CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 154, 17 December 1853, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sib, —In an article in your Journal of the Ist October, it is remarked that, by the returns you were then in possession of, " our progress in agriculture is not so great as might have been looked for." This remark is, unfortunately, but too true, and it must be a matter of serious regret to every one interested in the Settlement. With your permission, I will venture to make a few observations on the subject. When we look around and see land fertile bejrond compare, and without any natural obstruction to its immediate cultivation ; and when we consider the high prices its productswould command, we must naturally feel surprised at such a state of things. I shall, probably, be communicating what most occupiers of land are familiar with, when I attempt to give some reason for the apparent apathy of the agriculturist. In the first place, scarcity of labour might justly be reckoned as a principal cause. But when we consider the time taken up in fencing land (and under the existing Ordinance, land must be fenced to secure you in any degree against trespass), that of it' self would account for many acres not being brought into cultivation ; and the great expense of such fencing, from so few sections possessing any natural boundaries, deters possessors of land from expending large sums for that purpose. lam perfectly aware of the advantage of enclosing land, and of its improvement in every way in consequence. I am assured that all know it so well that, so soon as they can procure the means and the labour, they would hasten to do it; but we must remember that in an infant colony like this, it is far preferable to till the land than to expend money in fencing it. How else, indeed, are the means to be got for so doing ? Now in asserting this as a reason for the limited number of acres under cultivation, lam writing from experience ; as I could enumerate the names of many, who, had they any security against trespass, would have cultivated three or four times the quantity of land they have this year. ' They do_ not wish for protection, they only wish for justice. They may plough, and sow, and God give increase, but the labour of months may be destroyed in a night; they may see their smiling crops trodden under foot and destroyed, and yet, if their lands are not fenced to a certain standard, obtain no redress. Is this justice? If property is allowed to be destroyed in this manner, where shall we set a bound? and why should not the horse, the cow, the sheep, be destroyed with equal impunity! They are equally property, and yet a person who would do so, would be deemed a criminal! All who beard the speeches delivered from the hustings, and who remember His Honor the Superintendent's address to the members of the Provincial Council, must remember the stress laid upon the need of a good Trespass Ordinance. That is without doubt the great hindrance to cultivation, and yet the first Session has been allowed to pass without the enactment of so necessary a law. lam not prepared to deny that many difficulties exist to framing such a measure ; but, as an agriculturist, I must express my regret that nothing has been done to remedy the wrong, and that owners of stock are exempt from suffering any portion, of those losses, which press solely and so heavily upon us. May I therefore express a hope that the Provincial Council will, so soon as it re-as-sembles, take the subject into their serious consideration. I perceive that the Government admit its necessity. Let then the

question be persevered in, and not deferred, as it has been, because its solution is hemmed in with •difficulties. : A fair and equitable trespass law once in force, and we shall hear no further complaints of our unrivalled lands not being cultivated to the extent anticipated. Protection is equally due to the stockowner as to the agriculturist; but the latter will complain so long as he alone is the sufferer. I remain, Sir, Your very obedient servant, A TIILEK OP THE SOII,. The Plains, 9th Dec.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sib, —I beg leave, through the columns of your valuable Journal, to draw the attention of the authorities to the present state of the road near the Post-master's residence in Oxford-street. Some months since a Petition was signed and presented to the Resident Magistrate, stating the badness of the road, and praying that something might be done to improve it. In consequence, I suppose, of this Petition, the Prisoners were set to work, and they have made a cutting some feet in depth. I was surprised the other day to see the Prisoners-working in London-street, engaged no doubt in opening a communication with the important neighbourhood of Dublin-street: thus leaving in an unfinished state what they had began in Oxford-street, which, in its present state is dangerous to the necks and limbs of every one whose business takes them past it of an evening. Think, Mr. Editor, of the loss to the Settlement if " the eminent bell-ringer " of Lyttelton, whose mansion is supposed to lie somewhere in the upper regions of Oxfordstreet, returning home fatigued from his toil with the bell, and at the bar of the Canterbury Hotel, and His Eminence's head being muddled with the shoutings of his friends, should lose his perpendicular, and pitch his illustrious body into the depths below. Although I fervently hope that such a thing may not occur, I think it would be better if those in authority would see that one piece of work is finished before another is begun. I remain, &c, An Humble Lstdiyidttai,.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —In answer to a query contained in a letter from Mr. Thos. Hichens, which appeared in your last publication, allow me to inform that gentleman that " spades,1' in general, are instruments used in gardening operations, for " turning up " the ground. They are also themselves sometimes " turned up " as trumps, in whist. I am not aware of the existence of any clause in the New Zealand Tariff, which exempts spades (agriculturally interpreted) brought by a colonist for his own use, from paying duty. Trusting this information will satisfy the anxious inquiry of Mr. Hichens, I remain, Your obedient servant, Gustos.