The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 82, 31 July 1852, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times.

July 31, 1852.

The letter signed " Omega," which ap-peai-ed in our last, requires a brief notice. It is one instance among many, of the great mistake which the Association has made in not publishing its accounts. The Colonists have really no just ground to complain that the funds, which they entrusted to the Association, have been spent upon other than the objects for which they were subscribed : there is sufficient information before the public incidentally to prove this: the real and just cause for complaint is, that the accounts are not published. For example, in reference to the Ecclesiastical fund; —there cannot have been more than £25,000 on the whole accruing to that fund from the sale of land. £15,000, we know, have been lately spent in the purchase of land in the Settlement, under the last Act of Parliament, to serve as permanent endowment for Churches and Schools: £3,000 had previously been expended for the endowment of the Clergy of Christchurch. An inspection of Mr. Godley's accounts, which any one can obtain for the payment of one shilling, will shew that, in round numbers, £6,800, includiAg a payment of nearly £2000 to the Chaplains of ships, has been expended in the Colony. The expenditure then, of which we all know, amounts to nearly the whole sum which the Colonists have subscribed : when to this is added the expenses in England of attaching a chaplain and schoolmaster to each ship, and of all the books and educational apparatus which were sent to the colony and are now in use,—it would appear that more than the fund subscribed by the Colonists has been already spent for Ecclesiastical and Educational purposes. We do not mean to say that all this money has been spent in the best manner—that is another question. We hold that, in many respects, the administration might have been more judicious. All we assert is, that whatever faults may be charged upon the Association, a reservation or alienation of funds from the pur-

poses to which they were appropriated, is certainly not one. We hope, however, that the Association will soon see the necessity of publishing a full and detailed account of all the monies which they undertook to administer.

On the 15th of June the Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land was opened by His Excellency the Governor, in a speech of so much importance, not only to that Colony, but also to the neighbouring ones, that we have transferred the greater part to our columns. Sir W. Denison comments at some length on the discoveries of Gold on the Australian Continent, and the consequences that have resulted therefrom to Tasmania. It would seem that while the discovery has been productive of benefit in stimulating* trade, yet that a large proportion of the free population of the Colony has been attracted to the Diggings, and serious fears are entertained in consequence that this disturbance of the labour market will jeopardise the supply of food available for the Australian Colonies. Impressed with the necessity of viewing the question in relation with all the Colonies, the Governor has caused enquiries to be made as to the probable wants and supply in each.

Now this question has a very important hearing as regards New Zealand. Any fears that Agriculturists may entertain of not finding a market for their produce, must be at once lessened, if not removed, by a grave and deliberate announcement coming from high, authority that there is likely to be a scarcity of food during the coming year. We would, therefore, earnestly impress upon the Colonists that they should make every available effort to extend, while there is yet time, their agricultural operations ; for there appears to be every human probability that industry and diligence will not go unblessed, but will reap an ample reward in supplying the necessities of the Inhabitants of the Australian Provinces, who have been withdrawn by the prevalence of the Gold fever, from their wonted pastoral and agricultural pursuits.