The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 754, 28 January 1860, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, January 28, 1860. The mail for England closes this evening. The Lord Worsley will take our mail boxes to Sydney, whence the Salsette, or other vessel of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, will carry them forward to Suez, leaving Sydney about the 14th February and reaching Suez about the 26th of March. Letters despatched this evening are due in London via Marseilles on the 4th, and via Southampton about the 10th, of April. We take this opportunity of summarising the events of the period which has elapsed pince our last occasional summary for England; and of describing shortly the present position and prospects of the province. Observing conventional propriety, we commence with the department of news called political.

The session of the Provincial Council, which commenced at the end of September, closed under difficulties in the first week of the new year. It will be remembered that early in the session a spirit of antagonism was displayed against the Executive then'jiolding office, on the part of a considerable number of the Council; and. that on a financial question a resignation and a reconstruction of the Executive took place. The new arrangement did not last, the Government not even meeting the Council once lor business. On finding that a vital question of financial policy was viewed differently by themselves and by the Superintendent, and that his Honor would certainly not continue to hold office if that question were pressed by his Executive, the latter, of whom Messrs. Ross, Harman and Wyatfc were the principal .members, retired, and an Executive somewhat similar to the previous one was reconstructed. For a time the business of the Council was carried on quietly; but the arrangements made were manifestly imperfect, no gentleman being found willing to accept the one pecuniarily-responsible post of Provincial Secretary. This temporary arrangement was further weakened when, at the close of the session, the Railway and Loan Bills, prepared in England by the Railway Commissioners appointed- in that country, were submitted for consideration. At once, Mr. Ross, who had given the Government his services as a member of the Executive in order that the necessary work of the province should be carried on, finding that he could not assent to the views of his new colleagues upon the Railway scheme, resigned his seat. The rest of the Executive took upon themselves the task of passing the two important measures mentioned through the house, an.d succeeded, in spite of a smart opposition. The session was closed on the 3rd of January, all the work prepared having been performed. On the last day of the session it was announced that the Secretaryship had been filled up, by the acceptance of Mr. Blakiston's offer of his services in that capacity. Mr. Ollivier, who had been the working man hitherto, soon after resigned his seat in the Executive, which remains as follows : —Mr. Blakiston, secretary; Mr. Duncan, solicitor; and Mr. Cass, chief suvveyor. As most persons in Canterbury are attached to quietness and order, it is probable that this Executive may remain in office until the next meeting of the Council; but there are none so sanguine as to anticipate for it a longer existence. Events generally, and the difficulty in finding.a man so self-denying as to accept a paid office, in particular, tend towards the early realization of. a plan sometimes talked about, viz :—the appointment of a permanent paid under-secretary, as well as of a shifting unpaid nominal head of the office; or even perhaps, to be consistent, without any officer of the name at all,

The position of the Railway question is at present somewhat this. While the Council was sitting the province learned that the Commissioners appointed at home had entered into a contingent contract with gentlemen in England to undertake the construction of the desired works for a certain sum ;—contingent, that is, upon first, the contractors heing satisfied through their agents that the work was not falsely described to them ; secondly, the Provincial Council ratifying the terms of the contract;; thirdly, the General Government permitting the expenditure to be incurred. The Government received at the same time a plan of finance recommended by the same Commissioners, which plan they had embodied in a draft ordinance to be proposed for adoption by the Provincial Council, It is commonly asserted that this scheme did not meet the desire of the members generally, but that the Provincial Council adopted the bill submitted to them on the subject, with the desire to avoid repudiating in the slightest degree the acts of their agents at home, and at the same time to clench without delay the railway scheme generally even though its details might afterwards be amended, The Railway and Loan Bills were therefore passed by the Council. About' the same time the agent of Messrs. Smith and Knight, the English contractors, and their Engineer arrived in the colony, and proceeded with investigations on their own behalf; The result of these, tiiqugh not, of course, known with exactness, js understood to be sufficiently favorable to remove any doubt of the contract lapsing on the first-niontioneu contingency. It remains, therefore, only to obtain the assent of the General Government to the undertaking, and its consideration is now before them. His Honor the Superintendent has gone to Auckland himself to supply all information which may be demanded ; and Mr. Baynes, the agent of Messrs. Smith and. Knight, has gone there also for a similar purpose. It is generally believed that tho Loan Bill, as it at present stands, will be vetoed by his Excellency on a technical ground of objection : and that an opportunity will be thereby given to tho province to re-enact tho measure with improvements. A scheme would bo generally preferred which would contemplate the raising an amount of £200,000 by loan, instead of borrowing £70,000 only and meeting' the remainder out of current revenue, The 6ohomo

proposed from England was one which, placing the total disbursement at .£235,000, contemplated a loan of £70,000, and a cash contribution from the provincial revenue of the remainder, the whole payable over fivo years, at the ruto of £40,000 per annum for tho first lour years. In the meantime the engineer has proceeded, with a gang of men procured on the spot, to muke a trial drift into tho hill on tho lino of the tunnel, in order to uncertain the quality of the ground through which it will luivo to run. These preparatory works will bo prosecuted with greater vigour on the arrival ol tho Robert Small from London, bringing miners and navvies despatched by the contractors for the purpose. During tlio time that the greatest excitement about tho railway existed, His Excellency the Governor was a visitor to the Province, having arrived in H.M. S.S. Niger, on the 26th December. His Excellency did not come down on business— that is to say ostensibly—and none of his advisers accompanied him; but it is probable that the main features and characteristics of the provinces in which he travelled did riot escape His Excellency's notice, and that' though on pleasure he was bent, he bad a frugal mind.' Canterbury and her proposed railway could not be matters of indifference to him; but he gave no sign that his opinion to be given among his advisers would be directed either to one side or the other of the argument; if we learned anything by the visit it was simply that the transaction would be considered in a strictly legal point of view; and that the assent of the General Government might be expected only in case perfectly satisfactory security were offered for money borrowed, independent of that amount for which as part of the whole colony the province is pledged to the creditor under the Imperial guarantee. If this be the case we need not fear the result. His Excellency attended two public ballsin Christchurch, held an undress levee in that town, travelled over a portion of the plains, addressed a Native meeting in Lyttelton, and embarked on the 7th of January, for Auckland. The Iris frigate, with the broad pennant of Commodore Loring, C.8., was a visitor in our harbour at the same time with the Niger; our balls were Icept alive by the uniforms of the officers of the two ships, and pur streets by the uniform intoxication of their crews.

Dry weather has been the predominant characteristic of our climate during winter, spring, and summer. A want of water and no want of wind has been experienced for several months past, and up to the present time no alteration has presented itself. It is eighteen months since we have had a copious down-pour of rain; during that time not more than one-half the average fall has been received. The crops are generally good, owing to the favourable state of the soil at seed time. The same cause has favoured the sowing of v breadth of grain considerably larger than the average; and a plentiful wheat harvest is therefore expected. Reaping (with hooks and machines) has in fact commenced, and the whole harvest with this warm weather will not be long in hand. But a great drawback exists in the prevalence of wind, especially of the northwest wind—that pest of our climate —which when rising to a gale dries the grain like a kiln, and thrashes the standing corn with the exhaustive properties of a flail. That which is ripe this week and not cut has suffered not a little by the northwester of the past day or two; and orchards are in as bad plight. The remaining news of the past few weeks may be briefly summarised. Mr. Henry Sewell, well known in New Zealand and among friends of the colony in England, has been elected member for the town of Christchurch in the House of Representatives. The opposition which was brought against him was not strong enough to effect his overthrow. Mr. Sewell has declared himself in favour of the railway generally, and has .given to the public his views on some of the most important points of New Zealand politics. A rumour alleging the existence of a gold field was spread about the province a short time since. The inquiries which have been made to ascertain the truth throw discredit on the report. The Savings Bank returns for the year 1859 are published above. It will be seen that the dealings of the Lyttelton branch have fallen off; the withdrawals being of larger amount than the deposits. Some of the withdrawals, however, have been made by parties transferring their account to Christchurch. On the whole the bank is flourishing; the profits of the year having increased in spite of the increase of current expenses. The building fund is now a large one. COMMERCIAL. The turn of the year has brought an easier condition of the money market —a time of considerable difficulty to all classes having been got over without one serious failure; and, though it is perhaps premature to say that affairs are altogether as bright as they were, still there is no doubt that the worst has passed.

There have been very few arrivals from foreign ports this month: one vessel, the Roman Emperor, with immigrants and cargo from London, and three with, small general cargoes, from Sydnej\ The coasting trade has been brisk; the steamers and, small craft bein<,<- busily employed in bringing the wool round. The Mermaid sails on the 4th February, with a full cavgo of about 1800 bales of wool, which she has received on board and stowed, without assistance from shore, in the short space of three weeks; she has besides several passengers for London. She will be followed by the Cashmere, Royal Bride s.s., Regina, and Ashburton. A moderate amount of business has been done this month, which would doubtless have been larger, had the market been better supplied with some of the main articles of consumption, viz: flour, tea and sugar, all of which are scarce, and quoted at prices very considerably in advance of those ruling in Sydney ; for instance, the last advices from Sydney quote transactions in tea at £6 to £6; 10 per chest, with a heavy market, while we quote actual sales during the past week at £H 10s. The same difference to a lesser extent exists in the flour and sugar markets, There is surely room for improvement here; our supplies are either too short continually, or we require a more open market and more competition.

We quote the following prices :—Flonr. £27 10s to £28 10s per ton; tea, £10 10s to £11 10s per chest; sugar, Mauritius, £45 to £50 per ton; ditto snow drop, 9d per lb. ; ditto loaf, 8d per lb.; ditto Company's Pieces, (none in the market); brandy, Martell's or Hennessy's, 14s per gallon, in bond; rum, 4s 6d to 5s in bond; Geneva, 5s to 5s 6d in bond; port, 14s to 18s duty paid; shervy, \2& to. 15s duty paid; tobacco, Neg>o,h,ea.d, }s 9,|d to Is 10£ d per lb. in bond i ditto Cavendish* Is 4d to Is 6d per \h. \i\ band j pAvtev, (in bulk) £8 to £10 per hhd.; ale, (in bulk) £9 t--> £10 per hhd. j battled beer, lls to 13s per dosson, duty paid. Wo subjoin some returns from the Customs De« partment of this port which give several items of value as to the shipping, imports and. exports of the past year. The amount of imports and exports for the year stand thus in point of value: —

Imports. Exports. Quarter ending— N.Z. produce. Other. March ...... £72,187 £98,375 £462 June......... 96,468 19,800 1029 September... 77,291 10,809 1269 December... 85,094 7,252 2008

£331,040 £136,236 £4770. The Customs Revenue .during the year for the port of Lyttelton has been as follows:— March ...£7,223 4 .2 . June... „,.. 9,224. U 8

September 6,081 0 2 December..; 7,233 8 7 £29,762~T~7 The shipping entries give a return of 550 vessels, measuring 14,568 tons, entered inward and 597, with a tonnage of 16,216, entered oil' wards, representing the provincial coisting trad. The inter-coloniHl trade shows 244 vesaels' t 26,959 tons, inwards; and 252 vessels, of 28 'wl tons, entered outwards. The foreign returns!; 63 vessels, of 18,738 tons, entered inwards • and 5r venwelrt, 15,114 tons, entered outwards. ' The passenger traffic gives the following result* Foreign Ports. Ports of NZ Quarter ending— A March ; 729 359 June 696 ." 33J September 855 254 December 942 262 3222 IS OUTWARDS. March 69 288 June 31 180 September 20 193 December 35 253 145 914

Bal. of iratnigrn. 3077 292 Shewing a balance of 3369 persons who have arrived in the province during the past year. It should be mentioned, however, that the return of passengers leaving for colonial ports cannot be quite relied upon, mnny going on board of vessels after the entry outwards at tho Custom-house has been made; but even if we add 50 per cent to the number of departures—reducing thereby the balance of immigrants to,say, 2750 during the year —a very satisfactory result will remain. If we add the natural increase of population in. the Province during the year to this amount it will show an accession of numbers during the year to the extent of over 3000 souls, and bring up tW total of Europeans within this Province on 31st December, 1859, to upwards of 12,000. The postal returns show a gratifying increase of business. The letters despatched from the Lvttelton post-office m the March quarter of 1868 nntn hered only 3084; in the March quarter of 1859 they rose to 5289; and in the December quarter of the same year to 8368. 1«»n;er ot

The registered letters despatched in the year 1856 were 340 in number; in 1858 they were 653 ■ in 1809 they were not less 1165 in number These' figures are important: as registered letters for the most part cover remittances.

The amounts received by the Lyttelton Post Ulnce during the year, were For letters to other provincesofN.Z. £ 26 15 8 ,i „ places outside N.Z. ... 1f54 16 6 »» ,» registered 13 8 0 » » to and from Christchurch 50 14 H „ „by Cross posts in the Province not coming through Lyttelton 40 13 6 „ Sale of postage stamps 69 5 4

HEATHCOTE ELECTION. The nomination of a representative in the Provincial Council, for the Heathcote District, vacant by the resignation of Mr. Human, took place on Wednesday, at Christchurch Quay ; when, the writ having been read by J. Hall, Esq., Returning Officer, Mr. Harmati was proposed for re-election by Mr. C. J. Bridge, and seconded by Mr. J H Moore.

Mr. E. C. Latter was proposed by Mr. Oiiiviee, and seconded by Mr. E. B. Bishop. There was a very small attendance of electors; the commencementof harvest being-doubtlcas con.' sidered of primary importance... Mr. Harman said that he could not conceive how the holding of the offico of Provincial Auditor could be made the grounds of objection to any candidate. He could, not believe that it could be thought possible that any pernicious influence could; be used in the discharge of the-duties of that office.. Yet as far as he understood this was the only basis of opposition to his re-election. As regarded the' railway, he had opposed the present scheme, but seeing it was the manifest and nearly universal wish of the community that the project should be undertaken, he was willing to accept their decision; at the same time he must say that if it were possible —which could hardly be" the case, that the question should again come before the Council in its present shape, he would again oppose it, though he would use his best endeayours to set on foot some more bene« fioial scheme with a like object. Mr. E. C. Latter said that he had vome forward at the request of many of his brother electors, who thought with him that if Mr. Ilarman were reelected, his seat in the Council Qould not fairly be considered an independent one.. The office that he had accepted was at the disposal pf the Government; and though it was. a comparatively small matter now, when there were no distinct parties in the Council, yet no one could say how short a time this happy state of things might last; and an evil was always better prevented than left to grow toan injury. It was solely on t>jis ground, and not from" any personal opposition to Mr. Harman, that he aslted for their votes; for, as an untried man opposing one long in the Council, his position was in some degree irksome; but he felt strongly, and he beUeve.d the majority of the electors were with him, that no gentlemen holding an irresponsible situation under the Government'should take a seat in the Council. With reference to the Railway he would briefly say that he believed the future prosperity of the colony depended on better communication than at present existed—first with the Port, and then, what would certainly follow—with the up-country districts. No doubt we should have to bear with some or even many inconveniences during its progress; but it would be far better to do that and look to the completion of the work for a recompense in our increased land sales and corn exports.

Mr. Harmax thought Mr. Latter had not correctly stated the grounds of his opposition. He would appeal to Mr. Ollivier whether it were not so. In answer to a question by Mr. Ollivier, at Mr. HarmanV request, Mr. Latter said he would be prepared to oppose the extension of Government influence in the Council.

Tho show of hands, though altogether very small, was declared to be in favour of Mr. Latter.

Mr'. Harman then demanded a poll, and a vote of thanks to the .Returning Officer concluded tha proceedings* THE POLLING. The result of the polling on Thursday has been communicated to us thus : — Lower I.inrolu Christchurch Road. Quay. Total. Latter 13 14 27 Hannan... 9 15 21 Majority for Latter ... 3 The Mermaid finished her loading for London yesterday. It is but three weeks ago, or thereabouts, that we noticed the hoisting in of her ti>'st bale ; the hist was vun up to the yard arm yesterday, with, a salute from the ship's guns and colon'1 --*, and the eheors of the crew. The despatch wlii" 1 this, vessel has meet with is highly creditable to the energy of her charterers, Messrs. Miles & Co.,«"« to, the perseverance of her officers and crew, oy whoso sole exertions tha stowage has been completed, without aid from the shore. No w©aM»P leaving our port has over ImjC^ WQt with suca

*t^ W. ANB PBOWTB OF, AGItICULTUBE ' «rp have received from a correspondent the f» - A Ster which contains an enquiry of much lowing ll.J i l tor ' egt an d therefore deserves attention : *mtK& To the Editor of the 'Economist.' . Tt would be interesting, I have no doubt, to Sir\Tf Jour renders, as well as to myself, were you many oi y° " ju> in .Frazer's (September) Mngato notij.*' in ar Qf t||e Qo|d Diseovei . icg on zinc' r itself" or at least notice the subject, Australia '^Ative intending to emigrate there or 1 haV '/palnn«\ takimj out a few thousand pounds t0 Ni-«r. /JL> ,it str iUcs me that the arguments ot wilh "tin- are sound, viz., that the application of thl* i-i acrieultural. pastoral, and other pursuits capital IH ' * ci . te d to be steadily remunerative us must" 01 gold-diggings maintain their present lon? ' lS that in point of fact Australia imports a I'ositl°"; t on of its corn, butter, and timber from large \W" countries, where it can be produced I<:uroP, e nnpr rate, because the wages of labour are ftt , wr and that th.is state of things cannot m «Mle the gold-diggings average 10s. a day. a!, ter Sr for more emigrants, re-echoed in every TIC ; 1 newspaper, shows how severely this dis.colomal ne \^i ne i t her is this a very enlight;fl dvant:i^ ge if eul ip ra tion were much greater •eiiea wj' . or even i mfty S ay possible, while •than is »* - « of the | obo nlso offer so many attraclierffe profitable gold-diggings would draft off ItlonS,' i «f,rers from the lands and the flocks, and '"liei capitalist much iv the same position as he v xwf°!io you agree with this writer in his con-N-°%There Lave been two or three able cltt.Tin the 'Economist' on the effect of the gold If!SS on thevorld at large,with regard tathe t nuestion of depreciation or non-depreciation , re!lt l"e?"? n t one Hi believe, on the effects upon 'IS itself, and upon capitalists, settling there. lum, Sir, yours faithfully, h JartSSondent fca« that the agriculture'of outproducing colonies will be injuriously S- f*j W the hi"h money wages which have been ilftS ttre c the discovery of gold, and he does ja,d th^, twd .Uce in his apprehensions. The aot seem to {Jjjj^ from -^ colonies affords TstXVo—t upon them. A cry-not, we JXd to say, a very strong cry-has been raised t a protection to domestic industry, and especially ! ImL,V agriculture.- Public meetings have f TJt bottin New South Wales and in Vie IVnnWwhed m tlie latter colony, which is by K^rilL,^ which decidedly ? u-------diates the "crude systflm" of free trade. The deS for legislative encouragement is based, as Son the ground that agriculture is not without it very profitable. . , The -old colonies are, in fact, in* very exceptional position. In general, new communities which have at their command a virgin soil raise their own food; and where the soil is reasonably productive they export food for the subsistence of older and more densely-peopled countries. They in that manner purchase comforts and luxuries which they could not otherwise enjoy. But Australia and California are circumstanced differently. It does not pay them to produce corn for exportation; they have a most wonderful facility in producing gold, which all the world wants, which they export to older countries, and by means of which they obtain such an abundance of luxuries as no colonies ever before had. It is more profitable to the colony to produce gold than it is to produce corn. The general interest of the world requires that the peculiar facilities of this community should be employed; and even if it were not so, that community will, -with the instinct of self-interest, select the pursuits in which they have such facilities in preference to all others. Even, therefore, if the agriculture of Australia and California had not increased, or even if it iiad diminished since the discovery of gold in them, we s\\ou\d have seen no reason to regret the fact as far as these countries are themselves concerned. They have means of producing another commodity, and were right in using those means as far as it was possible. The fact however is, that the agriculture of these countries has of lute rapidly progressed. We find from an official document printed, by order of the Governor at Melbourne: —

" Since the year 1854 the progress of agriculture has been much greater than that of the population. The increase in 1857 as compared with 1854 wa3 more than 400 per cent, while the increase in the number of inhabitants, according to the censuses of those years, was 73 per cent. If agriculture continue to progress in this ratio, the country .will not merely supply its own wants, but produce a large quantity in excess." The same return gives the following table:—

1852. 1853. Total number of acres cultivated 57,298 ... 237,720 Acres under wheat ...... ...29,623 ... 87,230 Acres under barley ... 1,327 ... 5,407 Acres under,oats ... ....... 6,426 ... 40,118 Acres under potatoes 2,375 ... 20,693 Other crops—acres ... 17,547 ... 84,281

In California, the progress of agriculture is even tnoitf remarkable. In spite of the enormous increase in her population—the growth, in fact, of a numerous highly-paid, and highly fed community —she exports food. The explanation of this remarkable progress is given by anothei" part of the same series of returns. Both Victoria ami California are not only rich beyond example in mineral wealth, but their soil likewise is of the greatest natural fertility. Although, therefore, they have an enormous inducement to produce gold, they have a still greater inducement, on the most fertile parts of their beneficent soil, to cultivate corn. The facts are these:—lt appears that in the newly-peopled States of America, about twelve or thirteen bushels of wheat are considered to be a very fair, and rather more than an average yield for land per acre. How much that of the two gold-producing regions exceeds this, and also how much it exceeds that of one or two other countries which are not barren, is evident from the following table: — tiushtjg per acre. Contents. Wheat Barley. Oats Victoria, average of the years 1855 6-7 23-1 .. 30-3 .. 29 3 Tasmania, 1850 .. , 16-5 .. 242 .. 23 7 South Australia, 1857 12 0 „ 22-0 .. 25-0 New South Wales, average of 3 years.. 15 4 .. ]67 .. ]iS-7 State of New York 140 ,[ IrVO '.'. 200 State of California, 1855 200 .. 31-5 „ 20-2 It seems rather hard-that South Australia, which produces no gold, should be under so great a disadvantage likewise as respects agricultural fertility. Suck is evidently, however, the case. The goldproducing parts of Australia, and likewise California, are in a position to resist the extreme temptation which we mentioned, to forego all other pursuits for that of gold production. In one at least there is a prospect even more tempting. •This view of the actual facts gives an easy answer both to the Protsctionists of the colonies and to our correspondents. It would not be surprising, it so rapid a progress as that which we have indicated may have for a moment gone further than was desirable, though we do not know that it has done H(>. The most singular natural advantages may be pressed too far. It .way be, that a temporary check to an over-quick progress is the explanation of the alleged depression in Australian agriculture. But this only shows with greater clearness the absurdity ot asking legislative protection for the cultivation ot such soils with such a market as that of the goldproclucers so near to them. If these natural advantages will r.of induce people to cultivate the soil, legislative inducements would probably be ineffectual as well as undesirable.. The difficulty suggested by our correspondent is *wj,i by the aid of the fact*, to be seen in its true "SQt. It ja cpte true that the discovery of gold ■.

has raised wages in the colony, and has not raised them in Europe. It. is quite true that for a long timo the value ofhibour in Australia is likely to bo considerably greater thanjit is in inostother countries^ This is the certain and necessary VonspqiuMico of such ovenls'uH-tlie gold discoveries. They increase the price of commodities, and they augment the cost of homo production, and therefore they act m a premium on importation. The ablo writer in Fraser is quite correct in insisting that the gold discoveries by giving a singular bounty to ono pursuit, operated to that extent as a discouragement to other pursuits. Hut experience proves that the natural advantages H>f agriculture are so great as to enable it, nevertheless, to maintain for Home years a rate of progress that is certainly very remarkable, and is nearly unexampled. *— Economist.

• Wo would recommend thoso of our reiulurn who uro interestutl in tliu suhjevt to rmid the ossuy in the Boptuint>er Number of Fraser's Magazine nbovo alluded to, hk it U verycareful, lucid, aud instructive.