The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 46, 22 November 1851, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times.

November 22, 1851. "Sir, —I rejoice that America has resisted; three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to consent to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest." These memorable words were uttered, not by a mob orator, a democrat, or a rebel, but by one of England's wisest statesmen and greatest ministers, —Lord Chatham. They were uttered in one of those prophetic speeches in which he foretold the independence of '/lie American colonies as the inevitable reSfalt of an attempt to tax an unrepresented people. The event fulfilled the prediction, and posterity justified the event. An experiment similar in kind and in iniquity, is about to be tried upon New Zealand. England is about to impose upon the people of this colony a debt of which we neither incurred, sanctioned, nor expended. It is for the colonists . now to determine whether they will pay it or not. We '""■' not again argue the question of * the jiisiiijo- or injustice of the debt. It will be ti.iie enough to do so when a single colonist shall be found to undertake its defence ;in the mean time, we will assume that but one opinion exists among us upon the subject. It is not the amount which is disputed, it is the principle at stake. If England may impose a debt of £200,000, she may impose a debt of

£2,000,000. The principle is, whether the public revenues of this colony may be charged to the amount of one farthing without the consent of the people. There is no time to be lost; the step is determined on. Our part is to consider " How shall we resist the imposition P Can we resist it through the Colonial Government ? The only representation we possess, is that afforded by the Provincial Councils. The elected members would no doubt, refuse to vote money for the payment of this debt; but will the question come before them at all? Certainly not. The General Council of New Zealand will have the power of voting the money, and the " General Council" is a facetious nickname for the Governor-in-Chief, in his legislative capacity. Now supposing the Governor-in-Chief has every desire to oppose this act of oppression on the part of the Colonial Office, will he be able to do so ? When the Act of Parliament arrives in the Colony a month or two hence, and the " instructions" requiring his Excellency to send home the interest upon £200,000 out of our revenues, what can he do ? He will have no alternative. It will be his duty to propose an Ordinance to the next General Council for appropriating the required amount, or, perhaps, to remit the money without any Ordinance at all.

Let us not deceive ourselves. We have no remedy through, the legally constituted government at present existing. Then what shall we do ? Petition the Crown and the Houses of Parliament ? Petition the Crown, that is, the Colonial Minister, to undo what he has just done! Will that be of any use ? Petition the House of Commons to pay the debt which they have already determined we shall pay! "Will that be of any use ?

We must resist this imposition. The Cape of Good Hope has shewn how a colony may defeat an unprincipled government without trespassing the strict letter of the law. But there was one feature in the resistance made by the Cape of Good Hope which explains its success. The colonists were unanimous,—unanimous from the highest to the lowest individual in the community. That was the secret of the issue of that great struggle. Let the New Zealand Colonists follow that memorable example ; for once let them sink all party distinctions, all minor jealousies, to resist this [dangerous assault upon the liberty of our common country. It would be unbecoming in us, especially speaking from the youngest settlement in New Zealand, rashly to dictate the course which the colonists ought to adopt at this critical juncture. All we desire is to awake our fellow-countrymen to a sense of the extreme danger which overhangs their colony, and of the necessity of some immediate steps to avoid it.

We cannot, however, conclude without throwing out the suggestion that a conference should be held without delay, of those persons who most prominently possess the confidence of the people in the several settlements, in order to determine what is the best and safest policy which can be proposed to the public for their adoption. Had we any form of representative government whatever, such organization would be unnecessary, now it appears to us to be unavoidable.

The English Times raised itself to its present commanding position, mainly by its almost wonderful arrangements for securing the earliest information on every occurrence of interest. We are compelled this week to acknowledge our great inferiority, and to apologise for not having before acquainted our readers with the circumstances attending the loss of an immigrant on the plains, from exposure to the inclemency of the weather. We are now indebted to the Coroner for the following particulars. David Bishop came out from England in the '• Duke of Portland." A few days after landing he went over to Christchurch with some oompanions,^ind started in the evening to return to port. The weather was then most inclement. On his way back, along the Maori track, he felt much exhausted, and, notwithstanding the dissuasions of the rest of the party, sat down, declaring he could go no further. They pursued their way, thinking he would exert himself to follow. This was not far from Mr. Willocks homestead. The poor man did not appear, as expected. Diligent search was made tor him, but ineffectually. About a month alter, his body was accidentally discovered in an advanced stage of decomposition, by a lad who was driving some cows near the spot. He had moved a short distance from the spot where

he first lay down, but in a wrong direction. An inquest was held upon the remains on the 31st October, the .Jury returning an open verdict of " Found dead." The heel of the deceased's boot was pointed out by his wife as the place where his money would probably be found, which proved to be the case.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —I observe that some remarks have been founded by the Wellington Spectator, on my appointment of Capt. Parsons as Harbour-Master here, in connexion wich a statement made by the Governor-in-Chief to the effect that I had remonstrated against the creation of such an appointment at the first formation of the settlement. The Editor of the Spectator seems to imply that my object in thus remonstrating in the first place, was to keep the place open for Capt. Parsons, and that I signe d a memorial afterwards, praying for the appointment to be made, in order that I might have an opportunity of giving it to Capt. Parsons. To this insinuation I think it right to reply by calling attention to the following facts. 1. It is true that I expressed to His Excellency an opinion that we did not want a Harbour Master at the first formation of the settlement. I thought, and still think, that that expence might have been saved by the proclamation of harbour-regulations, giving to some other Government-Officer the necessary powers to deal with shipping in the harbour. The same opinion I expressed at the Meeting held here to consider the subject, but, finding that the contrary opinion was unanimously entertained by the meeting, I did nothesitate to join in petitioning that their wishes might be complied with. It is not true that, as the Spectator asserts, I ever complained of the Government for neglect in not appointing a Harbour-Master, though I may have complained of delay in proclaiming Harbour-regulations. 2. The Meeting was held on the 4th July, and I forwarded the resolution praying for the appointment of a Harbour Master on the same day. At that time I not only had not, and could not possibly have had the slightest idea that Captain Parsons ■was ever coming out here at all, but I do not think I could even have heard of his arrival in England from his former voyage. .The news of the "Lady Nugent" having been chartered by the Association, arrived here in August. 3. I had no reason to suppose, nor did I suppose that his Excellency would have left the appointment to me ; on the contrary, it appeared an analogous one to that of the Collector of Customs and Postmaster, upon which I was not consulted. 4. When authorised to make the appointment, I at first recommended in the strongest manner, another gentleman, who had been resident here from the foundation of the settlement. It was not until after he had declined it, for reasons into which it is unnecessaiy to enter, that I offered it to Captain Parsons, who was here at the time. To say the truth, I did not expect that he would accept it at so low a salary, and when he did so, on condition that he might be allowed to carry out his charter-party, by taking his ship to Nelson, I thought myself singularly fortunate in having secured for a situation holding out such small advantages, an officer so peculiarly well qualified in every respect. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, J It. GODLEY.

It is not true, as asserted by the Wellington Spectator, that sixty persons left this settlement for Sydney, in the " Louis and Miriam." Twelve was the true number, and of these two will shortly return. Of the ten who have left, only two or three we believe, came from England to settle at Canterbury. It is true there were more passengers in the vessel, but they came in her from Wellington on their way to Sydney.

The Wellington papers received by the "Fly," contain little local news. They" give, however, intelligence of the loss of the government schooner " Maori," of Manukun, with a melancholy loss of three lives, Captain Smale and his nephew, and Mr. Piers Geale, being unfortunately drowned.

The Bishop of New Zealand's arrival at Auckland, from Sydney, is reported. The Wellington Spectator states that the "Lady Nugent " is lying- outside Nelson harbour under peculiar circumstances, her crew having- refused to work under the superintendunce of the officer to whom Capt. Parsons handed over the vessel on his return to Lvttelton, and having- consequently been sent to'hard labour on the roads. On 'this the Spectator, with its usual malignity, founds a charge of neglect of duty against' Capt. Parsons, and of favouritism against Mr. Godley, winding up by insinuating that the Canterbury Settlers are not over-pleased with the appointment of 11 a stranger* to the post of harbour-master here. Perhaps the wish was father to the thought, at any rate we are at a loss to discover any other reason for this statement.