The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, December 16, 1854.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 222, 16 December 1854, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, December 16, 1854.

Tins d;iy, the fourth anniversary of the lauding of the first/Canterbury on the.shores of New Zealand, finds this settlement in a state of prosperity which justifies the most sanguine expectations of its founders. Although! within the last year, the population of the Province has not received any large additions from abroad, yet the cultivation and homesteads which have spread.over (he whole country give a greater appearance of stability to the progress of the Settlement than any large importation of new arrivals could have afforded.. We 'have had time to shake into our new homes, and we now know exactly to what ends we can most profitably apply the labour which we may expect during the next year. One advantage has at any rate accrued from the delay experienced by ihe.,want of labour. Both the Government and individuals have enough of practical work hewn out for the coming year, to prevent the danger of their engaging in any rash speculations or 'unprofitable enterprises. Many schemes have been talked of and dropped for want of labour, which were probably premature at the time of their conception, and which will be carried out more safely and successfully when the wants and capabilities of the settlement are more thoroughly understood. In a financial point of view, the Province is in a flourishing condition. Upwards of Twenty-two Thousand Pounds are in the Provincial Treasury, and we can now see our way*to the completion of the long-desired object of the colonists—good laud communication

between the Pert and the Plains. An agent has been sent to England to carry out a scheme of regular immigration into the settlement, a chief feature in which is a plan for affording assistance to those in the colony who have made an independence for themselves, and are anxious to bring out their friends and relations to share their prosperity and co-operate with them in their future operations. Several local Ordinances have been passed by the Provincial Council which have been long needed, and which are now beginning to work satisfactorily. The export of Wool will this year reach a value of upwards of £25,000. And the harvest, after supplying the local market, promises to yield a considerable surplus, for which a ready sale will be found in the neighbouring Australian colonies. Hopes are entertained^ and they appear to be well-founded, that a sufficient supply of labour to gather in the harvest will arrive from Melbourne, before the immigration from England can be expected to commence. The last year has opened a new page in the history of New Zealand. A new era has commenced with the first meeting of the General Assembly, and the widely-scattered Settlements of the Colony have learned that, amid all their jarring interests, there is one great cause which they have in common—the good government of the Colony as a whole—the mergings of petty differences for the advancement o( the common weal—the necessity of co-operation and the dangers of disunion. If the establishment of Responsible Government has failed for a time, through the machinations 'of selfish adventurers, and the imbecility of incompetent rulers; this at least has been gained—the concentration of a constitutional party, composed of the men of most weight and standing in the whole country, men bound together by ties which no varieties of local interest, —no jealousies of Provincial origin, have been able to dissever. The principle of evil was evoked, but the principle of good largely predominated. We have learned that which is essential in all Governments, and especially all popular Governments. We know the men whom we can trust, and the men whom we cannot trust; the quarters in which we may place confidence, and those in which we must be on our guard against treachery. This, the youngest Province in New Zealand, may justly be proud'of .the share she hae taken in the first act of the drama of Parliamentary Government. Two of our Representatives, Messrs. Fitz Gerald and Sewell, took a prominent part in the first partial establishment of Ministerial Responsibility. The Fitz Gerald Ministry enunciated a policy which in its general principles gained the concurrence of a large majority of the Representatives of New Zealand; and when they resigned office consistently with the principles which induced them to undertake it, they carried with them the support of more than twothirds of the House of Representatives—of all those who honesty of purpose, and who held fast to the principles of Constitutional Government. We have no fear of the future. That the Constitutional party will attain the just and moderate ends which they have proposed to themselves, there can be no doubt ;— and we have full confidence that Canterbury will take as honourable a position in the struggle as she has hitherto maintained. Within the Province itself, there is abundance of work cut out for the ensuing year. As long as a country is healthy there can be no relaxation of labour. But the labour grows lighter and is borne more easily year by year as the fruits of it begin to show. And as long us we can look back with satisfaction upon the time that is past, so long may we look forward hopefully to that which is to come.

The consideration of the Waste Lands' Regulations proposed by the Provincial Government,

is of such importance to the Public at large, that we have published them for general convenience in a supplementary form. According to the Act of the General Jjpiiey will be for one month in the hands of the public before the Provincial Council proved to legislate upon the subject. It is to be^froped that during that time, a measure of vital interest to the Province will be carefully studied, and that all objections to the regulatious will be laid before the Provincial Council at the earliest opportunity.

It was intended that the " Lyttelton Times" should have appeared in an enlarged form upon this day. Unfortunately, the consignments of paper which have been for some time expected, have not arrived. As soon as they come to hand, the "Lyttelton Times" will be enlarged to twelve pages, so as to embrace many subjects of general interest which are now necessarily omitted for want of space.