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Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 182, 1 July 1854, Page 5

To the Editor of the LyHelton limes. Riccarton, June 26, 1654. Sik, —-I shall feel obliged by your publishing in your Journal the enclosed copy of a letter from the Rev. J. P. Gell, to Mr. Sewell, dated September 30th, 1852, which has just been placed in my hands. I cannot but regret that the Agent of the Canterbury Association should have concealed this letter from the public, as it was evidently the intention of the waiter that it should have been laid before the colonists at large. Had Mr. Sewell thought fit to do so, when the Church Committee •were engaged last year in drawing up a to the Queen to sanction the appointment of a Bishop to our Settlement, and memorials to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to Lord Lyttelton to enquire .the reasons for the delay in the appointment, many mistakes inevitably arising .from concealment would have been avoided on our parts, and unjust animadversions '.upon ¥r. Gell, for his supposed lukewarmness towards the interests of our local church would not for a moment have been entertained. I am, Sir, Your very obedient servant, Oct. Mathias, Commissary of the Lord Bishop of New Zealand.

Copy of a Letter from the Rev. J. P. Oell, Bishop Designate of the Canterbury Settlement, to Mr. H. Sewell, dated September 30th, 1852. My dear Sir, —I foresee that, as Deputy .Chairman of the Canterbury Association, you will have many enquiries to answer when you arrive in the colony, in reference to the position and prospects of the church, and some account will be expected from you of the reported delays which have taken place about the Bishopric. This is a responsibility which must not fall solely on you, as I feel that I am bound to -share" it, and to put you in possession of the .reasons why I now defer to proceed to consecration. Lord Lyttelton explained to the Colonists' Meeting of the sth of May last, the obstacles to the consecration of a Bishop which had existed up to that time, and which were removed by an Act of Parliament in June; .with the delay, therefore, up to that period I have nothing to do. In June it appeared that the Association would not be in a position to repay the sum of £10,000 borrowed from the Ecclesiastical Fund, before transferring their powers to the colonists. The rest of the Ecclesiastical Fund having been laid out in preliminary expenses, or repaid to the land fund in purchase of endowments, there appeared no way of realizing the sum of £10,000 requised by the Crown as endowment except the mortgage for £10,000 given by the Association to their Sub-Committee for Ecclesiastical purposes upon property of uncertain value within the colony. This property was originally appropriated by the xAssociation to themselves under those restrictions of their Charter which forbid them to create any private interest directly or indirectly beneficial to themselves. I conceive, therefore, that they may possibly find the colonists assuming in reference to this property the position of a ward just come of age, and themselves in a position of Trustees, and that to accept the Bishopric at once would be to take for granted, First, that the property mortgaged could bear the charge; Secondly, that it ought to do so, regard being had to the purposes for which it was originally appropriated ; pud, Thjrdty, that the colonists would approve of the tiansaction : on all which questions the colonists and not the Association must be consulted. If from their local know-

' ledge of the value of that property, in the first instance, of their own and other claims upon it in the and of the general feeling of the people there in the third, they should find these questions answered in the affirmative, then all uncertainty respecting the propriety of the arrangements made for the formation of the Bishopric will be cleared up to their satisfaction, and if to theirs, then to mine. It would argue little ! wisdom or delicacy to run half blindfold into the business, (not, be it remembered, the personal question of the acceptance of an established See, but the public question of the formation of a new one) when a conference with the colonists who know i exactly what I want to know, and what I have little doubt the advisers of the Crown will want to know before proceeding further, would bring all to a good understanding, and clear up matters either one way or the other. Another motive for pausing arises from the consideration that previously to the passing qf the New Zealand Government Bill in July, it would have been right upon assuming the responsibility of the Bishops' office to come to a clear understanding with the Association either to diminish the engagements or enlarge the resources of the Church—since the ecclesiastical position of the land fund is not yet equal to fulfil the ecclesiastical engagements of the Association without infringing upon capital. It follows therefore that since that Act has been passed, and the Association has likewise determined to transfer its functions, and to hand over its liabilities, if practicable, to the colonists, the latter ought to be consulted on the same points, and an opportunity given them of freely renewing the first principles of their enterprize as originally set forth by the Association, of deciding whether they will still devote to their own spiritual and moral benefit, one-third of their land fund, or one-third of so much of it as may be placed at their disposal and appropriated for their use, and whether they will take upon themselves the endowment of a Bishop whose duties will not be wholly confined to their service. Inasmuch as you have a Bishop of New Zealand independent of you in temporals, but supplying the spiritual superintendence necessary to the existence of the Christian Church amongst you, you could not be in a better position than you are for free action. If a new Bishop stepped in at this moment, you would be almost inevitably led to deal with him as if he were the Church, and to forget that dealing with the Church means dealing with yourselves, and providing for your highest interests of heart and conscience. It will not be your Bishops' part to ask how much or how little temporal benefit he is to reap from your service, but to see that whatever is required of the Crown is thoroughly provided for, and the good will of the colonists sincerely embarked in the work, " to provide things honest in the sight of all men," and while the jura fundationes et dotationes are yours, you will scarcely need to be reminded of the uselessness of discussing in your Representative Assembly matters already settled in the Church of England as by law established. These are confided for the most part to the hands of your present B shop, whose high administrative powers and thorough knowledge of his duties demand the utmost deference. I will recapitulate, in conclusion, the points which ought to be settled before a Bishop, maintained from the resources of the colony, is consecrated to the See. The consent of the colonists should distinctly sanction the existing engagements with the clergy and schoolmasters to which I have not at this moment access : also the proposed expense of £ .for consecration, outfit, and passage of a Bishop, and £ ,

house allowance included or not included in a sum of £600 per annum allotted to the Bishop, and the source fixed from which, these liabilities are to be met for the time to come. The same consent should be sought to the maintenance of the Church of England as by law established, set forth in the Charter, and to the principle of devoting one-third of the land fund towards public worship and education. I have selected these points because they can and ought to be concluded before another Bishop enters upon the spiritual duties of the See, while the way in which they are discussed and settled, will indicate the wishes of the colonists in respect to the apl pointment of a Bishop, the permanent establishment of a church, and all the important results which will flow from thence : and I am to wait until news arrives of the close of the first Session of the local Assembly, to be convened in 1853, by which time a decision can be made which would either bind me to the fulfilment of my engagement by ratifying the proposal which the Association would have carried out, or leave me at liberty to form others elsewhere. I enclose a copy of this in my letter to the Bishop of New Zealand, of this date, a copy of which last I beg to forward herewith. Believe me, &c, &c, j (Signed) John Philip Gele. To Henry Sewell, Esq.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Lyttelton, June 27, 1854. Sir, —There is a certain point beyond which human forbearance cannot go, and I conceive that the forbearance of the inhabitants of this Province has .been sufficiently tried by the manner in which the business has been carried on in the Post Office since the appointment of the present Postmaster. A short time since a postal communication was established between Lyttelton and Ciiristchurch, which was hailed by the merchants of the two towns as affording a certain means of transacting their business ; but unless there is a punctual attendance in the office itself, that, or any other arrangement, is rendered perfectly useless. On applying this morning at the Post Office, at half-past 10 o'clock a.m., for letters of importance, I was informed by a Policeman that the Ciiristchurch bag had arrived, but as the Postmaster had gone to Ciiristchurch it could not be opened until his return. At 2 o'clock p.m., the same answer was returned. If the Postmaster is so obtuse that he cannot take the hints which are given to him, the sooner a memorial of the inhabitants of the Settlement, to the Postmaster General, upon the whole subject of Post Office management in this Province, is set on foot, the better. I can answer for its being numerously signed. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A Man of Business, j

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir,—l think it necessary to call your attention to the price of Butchers' meat in this town, which is now 9d. per lb.; a source of great hardship to the mechanical and labouring classes in particular. At Ciiristchurch the inhabitants are supplied at Bd. per lb. They are also constantly supplied with beef as well as mutton, whereas in Port, we rarely can procure the former (a source of great annoyance to shipping), and are frequently without meat of any kind. There must be something wrong on the part of Butchers or Stockowners, to occasion this excessive rise in price, when we recollect tint the best joints were sold at sd. per lb. at the period of the arrival of the first settlers.

In conclusion I beg to remind you that your last quotation of the Lyttelton retail prices, was Sept. 3, 1853. It is always a source of information to new-comers to know what prices they have to pay ; and I think the " Lyttelton Times," is about the only paper that does not furnish a weekly statement of the markets. k - I remain, yours, &c. A Family Man. Lyttelton, June 28th, 1854.

To the Editor of the Lyttellon Times. Sia,—•l should think the majority of your readers must have been much gratified by your remarks last week on the subject of polemical discussions in newspaper columns, the introduction of which can only tend to engender ill-feeling where nothing but cordiality ought to exist. I should in no case have taken any part in the controversy which has recently been carried on in your paper, as I do not consider it any part of my mission (to use a favorite phrase of the day) to obtrude my private sentiments for the guidance of the public, but as one of your correspondents, not satisfied with, expressing a mere opinion, has chosen to put forth as fact what I can myself explicitly contradict, I hope I shall not be considered rashly presumptuous if I solicit a corner for the purpose of correcting his mis-statement. "No Puseyite" maybe correct enough in his information on Irish matters—with these I have nothing to do ; but his paragraph on Governor's Bay, with the exception of that part which states that His Honor the Superintendent walked up to engage a schoolhouse and make other arrangements, is entirely incorrect. His Honor and Mr.Spowers, the Inspector of Schools for the District, came together, after. giving intimation of their intention to do so, and proposed certain arrangements, which, so fay from being rejected, were gratefully accepted by those, heads of families who were able to attend, and were deemed highly satisfactory by those who could not do so, but to whom they were afterwards communicated by myself. These arrangements will no doubt be made known to the public at the proper time by the proper parties : meanwhile it is no part of my duty to publish them here. The highly respected clergyman who has officiated monthly, and gratuitously, I believe, for the last two years (and who by the way now has service once a fortnight, as " No Puseyite" should have informed your readers, if he thought proper to refer to him at all) was unexpectedly prevented from complying with His Honor's invitation to be present, but, on learning what had been done, expressed his full concurrence with it; and the inhabitants of the Bay have had their first and only intimation of a clashing jurisdiction from "No Puseyite's" letter. Had such really existed, they believe they should not have failed to have learned it from some more authentic source. The question of High and Low Church has never yet disturbed the harmony existing amongst the community here, who have, I trust, too much good sense to allow differences of opinion on abstract questions to interfere with anything' likely to conduce to their practical benefit. I trust you will excuse these remarks, which have been rendered the more necessary, as " No Puseyite's" observation, that " the chief mover is one of the High-Church party/ has been the cause of the opposition to which he refers being attributed in several quarters to myself—that opposition having in reality never been heard of by me— beitu entirely groundless, in my cpinion, if it at all exist—but having its local habitation and its name, to the best of my belief, solely in {he fervid imagination of '• No Puseyik*"' i.lm e'.l". I aiii, Sir. your obedient servant, War. Tuoiiso^. i Bemingford, Governor's Bay, June 24.