CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 129, 25 June 1853, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times.

Sir, —No part of the policy of the Committee of Management has been the subject of more severe censure than their scheme for establishing a local body for the Management of Ecclesiastical and Educational affairs.

I will confine my present letter to this subject. One of the greatest needs of the Colony has been such a local body. It is part of that general want of Church Organization felt throughout all the Colonies, and which it may be hoped will soon be remedied by Mr. Gladstone's bill and the action of local legislatures. But, at the time the Charter was granted (13th November, 1849), there was no definite prospect of such relief ; and, as regards this particular Settlement, the Charter was rightly deemed a great, step in advance, as furnishing some means, however defective, of Church organization.

I believe the merit of this measure belongs to Mr. Godley. He must also be held responsible for its defects. Lord Lyttelton and the Committee who succeeded to the Management, after his departure, have simply had to carry its provisions into effect. If it has not been so framed as to fulfil the intentions of its author, the blame does not rest with them, any more than they can be held answerable for that defective state of the Land Title which I noticed in. my last letter.

But, as regards the interpretation of the Charter, the Committee have with great regret found themselves obliged to differ from Mr. Godley.

The point in difference has been this : the Charter incorporated the Association for certain objects—amongst others "to promote the prosperity of the intended Settlement by establishing and maintaining Ecclesiastical and Educational Institutions therein."

These words plainly threw on the Association the duty and responsibility of " establishing and maintaining such Institutions,' not that they were to devolve that office upon others.

The Charter was silent as to any power to delegate their functions to a local body in the Colony. Whatever might have been the views or intentions of its author it contained no such provision ; and its whole scope and tenor was, that the working power should be in England, and should be vested in persons there responsible to the Crown and the New Zealand Company.

Under such circumstances, the Association had no authority directly or indirectly to constitute an independent irresponsible local body to manage their Ecclesiastical and Educational affairs ; still less could they create "by any act of theirs a constituency in the Colony^ who should elect such a body.

But what Mr. Godley and the Colonists have contended for, is, that the Charter did enable the Association to constitute such a body, and to create such a constituency, and they have peremptorily required the Association to do so, and to transfer their

Endowments to such body unconditionally. The committee could not accede to this demand, which would have involved a virtual abandonment of their own duties and responsibilities. . But I will state what they actually did. Being as anxious as the Colonists themselves to establish a local body for the management of Ecclesiastical and Educational affairs, they caused a scheme to be framed for that purpose upon the following principles. First, such scheme reserved to the Association (as was obviously necessary to fulfil the conditions of the Charter) a general power of controul. Subject to which, 2ndly, the practical administration of the fund .was to be handed over to "a local body, to be composed of half clergy and half laity, with the Bishop at the head; the Association " undertaking to give effect to the directions of that body to the utmost possible extent." Thirdly, the powers of the proposed local body were defined, and the purposes to which the fund was to be applicable were laid down, with as much particularity as appeared necessary to avoid occasion for dispute, but leaving to the local body the requisite freedom of action. . This scheme, having been so framed under the direction of the Ecclesiastical Sub-Committee, and settled by their standing counsel, Mr. Forsyth, was submitted for approval to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, it may be remarked, is one of the Metropolitans of New Zealand. His Grace proposed certain amendments which were adopted. It was then transmitted in its amended form to the Bish -p of New Zealand, with a request that his Lordship would favour the Committee with his suggestions, but the Committee have never been honored by any acknowledgment of that Communication. They simultaneously transmitted it to Mr. Godley, with a despatch dated 9th May, 1851, in which the Secretary addresses him as follows :— " Their (the Committee's) object has been not to lay down a definite scheme for absolute adoption, but only to shape the outlines of one which may be revised and modified as circumstances may require. They will be obliged by your favouring them with any suggestions which may occur to you, or which may present themselves after consultation with competent parties in the Colony." The despatch further requests him particularly to suggest a proper mode for constituting the lay portion of such local board of Mamagement. The Committee received a brief reply from Mr. Godley, dated sth September, 1851, in which he simply states that it is unnecessary for him to give his opinion upon it. . They shortly afterwards received through him a communication from the Council of Land Purchasers, in which they also say that they " forbear to make any observations upon it." The objection both of Mr. Godley and the Council of Land Purchasers has not been, as far as I can understand, on the ground of particular faults in the proposed plan—but simply because the Committee had no business to meddle with it. I think I have sufficiently answered the objection. • The matter has so remained ever since ; id must remain so until an Act of the Fovincial Legislature, or some other cometent authority, shall absolve the Association from its responsibilities, and enable the object, aimed at by Mr. Godley and the colonists to be accomplished, by the ,le<ral "xtinction of the Association, and the trans■v of its- functions and endowments uncon-

ditionally to a local authority properly constituted for the purpose. So far from throwing any impediment in the way of such an arrangement, the Association are ready and anxious to facilitate it, by all means in its power; and I have received instructions to take measures accordingly.

I shall offer no remarks upon the policy of such arrangement as affecting the interests of the Settlement. My sole object is to vindicate Lord Lyttelton and the Committee of Management, who have been throughout anxious to hand over the management of these matters to the colonists so far as could be done consistently with their own responsibilities; and who have throughout their proceedings acted with scrupulous deference to the Church authorities and a careful desire to study the wishes of the colonists. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, HENKY SfiWELL,. Lyttelton, June 21, 1853.

To the Edtior of the Lyttelton Times. Sot, —I have to apologise for not having sooner replied to your note, enclosing the letter of "One behind the Scenes." A temporary absence from Lyttelton is the only excuse I can offer, but I regret the delay the less as it has enabled me to read the letters of Mr. Read and " A Visitor." I have, it seems, been caught tripping, in having signed my previous letter " One of the Committee." The error arose in this wise: when the Constitutional Society was first originated, having faith in its views and objects, and anticipating benefit from its discussions, I enrolled myself a member. Time rolled on, and I was a sedulous attender of its weekly meetings, till its objects seemed to me to merge into one single one —to hear Mr. Davis recite his "Travel's history ; Wherein of labours vast, and oppressions dire, Great fires, rebellions, and earthquakes many, It was his hint to speak; such was the process." I got tired with this perpetual yarning, and gradually ceased to attend. About this time Mr. Davis's Committee was formed, and as no public notice was given as. to who composed its members, I concluded, as did many others, that it embraced the whole Constitutional Society—at least, of all who chose to become Members. With this belief I naturally thought that so important a measure as an "Address to the Electors" from the Society's Candidate would not be issued without their sanction and previous approval. So thought others, and I experienced sundry jokes for having endorsed, as it were, the address of the honourable Candidate. In vain I protested my ignorance; the joke was too good and too palpable, and I was disbelieved. Smarting under the censure, I premeditatingly hazarded a little deviation from the truth, and wrote the letter of "One of the Committee." Nor do I regret it, as it has elicited a good deal of information which otherwise might have remained "immersed."

We have now the indisputable fact that the address has been stamped with the approbation of the Committee. That illustrious body does not hesitate to appropriate and to father all the eccentricities and grammatical deviations which distinguish it. They publicly proclaim with its author that "they assisted by every means in their power in the popular movement to obtain the abolition of slavery and Catholic emancipation ! But I will not weary your readers ; it is sufficient that the address is now the recognised production of the " collective wisdom" of the Committee. I had hoped that some spark of manliness lingered in them, and that they would have

hesitated to involve themselves in the unmeasured ridicule it provoked. But, no ! like pigeons in the presence of a buzzard, they are mute, timid, dumb-founded; and quite prepared to go the " entire animal" in any proceeding, however absurd, provided their talented leader wills it.

A word more, and I have done. It has been hinted in my presence that Mr. Read is " One of the Committee"; because, forsooth, he is a gentleman carter, and capable of writing an intelligible letter. In justice to that individual I protest against the assumption that he is capable of anything of the kind; witness his letter of the 14th. There may be " corn enough in Egypt," but his " chaff" about ambition (save the mark!) is so lame as to provoke a " rye" face rather than a smile. But I wish to protest against the imputation that common sense cannot be invested in corduroys and fustian. As a working man and an upholder of my class, I assert that we are capable of writing and acting with judgment and propriety; and I am persuaded that our opinions will always be treated with respect, provided we state them with moderation. Fustian and bombast we leave to empty pretenders.

Did I think that Mr. Davis would take advice I would suggest his not appearing again in print; but I feel this to be a forlorn hope. His idiosyncrasy (consult Johnson, ye members of the Committee) is such that he believes writing to be his fort, and write he will " till all's blue." The Colonists are destined, therefore, to be yet, again aud again, charmed with the productions of his pen : " Age cannot wither him, nor custom stale His infinite variety.- other (old) women Cloy the appetites they feed; but be makes hungry Where most he satisfies." Apologising for the length of this letter, I remain, Mr. Editor, Your very obedient servant, not One of the Committee. Lyttelton, 20th Jane.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —In your paper of June 18th appeared a letter from some stage struck hero, professing to give an account of the meeting of Mr. Davis's Committee on the evening of the 13th instant. The appearance of this extraordinary document in the columns of the Lyttelton Times afforded infinite amusement to the members of that Committee. The obvious conclusion is, that your dramatic writer, whose imaginary report has so strangely classed the terms " farce" and " comedy" as meaning the same, must indeed be very ignorant of matters appertaining to his assumed title, and instead of being " One behind the Scenes," must only be a very incompetent Scene Shifter. But quoting from his letter, " A report to this effect was drawn up and signed by them, and the Barons of England, when they affixed their marks to Magna Charta, could not have done so with more stately parade than did the Committee to a deed which is doubtless destined, at no distant day, to grace the archives of Canterbury, For, Sir, it is an historic document, and it was presented to Mr. Davis, who entered the room soon after it was signed, by the worthy chairman with a solemnity befitting the high occasion." I have, Sir, the pleasure of informing you that no such buffoonery took place ; no document having been signed, it is needless to say none could be presented. But the appearance of this curiosity of newspaper correspondence mayeasily.be accounted for, by a free quotation (slighly altered) from an article in the Times of the lith: " such an assertion is an evidence of •

the writer's imagination not of his love of truth."

Our little Times may be assured that "good advice will always be "heeded, but laboured pleasantries and obsolete jokes will not make any impression" on Mr. Davis's Committee. I remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, H.W. Read. lyttelton, June 22.