Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 471, 9 May 1857, Page 7

Local Intelligence.

.' '.. The .Provincial Council , has been behaving during the past week in .the most pleasing mariner, and has.shown itself determined to do kindnesses, for every- one. who approaches.,,, The warmth, of benevolence; to,wardsi the public without, which, pervades the ■ hearts and; ( heads ... of honourable members, produces ,a : halo of harmony within; and in this unusual state of beatitude,the house luxuriates, quite a Council; of Utopia. Nothing.bufc an abstract question can now, raise 'a debate. ; Propose an increase. of pay to a government officer • it is done with pleasure. ,-Hint at the deserving cas<3 pf the licensed, victuallers; the houseisniovedwith the deepest compassion. Let the Waste Lands Board come trembling for protection; the, guardian hand of the Council, is at once ■. stretched out with?paternal solicitude to protect its darling progeny. And the building a college or endowing a school, for any one who. asks it, is;done without the smallest hesitation;; When.'.they, doagree, their unanimity, is wonderful.; ,On an abstract question it is allowable to differ and; still, to be friends; and so opportunity'is taken jtp stretch tongues .in discussion on the question,of sales of land within or Without the province, arid on the national or denominational system of education. Pity such .-.-jolly, legisiatiir.sshqu.ld. be so soon separated! Perhaps, however, this unnatural quietness is a sign of approaching dissolution ; perhaps we are only "anticipating the commonplace epitaph " Its end was peace.",./. \ ':.,_. ..;< •We tave indicated above, mostof the prominent, subjects. pf- r debate. .*,' The, Superintendent had sent;a message to the Council demurring, to the .'.proposed refund, of the overpaid' license fees of last yeairto the licensed victuallers; On considering the message the was .confirmed in the justice, pf.the case and:reaffirmed the resolution. Another ; message,recominended the establishment of, an agency,in Melbourne for; the sale of our, Waste Lands. : This was-objected to on various grounds, but the general principle was accepted by a small majority of the Council. Another message had,laid before iheiCouncil a correspondence between, the Superintendent and the Waste Lands. Board,; wherein: his Honor- declined to supply the Board'with'legal advice in defending an action tobe, brought against it in the Supreme Court; .first,'because; he had not the power to give it;, and. secondly, and chiefly, as it appeared, because'he thought the board had no .right to it, and ;ought;to pay.its legal exr penses out of its own pocket. The Council was unanimous in rejecting hisiHonor's view of the case; in fact, amid a. great deal, of,speaking:, scarcely a word was said in favour of that side of the question. The resolutions, on Education, introduced by Mr. Packer, have been withdrawn ; that is to say, the leading- principle contained in them, the national system, has been rejected by the Council, and a series of:resolutions presented bvMr.Bbwen have been, favourably entertained, as embodying what is called the denominational system, viz., prrants- to the different; religious bddies separately. '] The Council has undertaken to provide a'fixed suni for.five years to come, so that any system adopted may havea fair trial: From reports and correspondence .-laid on the table, it appearsihatthevarious.Teligions bodies: are exceedinpfly-unanitnous on; the. ques-' tion, andithafc, of coiirse.is tho ••main;-; point: in favour of any system being- well carried out. A grant of £500 has been given to Christ's College for building purposes. This, is a.ipublic* work of the very noblest kind, and well-deserves t! c assistance of the Council, which, in this'as in previous cases, seems;anxious to. fulfil the rgood intentions of the Canterbury Association. -.

, It was no easy matter to christen the .new town at Talbpt forest. , Four and twenty godfathers are too many for one child limited,to one name. The debate was first between a meaningless and nicely sounding appellation : and one adopted, in honor, of some prominent person in pur own history.. The changes were - rung upon Mr. Godley. Godley, Charlotte-town, after Mrs. Godley, and Killegar, after,his family seat,:were suggested, and for various reasons disapproved of. Talbot, from the forest, Orari, a neighbouring Maori name, Leinster, in honour of the Fitz, Geralds, were also proposed and rejected. . Finally the choice fell upon the name of .pur Superintendent, a natural resource in diffi.culty ; a name certainly bestowed with as great propriety as any that could have been given. Fitz Gerald, is per se, as correct a name for a town as Talbot> .quite as; euphonious, and with the advantage, of a distinct meaning; if it is not known as the name .of any town now; in existence^ why, so much the better. We. hope the town may grow up to do honour to its namesake. ..After this, of : course ._ every Superintendent will reserve a town site just previously to his departure from office and ask the Council to give it a name. Ergo, let the electors look to it to choose a man for the office with a euphonious patronymic, whatever other he may possess. . . _. V There is a quantity of business still to be got through, and the' session will probably be a lengthened one. There were, some important matters to be discussed yesterday, and Tuesday .and Wednesday next will also be field days. ; A misunderstanding has arisen between the .Government and the inhabitants of the Governor's Bay district, with respect, to the road lately constructed between Lyttelton and the Lake . Ellesmere district; along that line. It appears that the ; road..was laid put by the desire and muflh to the benefit of the residents in that locality. But the. road passes in many cases through their, private property, and no arrangements had been completed befpre_ its ..construction as to the terms upon which the land was to ; ,be given up for public use. Consequently, there is no rightrof-way actually existing along .the road, and the \ inhabitants, suffeiing from trespass and other evils, and not willing to go .tothe expense of fencing ; off the road in addition; to the surrender of their land, have resolved to shut: the road up where it crosses their property, and to enforce the blockade by actions for trespass against all comers. , This is done with a view to force an arrangement with the Government, which has been unaccountably delayed. We trust that the Govei-nor's Bay settlers will not take advantage of; their position to annoy the .publicunnecessarily, or to enforce better terms from the Government than would have been previously: obtained, remembering that that very, road was made; at theirf own earnest desire, rand has been of immeasurable benefit to themselves, and to few but themselves at present. The subject will of course be opened up by the Council when the public works are under discussion. \ ■■.-.-.• ! . . ;

The public' works for the year are not yet determined on. What little is doing is merely the progress or completion of those contracts entered into under the votes .of last year. The road from Pigeon Bay to Akarpa.has turned out a very useful as ■well, as agreeable work, so far as it has gone.; The rp;id from Akaroa to the head of the.harbour..will,'W believe, be. opened in.a few weeks ;, and some progress is being made in putting to rights the main street of that town. There is some more money as well as/landto "be devoted to Banks' Peninsula.during the coming year, which will bring that portion' of Canterbury into .closer, connection with the open country. In Christchurclt, the road across.the Market place to. the Papanui bridge has been made srood/and the unsightly gravel pit filled up. The lagoon which lay directly in the high road has consequently been removed. A neat and strong bridge has.-heen thrown over the Avon close to-the Land Office, in* the place of the old;, one which; was on the point of disappearanqe. . •■■• ■ ; .'■■'■ ■ .: : ■' The Eent-day a ;the Lrnd Office; swelled to five di\ys.> beginning on .Friday the Ist of May. the business of collecting fees did notecase till Wednesday the 6th. .•■Soin'ewhere above £4500 is, we believe, the total sum received during.that time. .What ,was called a' Stpckowners" dinner was given at the Itoyal Hotel on the. evening of the first.day;; but though the spread was an-ex-cellent* one and the company most convivial, it did not come, quite .up to our idea of a Stock-

owner's meeting; in fact, there were not enough Stbckowners and too many townsmen present to justify the appellation. We have indeed met some 'influential Stockowners who indignantly denied that the title of * Stockowriers'dinner' was due to the one got up on this occasion. It is fortunate for the other interests that the pastoral population is so little ready to unite its energies on its own behalf.

At the general quarterly meeting of.Church Property 'Trustees, the late election of Mr. Packer ', as agent for the Trust, by the. Board of Management was set aside. No .candidate was specially recommended, and the Board will proceed to a fresh election in a few days. Some altercation took place between the two nominators of Mr. Packer and the rest of the Trustee?. Mr. Archdeacon Matlnas said that, to refer back the matter to the Committee would Have the effect of throwing a slur upon that body ; and Mr. Thomson hinted at the possibility of bis not again accepting a seat in the Committee, a threat calculated to inspire the meeting with some awe; but not even the fear of such, ah event weighed with, the Trustees. They thought that, deeply as it would grieve them,theymight survive his loss. / . ,

Talking of Church matters reminds us that the big Church of Lyttellon is being rapidlytaken to pieces. In its skeleton form, as it now stands, with its long columns, beams, arid arches forming a tracery across the sky, the edifice bears an elegance which brick and mortar effectually took away. Its beauty is clearly of that etherial nature which is incompatible with solidity. On the other hand, the new Bank is rising a dense compact body, of'weight arid substance suitable to its ends.

Photography has brokeiv out like an epidemic ' among us. Quite unknown in the place a year ago, we' have now a professional artist, well known in the northern provinces, and another 11 oh "the point of coming; two students practising the art,.arid; we believe, one amateur. Canterbury will now be able to look itself straight :-ih;the-fece.! .;:uiv; p ■:•■■■■-.■ ■■■. ■•■•■■ '■

From ah advertisement in 6u!r columns it maybe seeii that we may again shortly have the pleasure of attending thelectures 6i" ilie Colonists' Society ; several gentlemen having kindly come forward and volunteered to giveacontiriuous series of" instructing and amusing lectures at the ''Town HalL We trust no one will miss the^ opportunities offered to them of passing a pleasant evening once a fortnight during the 'yr' r r*'-,< sA-oof,; ■■ ■■•■ ■ ■■■;■;. ■■■? ■.■•.'.■■:■,■.-..-..:-.■

? Thfe milter is indeed coining. Thoughl no formal change in the weather has yittaken place, there is a peculiar feeling in; every new breeze that blows, more wintry than the last. Rain seems unwilling to; come; down, having made only one tolerable attempt during the week. The 15th of May has been remarkable for many years as the time of the beginning of wet weather. Our readers may, if they wish, look-out for the rain on that day.;