CANTERBURY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1403, 3 February 1860, Page 5

CANTERBURY.

By the Lord Wonley, we have received Canterbury papers up to the 28th ultimo. We extract the following from the monthly summary of the Lyttelten Times of the 28th ultimo. — The session of the. Provincial Council, which commenced at the end of September, closed under difficulties in the first week in the new year. It will be remembered that early in the sessiou a spirit of antagonism was displayed against the Executive then holding office, on the part of a considerable number of the. Council ; and that on a financial question, a resigna* tion and a reconstruction of the Executive took place. The new arrangement, did not last, the Government not even meetvog the Council once for business. Oa fiDdir,g that a vital question of financial policy was viewed differently by themselves and by ihe Superintendent, and that his Honor would certainly not continue to hold office if that question was pressed by his Executive, the latter, of whom Messrs. Boss, Harmau, and Wyatt were the piincipal members, retired, and au Executive somewhat similar to the previous one was reconstructed. For a time the business of the Council was carried on quietly ; but the arrangemeuts 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 bis new colleagues upon the Railway scheme, resigned his seat. The test of the Executive took .-upon themselves the task of passing the two important measures mentioned through the honse, and succeeded, in spite of a smart opposition. The session was closed on the 3rd of January, all the work prepared being performed. On' the last day of the session it was announced that the Secretaryship had been filled up, by the acceptance of Mr. Blakison'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. Blakison, secretary; Mr. Duncan, solicitor; and Mr. Cass, chiefsurveyor. 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 existt tence. Events generally, and the difficulty of finding a man so self-denying as to accept a paid office, in parti«ular, 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 Bailway question is at present somewhat this. While the Council was sitting the province learned that the Commissioners appointed at home bad 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, that the contractors being 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. Tbe 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 tbe 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 tbe 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 agents 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, though not, of course, known with exactness, is understood to be sufficiently favourable to remove any doubt of the contract lapsing on the first mentioned contingency. It remains, therefore, only to obtain the assent of the General Goverment to the undertaking, and its consideration is now before them. His Honor tbe 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 the 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 the province to re-enact the measure with improvements. A scheme would be generally prefeired 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 scheme proposed from England was one which, placing the total disbursement at £235,030, contemplated a loan of £70,000, and a cash contribution from the provincial revenue of the remainder, the whole payable orer five years, at the rate of £40,000 per asnura for the iirst four years. Iv the meantime the engineer has proceeded with a gang of men procured on tbe spot, to make a trial drift into the hill on the line of the tunnel, in order to ascertain the quality of the ground through which it will have to run. These preparatory works will be prosecuted with greater vigour, ou the arrival of tbe Robert

Small from London, bringing miners and navvies despatched by the contractors for the purpose. 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 a 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 clim&te — 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 Lytlelton 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 accouut to Christchurcb. On the whole

the bank is flourishing ; the profits of the year having increased in spite of the increase of j current expenses. The building fup4 is now a large oee, COMMERCIAL* j The turn of the year has brought an easier j condition of the money market— a time of considerable difficulty to all classes haviug 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 beeu very few arrivals from foreign ports this month : one vessel, the Roman Emperor, with immigrants and cargo from London, aud three with small general cargoes, from Sydney. The coasting trade has been brisk ; the steamers and small craft being busily employed in bringing the wool round. The Mermaid sails on the 4th February, with a full cargo of about 1800 bales of wool, which she has received on board and stwed, without assistance from shore, in the short space of Aree weeks; she has besides several passenjks&s^for. London. She will be followed by the CaJhmere, Royal Bride s. s., Regina, aud Ashburldn. 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 cousider. ably in advance of those ruling in Sydney ; for instance, the last advices from Sydney quote transactions in tea at £6 to £6 10s. per chest, with a heavy market, while we quote actual sales during the past week at £11 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: — Flour £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 Henessy's, 14s per gallon, in bond; nun, 4s 6d to 5s in bond ; Geneva, 5s to 5s Gil in bond ; port, 14s to 18s duty paid ; sherry, 12s to 15s duty paid ; tobacco, Negrohead, Is 9Jd to Is 10|d per lb. in bond ; ditto Cavendish, Is 4cl to Is 6d per lb. iv bond ;

porter, (in bulk) £8 to £10 per hhd. ; ale, (in bulk) £9 to £10 per hhd. ; bottled beer, Us to 13s per dozen, duty paid.