LYTTELTON COLONISTS' SOCIETY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 92, 9 October 1852, Page 6

LYTTELTON COLONISTS' SOCIETY.

This Society held its usual fortnightly meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Fitzgerald in the Chair, who announced that'the subscriptions for the Quarter commencingl the Ist October were now due, and that Mr. Newnham was empowered to receive them, being daily in attendance at the Heading Room. Mr. Alport read the following report of the proceedings of the Fire Committee :^-The serious loss which might be entailed upon the inhabitants of this town in the event of a fire occurring led to a Public Meeting being called early in July, 1851, at which the subject was fully considered, and a Committee appointed to collect information as to the best method of averting such a casualty. The labours of this Committee resulted in reports being prepared embodying-a general classification of the whole of the inhabitants, to a subscription list being .opened which was numerously signed, to an enrolment of volunteers, and to the consideration of such ordinances as prohibited the construction of chimneys and roofs of hazardous materials. "At a public meeting subsequently held, those reports were adopted, and a permanent committee appointed to carry out the objects in view. By the Bank account it would appear that the sum of £59 10s. had been received from subscriptions, and expended in the following mail?

ner, viz.:—ln constructing an Engine House, for fifty wood Buckets, four Ladders, four long Poles with hooks, six Axes, and that there still remains a balance of upwards of £10 to the credit of the Committee at the Bank. Many of the subscriptions originally promised are still unpaid, which if collected, would place ample funds at the disposal of the Committee for the purposes originally contemplated. Letters have been written to Sydney with the view of obtaining the Fcost of a Fire Engine but to which no replies have been received. " The meetings of the Committee have been held from time to time, the last occasion being the 21st of April in the present year, but from want of replies to the letters written to Sydney for the cost of an engine, and the general supineness which appears to have arisen since the establishment of an Insurance Office in the settlement, their labours seem for the present entirely suspended. " The object of the present report is simply to rescue the Committee from the charge of seeming neglect, as those only who have shared its labours can duly appreciate the difficulties connected with voluntary associations for any purpose whatever. When the period of local representation shall have arrived and local powers be established, it is to be hoped that the ground work thus prepared will pave the way to some more efficient means being taken for the preservation of our town, and prevent the awful calamity which would result from the outbreak of fire." Mr. Fitzgerald delivered the first part of his lecture on the rise and progress of Constitutional Government in England. The lecture was listened to with extreme interest and attention by an audience which, we regret to state, was not a numerous one; originating, doubtless, from many Members not attending through neglecting to pay their subscriptions for the Quarter. The loss is theirs, for the lecture was a most admirable one. Commencing with England under the Bomans, the Lecturer briefly pointed out the benefits that military people have left as in our municipal Institutions; he then entered very largely into the rule of the Saxons, and shewed that to them we are indebted for the greater part of those laws and institutions which now form the pride and glory of England. He next dwelt upon the advent of the Normans, through whose iron domination liberty was all but suppressed, until the tyranny of King John, by bringing about the amalgamation of the two races, paved the way for the subsequent steps in the advance of freedom. It is not in our power at present to give more than a very limited epitome of Mr. Fitzgerald's lecture, though we hope to be able at another time to produce it more at length.

. The sales of Land in this settlement, and the emigration to it, have fallen off so largely of late, as to render the existing colonial establishment of the Association altogether disproportioned both to their means and to their work. We are glad to hear, therefore, that it is to be very materially reduced at the end of the current year. . By the " Comet" we have files of the Otago Witness to the 25th ultimo, but beyond a fray in the streets of Dunedin, in which sticks were freely exercised, and a pugnacious tendency developed more consonant with the proceedings of Milesians than staid Free-Ivirkmen, we observe nothing of particular interest. An Advertisement in our first page calls the attention of those interested in the music classes to a meeting to be held at the HeadingKooms, on Tuesday next, at 7 p.m., at which the attendance of ladies is requested. In the Resident Magistrate's Court, Lyttelton, on Monday, Mr. Denne summoned Mr. Varyer, printer, for publishing some Cards reflecting upon the plaintiff's character. It appeared from the evidence that cards had been circulated through the town announcing that the plaintiff solicited the patronage of the public, as he was about to commence business as chimney-sweeper, &c, and that in consequence he had been subjected to great annoyance in the streets, the boys calling after him, " sweep," and other names ; and in one instance he was compelled to use his fists against an individual who had asked him for a card. For these reasons and to vindicate his character, he had summoned the Printer. Mr. Varyer admitted printing the cards, but said that having no personal knowledge of Mr. Denne, he had

published them in the usual way of business, deeming it a bond.fide affair. It turned out, however, to be a hoax played by a very witless person on Mr. Denne, and the Bench, therefore, dismissed the case, remarking that there was no libel as against the Printer, as the functions of a chimney-sweeper were necessary and in no manner dishonorable. The action properly lay against the foolish person who perpetrated the hoax.