CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 61, 6 March 1852, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —I shall be much obliged by your informing me through the medium of your Weekly Journal, as to the truth of the report now in circulation, that Six Thousand Pounds or even a much largeramount now in the hands of the Canterbury Association, is to be invested in Lyttelton and Christehurch Town Sections without these same Sections being offered for public competition as heretofore, thereby raising the value of those already purchased, and placing those who are yet to arrive, or who have not yet bought, upon a most unjust, because a most unequal footing. Zeta. Lyttelton, March Ist, 1853.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —Having been for some time past a contributor to the Offertory collected after Service in the Church at Lyttelton, I was much surprised in finding that the amount so collected for the last quarter had been paid as a subscription to the Lyttelton Church Building Fund, as I had believed from the sentences read during the collection and the usual custom in England, that my alms would be received by the poor ; now it may be the case that no poor have applied for relief, 1 trust it may be so, but I would ask, ought not the amount to have been held in hand until the winter season, when in all probability the collections made will not suffice for the relief of our poorpr townsmen, instead of being transferred for the erection of a Church to which we have already twice subscribed. Zeta.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —Having bad an opportunity of testing the quality of the coal found in the Canterbury settlement from a sample lying in the Survey Office, Christehurch, and from its appearance I was led to believe that it would answer for smithey purposes, but upon trial it would not, a welding heat conld not be obtained, yet it was quite free from cinder, and when ignited, also void of that sulphurous effluvia which renders New Zealand coal in general so disagreeable. It burns well, and has, if anything, an agreeable smell, and there can be no doubt but it is a valuable fuel for domestic use, and in my humble opinion (from the appearance of the coal, and as the sample tried is mere surface coal.) coal will be found in the same field available to all mechanical uses. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, John Ashmore. P.S. Having had a practical knowledge with New Zealand coal these fifteen years past, and should you think my opinion worth notice in this matter, you may insert the above communication in the columns of your paper.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir,—With reference to a letter which appeared in your paper of last week, upon the subject of " Lot Money " at auctions, the remedy seems to be this, —if it be a " Condition of Sale," that Lot Money is to be paid by purchasers, let all who are present refuse to bid, unless it be withdrawn ; if it be not a Condition of Sale, let the purchaser tender at the time appointed payment for the article purchased, and claim it at the price at which it was knocked down, that is the price at which it was sold to him, and is clearly all that he is liable for. The Sale by Auction, like a private bargain, while it stipulates for payment by the purchaser, as fully implies delivery by the Vendor. 1 am, Sir, your obedient servant, 0..

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —Allow me to offer a few observations in reply to your conespondent X. Y. Z., on the subject of lot money charged at auction sales. In his eulogium on the Government for abolishing auction duty, your correspondent has forgotten to state, that while they have been so particularly kind to the colonists, they still charge the auctioneer £40 per annum for his license, a sum which takes a vast quantity of lot money to cover, and which forms a very material item in his expenses. Lot money is not charged in Australia, nor is it in Auckland, but as a new colony, we naturally take our cue from our nearest neighbour, Wellington, where a large amount of business is done at auction sales, at which lot money is invar ably charged. If. the rharge of lot money is made one of the conditions of sale, and publicly announced as such, the public surely cannot complain, for purchasers are then fully aware of the grievous charge that will be added to their biddings. I am, however, inclined to think that the charge

of lot money is both unwise and inexpedient, and ought to be abolished. I know not what constitute the " exorbitant and oppressive charges" of our class, to which your correspondent alludes, but I should like him to take his place at my desk for a week, let him import goods into this, settlement, let him pay the enormous custom duties levied in New Zealand, (pareutal government, indeed!) let him pay all the incidental charges of freight, cartage, &c, above all, let him try to collect his accounts, and then won't he wish himself back in his comfortable house again ! No Sir, when purchasers can settle their accounts more promptly, I doubt not they will be able to get things cheaper, and then we may fairly look out for that good time coming, when we shall not be beggars, but gentlemen, on horseback. I am, Sir, Yours faithfully, MERCATOR.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —Permit me to call attention to a nuisance which I am sure has attracted the observation of many besides myself. I allude to the constant practice of a number of children co occupy the best seats in Church, (to the exclusion of a great many grown up persons,) and who are generally of an age far too tender to understand what is going on, and consequently amuse themselves the best way they can, which, though very agreeable to themselves, has the effect of completely distracting the attention of their neighbours. To get the front seats, these little ones make their appearance very early, hence the rush that takes place every Sunday morning, and which must certainly incline strangers to believe that an opera, and not church, is the goal to which we are running. I say nothing to the array of small boys who are placed in the front seat to ham to sing, I merely allude to those who I believe are mostly sent by their parents to be out of the way, for they are always quite alone and appear quite incapable of attending to the service. The remedy for this is very simple; let somebody (say a person connected with the Schools, &c.) be appointed to act as Verger, to place respectable people in their seats, prevent children unattended by their parents from sitting in the front part of the church, and keep out dogs and^all other stray annimals. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A. Z.

To the Editor of the " Lyttelton Times." Sir,—You told us in your last paper but one that we are obeying laws, over the making of which, we have no command, and, according to those laws, paying taxes, which are spent we know not how. Every dweller in this settlement must agree with what you say in the matter, and the more he thinks over it, the more he must perceive how needful it is that he and all his neighbours should bestir, themselves to obtain a reform of this state of things. At first I did not exactly perceive that I was paying taxes at all, for no collectors have yet called upon me either for assessed taxes, or for poor-rates, or for tithes, as they would have done in England. But a friend of mine, to whom I was boasting the other day of our freedom from taxes, showed me a " Government Gazette" from Wellington, in which I see that we paid £1500, chiefly through the Customs' duties levied on our goods and chattels durinothree months of last year, to the Government which lives at Wellington. This is at the rate of £6000 a year. As I believe there are about 3000 Europeans in this settlement, that is at the rate of £2 a year for every man, woman and child. So now I understand that every time I smoke a pipe of tobacco, or drink a'glass of beer, or buy clothes for my wife and children, or a new spade for the fresh patch of potatoes, I am paying taxes : because if there were no duty upon these things the dealer would let me have them cheaper. But it seems to me that most of this money must be spent at Wellington or somewhere else, for few, if any, of our main public wants have been provided for as they ought to have been with so large a sum. I understand that the Governor-in-Chief, who lives at Wellington, and has really the sole power of imposing taxes upon us, and of deciding how they shall he spent, said at first that he was going to be very kind to us, and let our own money be spent here. But I see that he has now altered his tone, and says that Lord Grey has told him not to lend money to the Canterbury Association, because, as they sold us land here and provided us with ships to travel hither, and many other requirements, they must make all the necessary public works.

Even if this be quite just, I cannot understand why his Excellency should receive any of our money, and spend it otherwise than for our benefit. Of course his Excellency does not pretend to spend more than a small portion of £6000 a year for our benefit. At Lyttelton, there is a miserable Lock-up, through the wall of which a prisoner once walked ; a post-office; an hospital; a police barrack ; a custom-house ; a landing Waiter's sentry-box; and about; probably, also, some little stock-in-trade, in the shape of policemen's dresses, carbines, handcuffs, barrows and picks for the hard labour men, oars for the boat, and pens, ink, and paper for the communications of official intelligence relating to this extensive machinery of Government. At Christehurch, there is positively nothing belonging to her Majesty's Government, unless it be some of the apparel of two constables stationed there, and a little stationery. There is a Resident' Magistrate; a clerk of the Bench, who acts as Sheriff, and Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, of births, deaths, marriages, and Intestate Estates; a sub-collec-tor of customs, who acts as sub-treasurer ; a landing waiter, and several tide-waiters ; a subinspector, seijeant, and six or seven privates, of police :an acting assistant post-master ; a har-bour-master, who acts as pilot; a colonial surgeon, who acts as coroner, and an inspector of scabby sheep. I had almost forgotten the Commissioner of Crown lands and his surveyor, I mean the funny old gentleman, who lives in an out-of-the-way place called Akaroa, and who seems to spend his time in writing gibberish in your paper about places which he has never seen and of which he knows nothing. Now I believe lam right in saying that the salaries of these officers, the rent of the buildings, and other incidental expenses, do not amount together to more than £3000 a year, or about one-half of our revenue. What is done with the other half? I suppose I shall be told that we must contribute our share to the maintemance of a Governor-in-Chief, Lieutenant-Governor, Colonial Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney-General, and Judges of the Supreme Court, with their hosts of Secretaries, Clerks, Assistants, Registrars, &c. &c, who live at Wellington in order to make laws for us, govern us, and administer justice to us there. -But I feel that all this business done for us at a distance is done in the most expensive, uncertain, and troublesome manner possible. To give you the strongest example I am aware of, let me assure you that there is not one of my neighbours who would, if he could help it, prosecute a thief who should have robbed him ; so enormous is the expense, delay, and danger of a voyage to Wellington for the purpose. Still more do I complain that we on the spot, who know best what public institutions we require, and what men among our number are most fit to administer them, do not possess the slightest power over one or the other. We see strangers arrive from other colonies to enjoy some of the most influential, responsible, and lucrative appointments; and although we have been, as yet, more fortunate than some of the neighbouring settlements, even here we see that some of these strangers are devoid of a single qualification for their situations. In England, generally speaking, talents, capacity for business, public spirit, the esteem of the community, have been the qualifications necessary to the holders of public offices of great honour and trust; the few exceptions being the cases of those whose hereditary descent or great stake in the country, affords some guarantee for the conscientious and honourable discharge of their duties. It is an object of real ambition to hold office there. Here, on the contrary, needy hangers-on of the Home Government or of the Governor-in-Chief, outcasts from England or another colony, persons uhose whole stake in tbecountryis the salary which they are appointed to receive appear to be the most successful applicants for high office. In this settlement, the incapacity of the Commissioner of Crown Lands for his important duties, and his notorious hostility to the scheme of the settlement and to its promoters, appear to have been his only qualifications. As though to render himself" as useless as possible, he has fixed his office at the most inconvenient and inaccessible spot in the whole district. The Wellington papers have been recently filled with an account of the moral delinquencies of two of the highest officials in i the province, whose duties correspond with

those of the Prime Minister and of a Lord of the treasury in England, and those delinquencies appear to have occurred in a'manner to show perfect recklessness of the opinion of that public which pays them, but cannot dismiss them from office. At Otago, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, the stipendiary Magistrate, and a Bench of Justices, have lately been guilty of behaviour which would be a disgrace to judicial authorities in Turkey or California. It may truly be said that here, unless a mark happens to enjoy a very large share of puld/f confidence and esteem on other accounts;, life* reaps no honour, but subjects himself to pdssi-^ ble disgrace by holding office. In the present * state of things, then, none of those whose worth entitles them to he the leaders of the commu-i nity, can consider a Government office of importance to be a laudable object of ambition. I must not omit to notice, that many members of this community have also paid, and are still paying, other taxes, under the regulations of the Canterbury Association: a part of which consists of contributions for specific purposes paid by every original purchaser of land; and another part, of rent for pasturage or other purperty which is let out by the Association. In the future assessment of these taxes, their collection, their expenditure, and the appointment of officers to administer the objects on which they are expended, the colonists, whether landpurchasers or not, have no more voice than they have in the arbitrary proceedings of the Gover-nor-in-chief. Fortunately, the officers of the Association have hitherto been such, as to deserve and enjoy the confidence and esteem of the land-purchasers; and the wishes and recommendations of the latter, as an organized body, have been met with attention and courtesy by the distant directors of their affairs. But there is no security for the continuance of so agreeable a state of things. A future agent, who should be self-opinionated, or perhaps even hostile to the land-purchasers, might easily efface all the good works of the one who is now so popular {& and his subordinates would surely imbibe the same spirit. A change in the management of the Association at home might result in an ex- :- ercise of its power, very injurious to its subjects in the colony. An excellent Agent might he instructed to adopt measures most unpalatable to the land-purchasers, and mischievous to the colonists in general. The Society of Land-pur-chasers, possessing no real power, would then cease to he of use to its own members, or to any other inhabitant of the district. It would expire, shrouded in the memory of some good which it has effected for itself, and for the settlement generally.. This leads me tol say, that I think the time has come, when that body might, with a good grace, yield the functions of watching over the public interests of the settlement, to the inhabitants of the settlement generally. The freehold tenure of land, and the holding {of pasturage licenses, within the block; the immigration of labour into the settlement; the surveys, roads, and other public works; the endowments for ecclesiastical and educational purposes according to the Church of England, all these are now objects of public interest in this settlement, as well as' those objects over which the Canterbury Association has no control. It is not long ago that the Society felt it necessary to refer to the public generally the results of it's enquiries as to one of the most important public questions in the settlement, viz:—the communication between the port and the plains. In the discussion of many other public questions, the opinion of the whole public would, of course, carry more weight than that of the Society alonel The Society would thus, in abdicating its functions, and merging in the community at large, preserve, an honoured place in the memory of the colon-''1 ists, and acquire strength for the attainment of those objects, towards which it has so worthily attempted to lead the way. It should next be considered how the community at large could best profit by the exam- -;- pie of the Society, and become organized for the public good. You have truly said, Sir, that " all real lasting reforms in Government have been achieved by the steady and unflinching resolution of the people." i'have little doubt but that the resolution of the people of Canter, bury,"-when formed, will be steady and unflinching., But that people must first become organized, meet and compare opinions, so as to ascertain that of the majority, and thus fix upon a resolution to which they may adhere. It is rather, then, in order to provoke discussion its to the best mode of such organization

than With a view of proposing any particular mode, that I venture to submit to your readers the following suggestion : — That a Society be formed under the title of the Canterbury Colonists' Society, (or any other suitable name) for the following objects:— Ist To collect information as to the natural resources and capabilities of the Canterbury district and the adjoining country. 2nd. To ascertain, by discussion, the best measures of a public kind by which the colonists may awail themselves of those resources, and develope tj-jps* capabilities towards the sound and vigorous pjfiifgress of the settlement. / 3rd. To seek the adoption of those measures, .and the remov-u, by every lawful and constitutional means in the power of the Society, of all obstacles which may occur in consequence of ignorance or carelessness, as to the real wants of the colonists, on.the part of the distant authorities by whom they are now governed. 4th. To strive, in the same lawful and [constitutional manner, for the establishment at the earliest possible date of such political institutions, as will secure to the colonists themselves a real and efficient control over their own local affairs. That every one who may desire to become a member of such Society, signify his wish to , who has consented to act as Honorary Secretary pto. tern, for that purpose. That as soon as persons shall have so signified their wish, a meeting should be held to appoint the necessary officers, and adopt regulations for the future management of the Society. I need hardly point out that, should such a suggestion meet with public approval, it would remain open for the Land Purchasers' Society to contribute their usefulness and public spirit to the common weal, by adopting the scheme without reserve or hesitation. I am, Sir, your very obedient servant, An Unkkpresknted Tax Payee.