Correspondence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 582, 2 June 1858, Page 4

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times,

; Sik,^-~Two letters from Mr. Wylde of Kaiapoi having appeared in your columns concerning a proposition for the sale of Church lands brought before the Church. Property Trustees by Mr. Willock, I trust that you will allow me as one of the trustees of Kaiapoi to offer a few remarks! upon.the same. Mr. Wylde in his ifirst letter, states .^ that possession by the church of unoccupied land through the inability or indisposi-:-tion of the: trustees to dispose of the same is a* serious cause of evil; many who would other-; wise be;-willing ito contribute to the support of the church; : refuse.to do so on this ground." I; cannot a vague arid general statement of this kind i>f;much value!. It is so easy to fill a; sack with?excuses; so difficult to fill a purse ■ with rmoney^yßut let: us turn to facts. Of the! field by the church at Kaia-1 poiyayveryplarge,"yll may- say, I think, the\' largMtypar^yhas been sold on very .■ advan- ij tageous\tertns; to the according! . to-Mr. j ; Wylde's statement, then we might justly \ sup^se^; that, contributions would have been; fprthcoiriihg ;in^proportion, and that at Kaiapoi r large sums had.been subscribed for Church pur- I *pbses,V:butCthisrs^nolythe'case. I think that [ beeuyJres irioney contributed in that -- district; forchurch than' in" any other, ' at least in,proportion;to its populatiori' andim- !! portarice. jtpw, sir,; they say that "facts are \ masculine,bu^^pydsrrire feminirie." AIS regards ' ": the:non-discussibh"of £Mr.Wifloek's proposition,' T cannotallow hisplea of vthe ." business. of-the day;- ;:OTy the',- .;ppldnesaQ yrpom.".'-: 7That "there:waSjrib"3ndiffereiicevas to the question on the' part -of thie trustees assembled; I quite -withyhlm; ;1^ ..;• statement the iirimiense difficulties, the almost" :hifeasibility 'to my -mind and I think to the mindß of all assembled there, deterred any one from taking the responsibility of secondingthe motion, and so the^proposition fell to the ground. I will state some of these objections as they appeared to me. In" the'first place there are doubts -as to the legality of any title that could be given, and though the title would be at therisk of the purchaser, still Mr. Wylde Vould surely desire that animperfeet title shoulctaipt be given by the Church I^operty Trustees yhen perhaps the sufferer might be some one who had neither the time nor education to look into such matters.

Again, what, limit would Mr. Wylde put to the buying and selling and speculating -withthe property ? Let it;be borne mmmd that the Church Property Trustees are an annually elected body. Is it expedient that an elected body of trustees should speculate.with public property? Are we sure that no abuse or want 'pf judgment might occur? Would Mr^Wyldeor any private individual place their propertyin trustfor their families or relations'in the hands of elected "bodies of trustees with power to speculate? Do not the Ehg-lish-newspapers of late'teemwith accounts of the grossest mismanagement; not to say frauds; on the part of the managers and directors of publie'bodies chiefly in speculating with money committed to their charge? Then, again, has Mr. Wylde considered the expense of the management of the property under Mr. Willock's proposition? Or : is the money to beiivestediif realized?/We can hardly experit the Government, with £30,000 or £40,000 lying idle, to borrow of us. Are we.to let it out h*" small mortgages to: be involved in endless petty litigation"and expense? These are some of the difficulties that occurred to others and; to myself when Mr. Willock proposed his resolution. If Mr. Wylde can remove these objections, I. shall then be ready to take, into consideration the expediency pf Mr. Willock's proposition, though^even on*his ground I fear that I should join issue with Mr. Wylde, for this appears to me to be only one of the many nostrums that have been put forward for sup- • porting the church—the very mooting of which does- considerable harm; for, I think, the real reason why-so much of the property of the church remains unlet is that propositions of this sort make it uncertain whether it may not be sold.

For my part I feel sure that do what you will with the present church property, it can never be looked upon but as the merest auxiliary for the support of the church throughout.the province;, and this any person will at once see who will, take the trouble';to investigate the matter. What the church must iook to for support is1 the contributions of .her";pierabers—and until churchmen will realize this fact, upon them must rest the responsibility of starving the -church. Apologising for occupying so much of your valuable space, I remain, sir, your obedient servant, _ . . , JOHN RAVEN. Kaiapoi, May 26.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times,

Sir, —As many wrong impressions have been produced on the public mind by statements that have gone abroad respecting our estimate for building the proposed new church in Lyttelton, we would respectfully-.ask you to. devote ; a short portion of your columns to an explanation of our position; arid we .ask this favour at your hands with the more confidence., because you have been the innocent cause of a false idea ob* taining currency. In a paragraph in your, paper of the 12th ultimo you istate that we ask £2 6s; per yard for the mason work, and this has led many persons to suppose* that that price was for labour alone. Now, Sir, we wish it to be clearly understood that it includes all materials required except lime and sand. Uninitiated people might think the price excessive;; but no one acquainted with the difficultiesWe have to overcome and the charges we should have to incur in the creditable execution' of pur contract will "const-? der the price high. -The mere item of water alone would involve a considerable outlay,—nb-1 less than Bs. per day,—as there is no watercbh--vement to the site of the proposed church.; The cost of material for blasting the stone and the expense of carriage, too, would amount to a very considerable sum.

The first estimate we gave to the architect was £2 per yard; with extras for certain ornamental portions of thp work. This price he did riot object to ; though we have heard that he stated to the Building Committee that the work might be done for £1 16s. per yard. Afterwards, when another design was preferred, we gave the estimate at £2 6s. without extras. The last design^ it should be observed, contained a great deal more ornate work than the preceding one, and hence the increase in the priced ....»:.■

As practical builders and as members of. the Church we should rejoice to see a structure raised in our town that should stand for ages a monument of the piety and.taste of the early settlers of Canterbury. But, much as we desire this, we cannot support our families if we undertake work ;at . unremunerative rates, and we should be doing so were we to accept the present contract beneath the terms named. In proof of the ingeriuousness of this statement we have to, say in conclusion that, if any member or members of the committee will undertakethe contract ait a price satisfactory to themselves, we will gladly undertake the labour part: at current labour wages. We are, Sir,

.}■':■ ■■..'-■>■ i Yours respectfully,1' ;, : W.G.CHANEY, T.ABRAHAMS, ; WP. JONES, R. EVANS. : May 31, 1858. .' '''■',•'■• '■^-.:. •

To the Editor of the. Lyttelton Times,

Sir,—lt: is an old , saying; and a true one,; "That nothing is impossible." The passage of; the, River, Heathcote up to Christchurch Quay has been accomplished by steam. The Canterbury Steam Navigation Company's steamer Planet, under the command: of. Captain: A. Swanson, made her maiden trip frbiri ;Lyt r teltoh to Ghristchurch ;Quay bri Friday last, (and considering the very difficult paSsagfei3rpm theEerry to the Quay) under very promising; cir-; .'cumstarices.;;'';^.-.';^..-' ;:v-'"."-.-:'*:'';: .■-'-"■.'■ \'y y7". • ;Nbwywhen the serpentine course of the river j is well considered, together with the length arid of the vessel, and 'her having made the passage without accident or .even delays; would it riot be advisable for ;oiir mercantile men to raise their energies and >place on the Heathcote stearaers propelled by screws? The Planet has paddles which increases her width, and of course is much against":her being navigated through such a narrow passage; whereas had. she a screw-propeller the difficulty would- be lessened ten-fold; still what has been already accomplished is only the forerunner of what may ultimately be done. And I therefore hope that all those who are anxious for the. prosperity of the province will unite and place on.the Heathcote'screw steamers, not merely for their own pecuniary advantage, but for the general benefit - of the whole province. .".•'■'•'. I remain, sir, your's respectfully, . . VERITAS. 7

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times.

Sir, —As one of the lookerS-on during the hearing of the case of the crew of the Westminster against the captain of that vessel at' the Police Office on Friday last, I would be glad if you would allow me a short space in your columns to draw public attention to the decision: ;of the Bench. lam aware that; in criticising; the action of that body of gentlemen who are" called by the Government to arbitrate between contending parties, I am treading upon delicate ground, and laying myself open to the charge of presumption. But, whenever a Magisterial adjudication appears to the majority of. the corii-. imunity.harshand unjust—as lam bold.to assert in this case it does—it is the duty of every good citizen firmly but temperately to enter his. protest against it; As.you have not reported the .case alluded to, permit me to state the facts as they appeared in evidence. One of the seamen of the Westminster, named Russell, along with a midshipman, were in a boat alongside the ship, having just pulled the captain from shore, when ,the midshipman told Russell to stow the oars and rollicks; Russell then told the boy 'he must dp it himself.' Captain Westgarth overhearing the latter part of the colloquy jumped at the conclusion that Russell was insubordinate, and ordered him up to the cuddy. The man went, and the captain requested the mate and steward to leave the cabin; and not deigning to ask any explanation from Russell, dragged him to the stove, and seizing the poker beat him with it unmercifully. The captain, not satisfied with this, .thrust the now disabled man's head between his legs, and continued for a considerable time to beat him with his fist and afterwards with a rope. The Herculean frame.of Captain Westgarth is well known, and the pub% need only be told that his victim is a very slightly built man to feel as I do the greatest disgust at such a cowardly exhibition of brute force. The men it seems, regarded it in this light, and remonstrated with the captain on the subject. His reply was " that he' would serve them the same and cut them into mince-meat, if they dared to say anything more about it." The crew then unanimously resolved that their lives were not safe whilst they were under such a master, and

asked to be put on shore that they might appeal to the Magistrates. This, was done, aud the result was that the captain, who admitted the assault upon Russell, was fined .£ss whilst poor Russell, who swore he was afraid of his life while under the control/of the cajptain,v;was ordered back to the ship. On hisrefusing to do so, he was sent to prison for: three months,' and after that time to return to his duty. The crew made common cause with their shipmate;, and 'by.'the decision of the 'Bench .thirteen of the ship's company were committed to prison for three : months. -.Thirteen men of good character, according to the captain's own evidence, were sent to associate for, three months, with J felons be".cause they dared to; give -expression to j their abhorre'rice of \ tyrrany. .Before concluding;:l airi desirous of calling particular attention to the statement of the, Superintendent,- who presided on the occasion.. Thatimportant functionary informed the poor sailors that, had'he been * captain of the' vessel when they applied for redress the next morning; he would, have knocked them down.; These expressions used by the Bench caused' considerable sensation, that, any person holding so high a position should dare to give utterance,to,language such as used on this occasion! The only.conclusion I can arrive at is, that any Magistrate using similar language is unfit to hold a commission of the peace. Yours, &c, V •

■■ X^pMANITAS. . - [The circumstances above stated do riot quite agree, with the facts sworn to before the Court; as will be seen by bur report, which, as the case was heard at length late bri Friday, was not in time for the next day's, issue. —Ed.L. T.] ' ■.'";;.- (, X:-- ■ : '■>; -'''-'

.BIRTH. - y' ■-;;'■ On the 31st ult., at Christchurchj Mrs. Her-

Bert Alport of a daughter.