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Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 213, 15 November 1854, Page 6

Akaroa, Nov. 4', 1854. (From a Correspondent.) The opening of a footroad along" ilie line of the Akaroa 6ridle Path renders ihe present a fitting.time to say a few words about Akaroa and Banks' Peninsula, a part of the Canterbury Settlement very little known, and of which the value is almost wholly unappreciated. There are few spots on the face of the earth of more surpassing loveliness than the harbour of Akaroa and the secluded valleys by which it is surrounded. The town itself presents many features .of interest from the beauty of its situation, and the curiously mixed character of the buildings. There are quaint picturesque houses like those in the environs of Paris, with Palladian cornices and jalousied windows peeping out from behind the trees which shade their mouldering- fronts ; an old wooden loopholed blockhouse, built by the French-for protection against the savages, and calling to mind tales of Indian massacres as stereotyped in Cooper's North American novels; whilst at the mouth of a lovely glen stands a German watermill, with its balconied gables and outside staircase the exact counterpart of those in Nassau and the Rhine valleys. The streets are bordered with vines and roses ; the paths along the beach are shaded with overarching trees, and the romantic pleasure grounds of the English settlers are perfect gems of landscape gardening, to which the taste of Mrs. London herself could hardly .suggest improvement, 'Akaroa is a port of entry ; it has two hotels, a church, and resident magistrate; a jail,' a custom house, and post-office; and a medical practitioner. But in spite of all this, the town has a melancholy and deserted look. A few rotten piles are all that remain of the jetties, and instead oi the jingling of teams and the ring of the blacksmith's hammer, the only sounds that break the death-like stillness of the grass-grown streets are the humming of the bees and the quiet splash of the waves as they die upon the pebbly shore. Akaroa possesses a delicious climate, and a splendid harbour, surrounded by sheltered valleys, well watered and beautifully timbered. It would seem impossible to imagine any spot more favourable for planting of a new'setllement; and yet after the lapse of many years no substantial progress has been made:'" whilst on thfi exposed plains near Christchurch, in spite of the difficulty of access from the port town, the want of r<.'uds, and Use absence of timber, the settlers have lung ago got ovrjr iheir first'difficulties, and have laid the loiiiubtion »f a steadily increasing prosperity, as is evinced by the stockyards and substantial farm stead ings" thai

are continually arising in every direction. —How is this to be accounted for ? v The Province of Canterbury is remarkable for the manner in which its natural advantagesjare lotted out wholesale, so to speak, insleiuT of being equally diffused ovev the settlement. Thus we find the finest land in large patches on the mountains, and the level plain almost entirely clear of timber. The land suitable for tillage lies principally on the seaboards, whilst the back country is chiefly of a pastoral character ; and, lastly, whilst w have a long line of coast with scarcely a, safe boat-landing, we have in Banks' Peninsula in group of fine harbours, possessing every imaginable advantage, except that they are so completely isolated by the rugged, jagged sierras which surround them as to be practically inaccessible except by water. These peculiarities of Canterbury, whilst adding to the difficulties of the first foundation of the settlement, are to men possessing the energy and pluck of the Anglo Saxon, real, substantial advantages. And the first and the principal of these is that the necessities of the settier not only give an opening for the profitable organization of distinct branches of industry, but render such organization imperative to his very existence. The isolated position of the harbours, and the difficulty of bridging ths great rivers which divide the settlement into so many distinct districts, will compel us before many years elapse, to organize a steam commercial marine which, although costly in the first instance, Will afford facilities for local trade, and for the export of wool and agricultural produce, such as are enjoyed by few other settlements. The absence of timber and firewood on the plains will ultimately enable the settler to procure what he requires from the timber merchant on the peninsula at a much less expenditure of time and money than would be involved in clearing bush land for the reception of his crops; whilst the swampy character of much of the agricultural district, by rendering necessary a system of arterial drainage, will enable him ultimately to bring his land into a far more profitable slate of tillage than could be effected in districts which at first sight would seem more eligible for settlement, but which have not the advantages of a well planned system of drainage. In other words, the very circumstances which bear so hardly on the energies and capital of the first settlers in a new country are precisely those which render Canterbury, possessing a local Government, pre-eminently suited to profitable occupation by an organised community. [To be concluded in our next."^