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Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 117, 2 April 1853, Page 8

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir,—Two of your correspondents seem to have taken umbrage at the numerous letters which have lately appeared in your columns, and bring charges against the writers which I for one think as uncalled for as undeserved. " Cantuariensis" seems to imagine we have joined together in a general attack on the Association and its policy, and have shewn ourselves forgetful of the benefits the colony has received from the disinterested men who formed the Committee of Management. " Squatter," on the other hand, accuses us of a cowardly attack on Mr. Sewell behind his back, and invokes the English spirit of fair play to protect that persecuted individual. Really Sir, these gentlemen can have paid but little attention to the letters they criticize, or they would not have made remarks so inapplicable to their scope and tendency. If Mr. Sewell's letter was to receive the considerate attention which its obscurity and importance demanded, we cannot surely be guilty of discourtesy in discussing its ambiguous phrases during his absence: had he wished otherwise he might have deferred its publication till after his return from Wellington.

The majority of the letters which have raised the bile of your correspondents had this object in view, while the letters of " Land-purchaser, Zeno, and Z. Y. X.," were simply .written with reference to a question, of property, only remotely affecting the policy of the Association.

No doubt, the members of the Committee of Management may be men of the utmost probity and honour, and I freely admit we owe them a large debt of gratitude for their exertions in founding this colony. But I do not think this should prevent our referring to what we believe to be their mistakes.

Indeed, considering the magnitude of their blunders and the disastrous effects they have had on the Settlement (though with the limited information at their command they may have acted wisely in doing so), I think the colonists have shewn a rare amount of forbearance in abstaining so entirely from criticizing the general conduct of the Association.

" Minor errors" indeed ! Is it a minor error that the leading feature of our vaunted system of colonization should be virtually extinguished? Our churches unbuilt! our establishment kept at starvation point! Is it an "unimportant detail" that our public property should be unjustly: mortgaged to pay debts the legality of which is at best but questionable ?

Again, I suspect " Cantuarieusis" will find whenever the Colonists do begin to discuss the conduct of the Association, the principal blame will be attached, not to the way in which affairs have been managed in the colony, but to.the manner in which the money has been squandered at home under the yery eyes of the Committee of Management. s

I make the fullest allowance for the diffi cult position in which these gentlemen found themselves, and I give 'them entire credit for the best possible intentions • but I cannot but express my belief that they have in several instances allowed their bet ter judgment to be warped by evil counsel, and the results of; their policy forcibly remind one that there is another place besides

the Canterbury plains that is paved with good intentions. £^*jN I fear, Sir, I shall get the character 1, by " the man of the last word," as well as 6*f the last letters, but I could not resist the desire to reply to an unjust accusation. I am, Sir, Your's &c, Z. Y. X. Christchurch, March 23, 1853.