CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 60, 25 November 1863, Page 4

CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

A general Committee meeting was held on Monday evening, when there was present — Messrs. Turner, Captain Budd, Campbell, Gash, Wood, Beetham, Worthington, and Manders. Upon the motion of Messrs. Campbell and Gash, Mr. Beetham was appointed the permanent chairman of the committee. The minutes of last meeting were read, but before the confirmation of them, and after some discussion, the following resolutions were carried:— Proposed by Mr. Campbell, seconded by Mr. Turner—" That that portion of the previous minute of the last committee meeting relating to the hour of evening service, shall read—7 p.m., instead of 730 a.m." Proposed by Mr. Beetham, seconded by Mr. Gash—"That the bell ring for five minutes half an hour before the commencement of such service, and again for five minutes before the hour of service." The minutes, with the above amendments, were then adopted.

The absence of Messrs. Bruce and Jackson, for the sub-committee to conduct the tea meeting to be holden on the 27th instant, was supplied by the appointment of Mr. Campbell and Mr. Wood. A motion of Messrs. Campbell and Gash, that a person be appointed to clean out the church on Sunday, and ring the bell at the rate of ten shillings per week, was withdrawn after being proposed. The members thought the sum too large with the present liabilities hanging over the church. Mr. Turner's offer to light the lamps and see to the condition of the church, was accepted with thanks. Captain Budd and several members tendered their service in assistance. Proposed by Mr. Manders, seconded by Mr. Campbell—"That tenders be called for seating the church, putting in the windows and erecting a porch, according to the plans and specifications laid before the committee by Mr. Butler, and that such tenders be duly advertised, stating that the plans and specifications can be seen at Mr, Worthington's, the Gold Receiver's office." Proposed by Mr. Gash, seconded by Mr. Wood—" That Mr. Campbell be appointed Secretary, pro tern., in the absence of Mr Bruce." The committee then adjourned to 8 p.m., on the 26th instant, for the purpose of receiving the report of the sub-committee on the tea meeting.

SOUTHLAND. (feom oub own coebespondent.) Invercargill, Nov. 21. The Lake and Invercargill will soon be brought still nearer together, by the long talked-of railway, which is looked upon by all residents in this Province as a certain means of at once and for ever securing the whole trade of the Wakatip district; and if the advantages to be derived from it bear any proportion to those which have already accrued from the coach service, the future of Invercargill is pretty well assured. Every coach, either to or from the Lake, is well filled with passengers; and the advantage of this means of communication with Dunedin, over the horrible road via the Dunstan, or even the old coach track to Dunedin, is becoming strikingly manifest. If our merchants only properly second the efforts made by Cobb and Co., up-country storekeepers will have no cause to go to the capital of Otago at all. A ball to commemorate the turning of the first sod of the Southland Great Northern Railway, is to take place on Wednesday evening next, the 25th inst., and from the strenuous exertions now being made, it seems likely that it will be as successful as the line itself will doubtless prove. The clearing of the bush for this latter has already been commenced on the line of route, and laborers advertised for by the several contractors. The first section—to Winton Bush, 25 miles from town —is expected to be finished by the end of summer, leaving still sixty miles, at least, to be constructed. It is a pity that the line cannot be completed to the extreme border of the Province —further than that, I believe Otago would object to, in her usual dog-in-the-manger style. There is no obstacle to such a consummation of our wishes, for different parts of the line might be let to different contractors, and the whole work finished in a space of time as short as that for the section now contracted for. The truth is, our funds are low, and we could not pay for the work. But we have land, and a leaf might be taken with great advantage out of America's book, in this matter. Let our Government offer a piece of land equivalent to, say a strip a quarter of a mile wide for the length of the line ; and let this be given in plots here and there along its course to a company who would conform to certain conditions, viz:—lay down a line, keep it in thorough repair, and agree to run certain goods and passenger trains each way at a fixed rate. If this were done, a company would be instantly formed, with sufficient capital to buy the land; for the lease or sale of the land granted, either for forming townships or for agricultural purposes, would secure them a good return for the capital invested. This would not only secure the Lake trade and make Invercargill, but settle the whole Province, for the adjoining land would be enormously increased in value by the establishment of a speedy and cheap means for the conveyance of produce. In America this system is found to work well, and it will doubtless do so here; at least, it is worth consideration. The return of the " Nugget" cutter to Invercargill, after an unsuccessful attempt to find gold on the West Coast, has been the cause of a leading article of a particularly cutting kind in the Invercargill Times, who in its efforts to prove the utter worthlessness of that part of New Zealand, and of Martin's Bay especially, has rather overshot the mark,

tod exposed the feeling which prompted the ! article—one, I may say, fully participated in by aJ Invercargillites—viz., an uncompromising opposition to the formation of any settlement on the West Coast. Your petitiou has awakened considerable interest here, and the miners of the Wakatip may reckon on the support of our members; but we must confess to a feeling of disappointment that it was not for annexation to the Province If that unlucky discovery of Dr. Hector's, of an easy passage, and a fair harbor from the Lake to the Coast, had only been delayed for two months or so, we feel that the petition would have been for annexation; and the loss to Southland of such a rich prize as the Wakatip goldfields, you must admit is sufficient to stir the bile of even the editor of the Invercargill Times—et hinc ilia irte. His leader of this morning is chock full of the miseries of a West Coast life—its danger and discomforts, added to the utter absence of any gold to enable your miners to put up with them. The Melbourne Argus has excited his deadliest spleen, and nothing is too bad for that unfortunate paper, whose mendacity is certainly only to be equalled by that of its Dunedin contemporary. Dr. Hector's statements as to the road, and especially the harbor, are too straightforward to be easily set aside, and time will prove their value. As for the gold-producing cap abilities of the Coast, all I can make out, is that they obtained but very little, in co nsequence of the prevalence of water —the very same enemy that impedes the progress of your own field—one of the richest in the world. Besides, the prospecting party could not penetrate into the country, chiefly in consequence of the bush; and therefore they could not trace the precious metal up towards its source, where it is only reasonable to suppose it is larger and heavier, if it exists at all. Therefore, I say, the question must rest for time to solve —after all the only accurate test. There is little doing at present here, in consequence of the weather; but with the advent of the summer, from the indications presented, we may look for considerable briskness in trade.