The Lyttelton Times. December 27, 1851.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 51, 27 December 1851, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. December 27, 1851.

We beg to call the especial attention of our readers to an advertisement which has appeared in our columus, calling public meetings at Christchurch and Lyttelton, on the Ist and 2nd of January, to discuss the subject of completing the new road between the port and the plains.

Upon general questions of public policy, it seems to us of the first importance that all the settlements in the colony should act in concert. Whatever differences there may be between us, upon minor and local questions, let us consent to lay them aside for a time, whilst the common liberty of tbe whole colony is to be defended. The question for us all to consider at present is, what course may be best adopted to resist the scheme of the Colonial Minister for saddling us with a National Debt. From the immediate danger we have been happily and unexpectedly relieved. Bnt those who have watched Earl Grey's career as colonial dictator, are too deeply impressed with a sense of his fatal obstinacy, to believe that he will relinquish a scheme upon which he has once set his mind. The National-Debt Bill for New Zealand has been withdrawn solely because it was too late in the session to pass any contested measure. The minister recorded his conviction that it ought to be passed.. The battle will have to be fought next Session of Parliament, and the question is how we can bring our forces to bear in the

meantime,

The most obvious mode is to petition the Houses of Parliament; —to make a full and explicit statement of the reasons why we object to the proposed scheme : and we conceive that such petitions would obtain the signature of almost every male adult in the colony. In taking this step, it would surely not be unbecoming that we should record our strong sense of the obligations under which we lie to the Duke of Newcastle and to Mr. Gladstone, for the successful opposition which they have offered to the iniquitous National-Debt clauses; and perhaps the best testimony of our gratitude would be to place the petitions in the hands of those gentlemen for presentation to the two houses, enclosing them in a public letter from the colonists expressive of our gratitude at the services which we have received.

But may we not go a step further. Year after year has now passed away, and not one

step has yet been taken by the Home Government to bring forward the long-promised bill for granting a Constitutional Government to this colony. As far as we can see, there is not the least chance of these promises being fulfilled, except under compulsion. The sort of compulsion which may be brought to bear upon a Government is perhaps best explained by the Colonial Legislation of the Session of 18£>0. Year after year Constitutional Governments had been promised to the Australian Colonies. Year after year those pledges were broken. Then the Colonial Eeform Society was established; and the first result of its conferences was, that Sir William Molesworth undertook to bring in a bill himself. He had a bill prepared witk>great care, printed and distributed amongst therlhembers of both houses. The ministers were plticed in a false position: they had admitted that legislation was necessary:—they were compelled to accept Sir William Molesworth's bill, or to provide one of their own. They took the latter course. They brought in a bad bill, tut it was an advancement upon former legislation, and it was passed. A similar policy would be equally successful in the case of New Zealand. The Duke of Newcastle has pledged himself t& bring the whole question of the Government of New Zealand before the House of Lords at the commencement of next Session. If we agree to petition the Houses to throw out the New Zealand National-Debt Bill, and if we request His Grace to lay our petition before the Peers, may we not, in the same communication, adverting to His Grace's declared intention, request that he will cause a bill to be prepared, and will at once introduce it into the House of Lords. There is all the information now in England necessary to the framing a good Constitutional Act for this Colony ; especially the resolutions of the Settlers' Constitutional Association at Wellington, passed at the close of last year.

We have not the slightest doubt that, if such a request were made to His Grace, backed by the general voice of the colony, it would be readily acceded to; and that Mr. Gladstone would cheerfully undertake the conduct of such a bill in the House of Commons.

We have thrown out these suggestions far the consideration of our fellow-colonists in all the settlements. If we would that our friends in England should still continue to fight for us, it is our part at all events to show that we are deeply sensible of their exertions; and surely the jJuke of Newcastle and Mr. Gladstone are entitled to some especial testimonial from the colony for their late services.

We have published in another column the new Canterbury act, and we confess it somewhat puzzles us. Part of it is excellent. It confers upon the Association some most necessary powers which they ought to have possessed at first; which were in fact originally contemplated in their scheme, and must have been omitted simply by oversight from their charter and their former act; powers over watercourses, over the timber, and so on. But there is much in this act which we cannot comprehend, much that we regret. The first five clauses empower the Association to make byelaws, and to inflict penalties for a violation of them by their own servants. Until we see a copy of the bye-laws we are at a loss to know what difficulties these clauses were intended to meet. There is a great objection to all unnecessary legislation, and we do not see how these provisions bear upon, or asssist the object for which the Association was incorporated. But the seventh clause is that which demands the greatest attention, and which suggests some very unpleasant fears. The Association are eni-^ powered to appoint a Managing Committee in^ the settlement, consisting of certain persons, * being members of their body, and to delegate to such Managing Committee any of the powers which the Association are themselves entitled to exercise. Let. us consider the meaning and effect of this provision. I The Canterbury Association is, properly/ speaking, a department of the Government for the purpose of disposing of the waste lands oi the Crown. Ordinarily the waste lands in tlie colonies are disposed of by the Colonial Government ; but for the purpose of making a particular experiment in colonization, the Canterbury Association was invested with power of disposing of tl-ie Crown lands in a particular district and in a particular manner; and they were also empowered and required to expend the monies which came into their hands upon certain spe-

cified objects. This is the nature of the relation in which the Canterbury Association stands to the settlement. Now we know of no reason why the general principles of colonial policy, upon which the best colonial politicians are agreed, should not apply to the land department, as well as to any other department of government ; we allude especially to those two great maxims of all "sound colonial government; —first, that it should be local;—- secondly, that it should be responsible. In the undertaking of the Canterbury Association there was necessarily, to a certain ext tent, a departure from these rules. For the 'Association began by spending money in preparing the country for the reception of the settlers\ They could not be responsible for the expenditure of this money, because there was no one to be responsible to; nor could the sale of land be conducted in the colony, all the colonists being then in the mother country. The non-responsibility of the Association and its Agents to the colonists, and the distance of the source of authority from the colony, were unavoidable elements in the undertaking of founding a colony at all. But these departures from the right theory of colonial government were of less moment, because the task of the Canterbury Association was simply to found a settlement, and then to let it alone; and in accordance with this idea, its own dissolution, or at least the relinquishment of its powers over the land, was expressly provided for at an early period. Such being the position which the Association occupied in relation to the settlement, it is obvious that any change in the mode of exercising its powers ought to have been in the direction of a return from the temporary and exceptional policy of the commencement of the undertaking, to the general law upon which all colonial Government should be founded ; that is to say, a return to the principle of local and responsible Government. Now we regret that, in the clause before us, we are unable to trace such an intention on the part of the Association. It is proposed to replace the Agent in the colony by a Committee of Management, nominated by, deriving its authority from, exercising its powers under, and solely responsible to, the Managing Committee in England. Now, what is the difference between a Committee of Nominees to manage the land department, and a Council of Nominees to manage the other departments of Government in the colony ? We confess we are unable to say. If the Managing Committee proposed by the Association is a mere agency, it is a bad scheme; for one agent is much better than half-a-dozen. If it be intended as a local governing body, it is a Council of Nominees, and it will only not be mischievous because it will be valueless; for we do not believe that there could be found a sufficient number of land purchasers in the settlement who would become the Nominees of the Canterbury Association, any more than of the Government. We shall pursue this subject upon a future occasion. The Canterbury settlers are evidently determined to maintain all those occasions of general rejoicing and good-will which are sacred to such purposes at home, and to relinquish none of those " merry-making comforts " that a Briton loves. Christmas has been observed here with all its sacred and domestic accompaniments, and with the family gatherings, the liberality to dependants, and the hearty reciprocation of kindly feeling among all classes that our most /sanguine friends in England could give us :'<creditor. The difference of season, tempera>*"ture, and other circumstances has not altered i our confirmed English habits in this respect. ;We are anxious to call the attention of all I masters of crafts sailing to or from Akaroa, to 1 No. 13, of the Harbor Regulations which we I publish this week, under the head " Post Office \- and Mails." The obligations thereby laid upon them to give notice, at the Post Office of either place, of their sailing, and to convey the mails, is sufficiently clear, and we need hardly say is a provision too necessary and advantageous to our settlers to be lost sight of. Akakoa. —(From our correspondent.)— There is one part of the Canterbury settlement well known by name to our colonists, but as yet

visited by few of them; we mean Akaroa. Founded and fostered by the Nanto Bordelaise Company, this place is a striking proof of French deficiency in the qualifications necessary for colonists. Brought from France at the cost of the Company, supplied with provisions for fifteen months, presented with four acres of land each on the single condition of clearing it in a given time, some of the settlers have not yet, after the lapse of so many years, completed the cultivation of the small plot. Latterly the neighbouring market offered by Lyttelton has aroused some little energy amongst them. Their gardens are beginning to prove that the extraordinary tales told us in England about the productiveness of the New Zealand soil were sober realities. Sight only could convince vs athat peach trees year after year would bear some hundred dozens of fruit. Of the excellence of the potatoes, lettnces, asparagus, peas, cherries, &c, we have had the best of all proofs, taste and experience. The harbour of Ataroa is the best in New Zealand. Formerly it could boast of the presence at one time of several French Men-of-War, and seven or eight Whalers. Now it is a rare thing to see more than two small vessels at anehov. Had Captain Thomas been assured of the possession of the Peninsula by the Association, he would have made it the port, and then how different its appearance. Eight land purchasers have fixed their residence in Akaroa or its neighbourhood. These gentlemen are preparing, assisted by the older settlers, to build a small church and school. They are also petitioning the chief Agent to afford them a shorter and easier bridle path to Port Victoria. When this shall have been cut, and the Nelson steamers be plying from port to port, hotels and boarding-houses will rapidly spring up, bathing machines will appear on the beach, and crowds of visitors escape from the monotony of Christchurch and dust of Lyttelton, to enjoy the pure water, cool breezes, foliage, and varied,scenery of the fashionable watering-place of Ak'ai'oa. •' .-. „