The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 682, 21 May 1859, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, May 21. Some efforts have been made in Christchurch for the establishment of a Mechanics' Institute and of a Book Club in connection with it. Both of these objects are so important to the best interests of the public that any steps' to be taken in the matter ought to be carefully considered. To establish such an institution, capable of. meeting the requirements of the community, would be a heavy tax on Christchurch alone; and if it be wished that the institution should receive support from other quarters, it must provide advantages for all subscribers, whether resident, in Christchurch ox not. It appears to us that, especially with a view to founding a good library, it would be important to enlist a, very general interest in the proposed work. The rmiaro'ernpntr of tne- place would greatly benefit the residents on the spot, while nonresidents might receive a benefit which they -would-not otherwise attain.

The most important desiderata to be first attended to would be the Library and the Reading Room; and to get the full benefit of these advantages, the undivided use of a room and the undivided attention of a clerk, would be required. For this reason we are inclined to doubt the expediency of the proposed Town Hall plan. Men of all classes and pursuits, resident or non-resident, would gladly join in keeping up a room that should be always open to subscribers within reasonable hours'; well furnished with books and periodicals! well lighted and warmed in the evenings; and from whose stores they might take home any books which they might wish to read at leisure. If a clerk was always present to take due note of the books taken out and returned; to take care of books and newspapers; to catalogue the former and to file the latter; and to keep them in such order as to be able to lay his hands at once on any that might be needed; there ought to be no difficulty in allowing facilities to the most distant to avail themselves of the advantages of such an institution.

It would pot be too much to expect that 500 subscribers would readily be found for some such scheme, paying' an entrance fee of £1, and an annual subscription of £1 per annum. The entrance fee and first year's subscription would give £1000 to start with. A plot of land in a central situation large enough for the purpose might be obtained for, say, £100. A really good room, with fittings, and a bed-room for the clerk, might be built for -£400. Thus £000 might be at once sent home for books, which amount, if judiciously spent, would make a fine beginning for a popular library. The FitzGerald library in Lyttelton shows what may be done. with.small.funds if well spent. No further expenses would accrue till the books came out. The second year's income from the first subscribers would be £500. A good clerk might 'be obtained for £150 per annum; considering that he would have lodging, firing and lighting found besides, a very competent person might be expected to take the situation. Fuel and ■lighting would cost £150 at least. The balance, together with the amount of new subscriptions, might be devoted to the purchase of books. New entrance fees would probably suffice for any additions to furniture, &c, necessary.. I This scheme is perhaps rather crude in some of its features, but it may lead some practical men to consider the best plan of effecting the desired object; Get a good book club and reading room thus started, lectures and other means ofimprovement will follow. We are satisfied, however, that the work ought to be a public one, independent of all other societies; open to all, and adapting itself to the hours and seasons of all alike.

The Census returns which we published on the 7th instant deserve somewhat more attention than we were able at'the time to devote to them. This attention we propose now to pay to some of the most prominent features which appear on comparison of different parts of the return itself, and also of this return with that of the Census taken on the 25th of March, 1857, a year and three quarters previously. . First we would note what appear to be errors in the return. Among these is the return for only two iron houses for the whole province, one of which is at Timaru. To our knowledge there are at least half a dozen in one district alone. The reason which suggests itself as being- likely to account for this error is that the iron buildings are for the most part stores and not habitations, and that in their household returns the proprietors have forgotten to include that portion of their house property which lies beyond their immediate premises, forgetful of the distinct order to enumerate all the property which is. not .returnable in some other householder's papers. It is to be feared that this error, so distinctly observable in the return of iron houses, runs throughout the other classes of buildings; and that in many cases the stores which are not occupied as residences go unrecorded in the table. This may account in part for the curiously small number of houses said to comprise each town ; Christchurch, for instance, having but 244, though it is credibly reported that no less than 300 building's were at that time in course of erection. But even after . making* this allowance the proportion of houses to inhabitants exhibits plainly the want of house room which presses upon all new-comers. A seeming error in the return of 3500 1 sheep for Lyttelton is said to be accounted for by the fact that the stock on the Mount !■■ Pleasant run was returned in this district. I The table of religious denominations ex- | Kbits the Church of England far in advance, the members of her communion numbering nearly seven times those who compose all the branches of the Church of Scotland, arid some- | thing short of nine^times those of the Wesley an j Methodist congregations. In comparison ' with the whole number of inhabitants, the Church of England comprises nearly threequarters ;. the Presbyterians form not quite one-ninth; the Wesleyansnearly one-twelfth ; ! and the Roman Catholics rather more than I one-twenty-fifth of the whole. As t j place of birth, those born in England number 5435; and next to them come those born in the Colony, who reckon about 2000; the Irish natives are 414; the Scotch 625. Ii The advantages of reading and writing are enjoyed by 5930 persons; those who can read only are 833; those who do neither one nor the other, including of course all the infant population, are 2204. . ' The land fenced and in crop is greatest in the Avon district;.a little less in the HeathKaiapoi Country district; Horses spread proportionately over the same districts in the same order; but,the district of Maivern enjoys a* pre-eminence" in cattle, ibllowed by Akaroa, then by Timaru, then by Heatbcote, then Ashley, Lyttelton Country, Ashburton, Kaiapoi Country, and Avon. The town of Christchureh contains as 'many as,two-thirds of the. number of cattle in the; Avon district, namely, 798 head, Lyttelton ; owns 333, and Kaiapoi 94. Now come,.the : sheep. Here Timaru Stakes the lead easily) with nearly 5153,000, Ashley is, next/- with 185,000, Malvem has 110,000, and Ashburton 72,000. The other districts do not reckon by tens of thousands.

A few random observations occur to us in comparing the return with itself. One is. this: many of the married gentlemen of the place appear to have abandoned thejl: wives in some unaccountable mannery for in every disr trict but threes (Avon, Heathcote v and" Malvern,) the married males outnumber the married females, making a balance in favor (?)'. 6'f>" the men in the whole of 61. The number of unmarried ladies is also singularly laqje,.being 2i6G, while the married me,ttare-3"7^t'v As for widows and widowers, a #fttl >PrqvV: dence seems to have de|igned tbtfrn for one another; for they are n^iced-'/inthe- various districts in marvellouslyyqual.:numbers ; only in Kaiapoi Country an'd^Ti^fu^is ,there a disproportion. /.'^Tf.^ .3.-- t. Now, to compare this census with; the pre- , vious one. At the beginning of -1857, the population numbered 0,230 3tat %i£Vnd of 1858, the number was increased to 8 067, an addition of 2,737, or between 43 and 44 per cent, in a year and three quarters. V\ re may here mention that the arrivals since Decembe"r have "increased the population of the place in a remarkable manner. For instance, in the Clontai-f, Strathallan, Oriental, Mystery, and Victory, no less than 1,266 persons have been received into the province direct from England; besides the number of arrivals in all the colonial vessels, which experience shows to be about double that of the departures. On the basis of returns on this head, and estimating the increase by births, we should not be far wrong in saying that the population of Can-terbury-at the present time is over 10 500 • rTtt?™^ stoo] <; wo find i n«K aio^o lßs^ 1 13°7IlOrses 5 in December, K*B V Jn^o 15 '355 and S(V39; sheep 276,089 and 495,580 respectively: The rate of increase of horses and sheep"is a marked

We conclude with a singular announcement. In March, 18d7, the extent of fenced land ww reckoned at 24,857 J acres; in December, Whot- , -dfweased to 22,92G§ acres! V^hat is the explanation of this ? Are both returns accurate? Have occupiers not on y ceased to enclose land,. but even *oiie Z thl fioM deS?'T g °l d fences *id throwing teir_fields into, che unbounded waste a.o-ain" Ihij is so evidently absurd an idea tha we confess ourseves quite pulled £ try n«- to come to a solution, unless we nccn ttl e°nn? pleasant one that the refin™ i 'v' UJt> "" hnw fnlcifio^ iif retlllns have been somewe will quit the subject. P