CHRISTCHURCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 1161, 28 February 1874, Page 9

CHRISTCHURCH.

(.FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

I alluded in a previous letter to the gay appearance of the harbour owing to the mulfciciplicity of English and other vessels, but the great improvements on shore are not less noticeable. The new railwaystation, for instance, such a vast improvement upon the disgraceful building that was previously called by the same name — a woeful misnomer ; then again, the increased facilities in the way of wharfage accommodation, not provided before it was wanted, and even now capable of considerable extension. Every one that liaa been to Lyttelton, for I don't know how many years, will no doubt remember seeing the hard labour gang, while in performance of the Government stroke upon the breakwater, in prospectn, to the tune of the " Dead March in Saul." There is at last, however, a bona fide jetty at this point, and the mooring alongside of the barque W. E. Gladstone the other day was the occasion of a display of bunting ad libitum all over the town.

I was travelling in the train the other day in company with a number of skippers, among whom one was narrating his grievance, and appeared to carry with him the sympathy of his confreres. It appears that he had brought over from Newcastle a cargo of coal. This coal had been discharged and sent through to Christchurch to the weighbridge, when was found to be so many tons short. As he said, he had no time to stop to see the matter out, so he must pocket the 'affront. But he argued that, had the weighbridge been at the Port end, he might have seen the cargo weighed without travelling backwards and forwards, to and from Christchurch. Sow, I certainly agree with the captain in the question that the weighbridge should be at the Port end ; but whichever end it was, it strikes me very forcibly that the deficiency in the weight of the coal would not have undergone any material alteration. But I may be very obtuse.

I suppose I may as well let your readers know the rates of wages the immigrants by the Isles of the South have succeeded in obtaining : — Married couples, £60 to £05 ; single men, farm and general labourers, 20s to 25s a week and found ; carpenters, plasterers, and painters, 10s to lls a day ; tailors, Is an hour ; saddlers, £2 2s per week ; shoemakers, engaged at piece-work ; blacksmiths, 10s per day ; boys, £12 to £15 a year. Single women — general servants, £20 to £25 ; cooks and laundresses, £30. Breeders of stock in your Province will be interested in learning that our Agricultural and Pastoral Association showed at their meeting the other day a credit balance of over £450. At the last Show the excess in the entries of sheep over the previous year was 119, cattle 17, horses 2 ; ard the number of implements and manufactures was also larger. Other classes showed a decrease, but altogether the number of. entries was 104 ovei last year. The next Show is to come off on the Queen's Birthday ; and a ram fair is to be held on the 6th March. The idea of a journal to be issued quarterly, under the auspices of the Association, is also in contemplation. The services of Mr J. F. Ford, their indefatigable secretary, are fully acknowledged, and they have very justly agreed that the position should no longer be honorary alone, but that a salary should be attached to it. j Jn confirmation of what I said in my last relative to the disinclination of the Catholics to pay the education rate, I notice from a report in the New Zealand Tablet that they have actually agreed to resist payment by all legal means (whatever they may be) and that a committee has been formed to carry the resolution into effect.

Of all the independent religious bodies here I imagine none are comparatively so prosperous as the Congregationalists. Not that 1 believe it is solely the peculiar tenets of this sect that find favour with so many, but the real cause of success centres in the high character, scholarly attainments, and personal influence of their devoted pastor, the Rev. Mr Habens. He and. Mr J. Colborn-Veel are the Examiners under the Board of Education, and I know of no man in Canterbury who bears a higher name among all grades of society than Mr Habens. He is having a new chapel built, which bids fair to be a respecta-ble piece of architecture. It is situated not far from Cathedral Square, in the direction of the Christchurch Club.

You would scarecly credit the statement that the other day a man went to a well at midnight, overbalanced himself, and fell down a distance of 54 feet into eight feet of water at the bottom, and succeeded in getting up again without sustaining any material injury. Yet such is a fact, nevertheless.

! I notice in your advertising columns an ! announcement from Mr Beecher, of Akaroa, relative to the accommodation that he offers at his hotel there, for visiters, travellers, and families ; and I can bear testimony to the general excellency of the arrangements of the establishment, and can faithfully say that he is by no means exaggerating when he says that it is situated in one of the pret tiest and healthiest spots in the Southern Hemisphere. Of the other hotel — the proprietor of which (Mr Wagdtaff) I notice has also the good sense to avail himself of your advertising columns — I cannot speak from experience.

I am sorry to have to record a melancholy case that has recently occupied the Lyttelton Resident Magistrate's Court, and resulted in a committal for trial. The surgeon of the ship Isles of the South, as it appears from the evidence, was in the habit of giving out "medical comforts" to the passengers on the voyage out, and receiving money for the same, the charge coining under the designation ox larceny as a bailee. He confessed to the practice before the captain, previous to the arrival of the vessel in port, and handed to him what he represented as the total amount of cash received for wine, stout, and spirits. By advice of his counsel, the accused reserved his defence ; and bail was allowed, himself in £100, and two sureties of £100 each.

Several columns of Monday's newspapers were filled with three inquests. One was an enquiry into the circumstances of a fire at Rangiora, and the jury, after the evidence was given, came to the conclusion that there was nothing to show how it originated. The next was on the body of a man who was killed under the following circumstances. He was in charge of a horse and dray, and had taken the blinkers off the horse's head to take the bit out of its mouth. The horse meanwhile started, and the man was jammed between the corner of the stable and the dray. He then fell under the horse's head, and was trodden upon by it. and when taken up, hia skull was found to be most fearfully fractured, and he must have died instantaneously. The verdict was in accordance with the evidence adduced, The third was upon

the body of a man who was gored by a bull, and actually had his ribs broken in twenty different places. He was rushed in the early morning, was quite sensible afterwards, and lingered several hours, dying at eleven o'clock the same night. I am not sorry to conclude the present paragraph, as the two latter snbjects are somewhat revolting even in narration. The Lyttelton Boating Club from some unaccontable reason has collapsed, and the property disposed of by auction. In case any of your readers know the boats, I may add that the new four-oared outrigger by Salter, was sold for £44 ; the new pair oar, by Biffin, for £26 ; the Waterlily, for £20, and the Mayflower for £9 10s ; the Snowdrop, £5 ; the shed and boatways, £20. The Cups belonging to the Club were raffled.

Though probably anticipated by telegram, I may as well report that it is stated to the Press, "on reliable authority," that two grain buyers have arranged to have two cargoes of oats and barley to arrive from California — the one here in June, and the other in Melbourne, as soon as possible.

A fine block of brick buildings has just been erected on the other side of the Victoria Bridge, at the commencement of the Whately or Papanui road ; and in one, Mr Ick, a city councillor, has opened in the drapery line ; and in another, a Mr A. White, as bookseller and stationer. I record the foregoing fact as assisting to upset an idea that the business portion of the town was drawing more in the direction of High street and the Triangle, since now the Post Office cud is bidding fair to be as creditably represented in the matter of business premises of considerable proportions ; and when the Cathedral and Government Buildings are erected in the Square, the present unsightly break — ■ dividing the town into two distinct portions — will be done away with altogether. The sooner the better.

I presume most of your readers know, at least by name, Mr John Ollivier, Provincial Auditor, one of the oldest, ablest, and most highly respected settlers in Canterbury. He was chairman of the City Council — there were no Mayors here in those days — at the time that the first artesian wells were started, and he took great interest in, and worked hard towards the development of the system now universal, without which, in a sanitary point of view, Christchurch would in the present year of grace 1874 be nowhere, so to speak. For these and other reasons a substantial public testimonial is to be presented to him "for his many valuable and public services during his long residence in the Province," and I have no doubt that contributions will flow ia freely from one end of Canterbury to the other.

The township of Christchurch, as looked down upon from the Port Hills — our cisalpine ranges — bears a most extraordinary aspect, scarcely anything to be seen in the area in which the place is supposed to stand but evergreen trees, blue gums, &c. , as well as deciduous ditto — poplars, &c. ; and to such dimensions are many of them growing that in many places they are being cut down and sawn into lengths and sold in the place of totara, pine, and other native timber for firewood. And when on the subject of native timber, I may mention that a fine block, about 1700 acres, has lately been bought from Government at the ordinary price of two pounds an acre in the Peninsula. The reason this block has not been sold before is because it could not be reached otherwise than by sea, and the nature of the beach apparently precluded all possibility of shipping the timber. But the present purchaser has solved the difficulty — at least, in his own opinien — somehow ; and I have so great faith in the penetration and sagacity of the individual in question that I look upon the affair a3 a grand speculation.

A most disgraceful hubbub has taken place among the members of the Acclimatisation Society. It appears that at an annual meeting held the other day, a new Council was elected. Now, certain members of the old Council, who know just as much about the real business of the concern as one of your trap-door spiders, thought fit during their term of office to thwart the Curator by every means in their power, owing to some personal disagreement, and from the fact that the Curator himself knew too much to be domineered over by a miserable set of ignoramuses. The new Council consequently were composed of men who put an honest value upon the services of the Curator, and fully acknowledged the qualifications he possesses in such an admirable degree for the office. But the obstructionists were not to be beaten — so they, by some means or other, made out that the election was not valid, and got another meeting called to have it over again. The Council, I suppose, that was elected at that meeting will continue in office. There are one or two who I would have liked to see honour the body by their absence, but, as a body, they are a decent set of men, and I have no

deubt that the work of the Society will proceed smoothly, and that there will be an end of all the bickering humbug that has been going on so long to the detriment of the good cause. At the meeting I have alluded to, the Superintendent presided. He concluded by saying he was glad if he had been of any service in the chair, but that he was more pleased to get out of it— words which explain the nature of the proceedings better than if I were to write for a month.

It is perfectly surprising to note how the business of ham and bacon curing is extending in this Province, tons after tons constantly reaching Port for shipment. The Canterbury Meat Export Company have commenced opeiations, though I have not yet noticed their brand passing through by rail. The other night there was a tremendous bush fire on the Port Hills, and its extraordinary appearance afforded fine pabulum tor fertile imaginations. For instance, a man thus constituted, and stationed near a large block of buildings, standing out in bold relief, as black as night, between him and the actual locale of the fire, would have at once said that the lurid look of the sky beyond seemed to betoken its immediate proximity, as if half the town was enveloped in flames. Then if he removed to a point where a full view of the fire could be obtained, he would have exclaimed il How exceptionally grand is the scene !" And, but for the entire absence of sound, could he not picture to himself a mighty battle, where the heaviest ordnance was levelling forts by the dozen ; where mines ■were exploding in all directions ; and -where tens of thousands were ''rushing on to victory or to death ?" In another direction where the flames were not so fierce, he could trace street after street of a great city, gorgeously lit up by millions of jets of gas, and numberless places of amusement and public and private entertainments were in full play, conspicuous among the long rows of ordinary buildings on account of their superior brilliancy. However, word-painting is not my forte, so I shall close my shutters, with the assurance, however, that the scene would have been a, fine subject for an artist, especially from one of the bridges where the light was reflected in the river before him.

By last mail the Spinning and Weaving Company sent home for their machinery for the manufacture of flannel and blanket s, and it is further stated that theyhave also sent for skilled workmen to use it. They are taking time- by the forelock, and by the energy displayed, they deserve to succeed. The Presbyterians are going to have a new church built here, in length over all 104 feet, and 58 wide. It will have a tower and a spire 100 feet high, and the interior will hold 720 people. A Drapers' and Clothiers' Association is again agitating in favour of closing on Saturdays at 6 o'clock. I wish them well, but I am not sanguine of their success.

I must tell you a new plan that an enthusiast has publicly recommended^ to obtain wherewith to carry on the building of the Cathedral. It is that every old settler who may wish to be buried within the precincts of the Cathedral should pay down, during his lifetime, the sum of £500 for the prospective honour !

I notice that the schoolmasters here are forming themselves into an association. At least so I conclude from a notice to the effect that all the schoolmasters in the place are requested to attend a meeting on Saturday — for the purpose, I presume, of electing officers, and so forth. _ Such an association would be productive of in uch good hero, as the lives of fche masters, as a rule, are somewhat monotonous: and. I have no doubt that many at the lieck and call of the committees — composed, for the most part, of persons of somewhat limited education — have abuses which they would have a chance of rectifying by amalgamation. Mr Trent, who carries on a large wholesale coffee and chicory establishment in town, liaa a chicory farm in connection therewith at Templeton, and he has been living the Lincoln Farmers' Club the result" of his experience in subsoil ploughing. He instances a paddock of his which was sown in Chevalier barley in November, which was estimated to yield CO bushels to the acre ; but the caterpillars destroyed 20 bushels peracre, and yet the paddock being 25 acres in extent, yielded 1000 bushels. Next year he subsoiled again, and got in a good crop of chicory. Next year he sowed down in Canadian oats and grass, and though a dry season he got 55 bushels to the acre ; and from the paddock he has succeeded in taking off the following crops without laying down to grass : — First .year, chicory : second year, chicory, subsoiled ; third year, barley ; fourth year, chicory, aubsoiled ; fifth year, oats and grass ; five and a half years, rape ; sixth year, ■chicory, subsoiled. I have only given the bare outline of Mr Trent's communication ; but should you think fit to publish, it in extmso, you will have an oppor-

tunity of extracting it from, one morning paper.