance of a progressive increase in the sales. One private letter from a member of the Committee says, " If good accounts arrive from the first colonists, I have little donbt that we shall sell within the second year to the amount of the £300,000 we originally dreamed of." Another says, " The fever for Canterbury rages fiercely throughout the country." It is proposed to send out at least one snip every month, .and during the next summer and autumn a much larger number will sail. The " Labuan" was laid on for the 6th of April; and the " Dominion," a first-class vessel, for the Btl of May. We have before us the Draft of a Bil which it was proposed to submit to Parliamen during the present Session; the provisions o' which would authorize the Association to mak< some very important changes in its constitution and powers, with reference, more especially, to the qualification of its members, the disposal ot pasturage, the laying-out of roads, and the offering of debentures on the security of future land sales. Great preparations appear to be in progress for the establishment of the College on a most extensive scale. The necessary instructions and funds for the erection of the College buildings are 'to come out with the June ships, which will also bring what is called in London the " Main Body of Colonists." In looking over the reports given in the New Zealand Journal (which has been revived under a new direction) of the meetings of Canterbury colonists in January and February last, we find that every one of the first fleet of ships had been reported at home, as spoken with by other ships at some period of their passage. The "Sir George Seymour" had been spoken with off Rio Janeiro on the 21st October, a letter of the same date had also been received from a passenger on board the " Randolph." This intelligence will quell any doubts which, may have arisen as to the safe conveyance of letters transhipped at sea. The Duke of Newcastle (late Earl of Lincoln) was about to take an active part in the management of the Association.

A report had been made to the Association! by Mr. William Bowler, late superintendent of shipping', and published in the form of a pamphlet, giving full particulars of the first eight ships, including1 the " Duke of Bronte," with regard to their total and individual cost; the profit and loss *of each' ship ; the number of passengers and emigrants, the average cost per head; the actual cost per head to the Association, with a variety of other interesting details. We are unable this week to reprint in full, from the report, the tables exhibiting statistics of the several vessels ; some general remarks, however, may be made on the subject. It appears that the number of cabin passengers in these ships amounts to 11 for every 100 tons of shipping, and to" 24 per cent on the whole number of emigrants. Of the whole sum expended by the Association in the sending out of these ships, viz, 28,685/. 9s. 7d., more than two-iifths, or II,BISZ. 2s. Sd. were contributed from other sources than the public funds of the settlement, comprising the amounts paid for cabin passages, freight &c. A comparison is made in the same document between the early proceedings of the New Zealand Company with respect to emigration, and those of the Canterbury Association. From this it appears that the cost per head to the New Zealand Company exceeded 31/., while the outlay of the Association has only been lOi. per head, and the cost to the Canterlury Settlement after deducting the proportion paid by the emigrants themselves, has only amounted to 12/. per head. It was intended to supply future vessels sailing for this colony with Phillips's Fire Annihilator, which, by evolving a certain gas, extiugu'ishe.-; fire almost instantaneously. The apparatus tur turning salt water into fresh was also to be tried. A gold medal was to be presented to the colonist Who should lirst be success/i .1 in introducing fresh water fish into the hikes and rivers of the settlement.