CANTERBURY TALES.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 197, 26 January 1875, Page 3

CANTERBURY TALES.

JOTTINGS OF THE EARLY DAYS OF CANTERBURY. By an “ Old Colonist.” (From the Press.) The appointment of Colonel Campbell u Crown Lands Commissioner at Canterbury was very distasteful to the settlers. He was known to them as a disappointed place hunter, and an adventurer who had assidu* ously attended the various meetings of the land purchasers and intending colonists in London, and endeavored to ingratiate himself with the members of the Canterbury Association by promises of large purchases of land. Finding he was not likely to succeed in obtaining the appointment of agent of the association in the new settlement, he withdrew in disgust, without having purchased an acre, hurried off to the colony, and next turned iip as the Governor’s representative in Canterbury, A man with fewer qualifications for discharging with only ordinary efficiency the duties required in the department to which he had been appointed could not have been found. It was shrewdly suspected that his new role of hostility to the settlement was his chief recommendation. The manner in which the duties were “performed” the ludicrous if not illiterate notices and proclamations issued from time to time, and his ridiculous defence of Hempleman’s claims, are they not chronicled in the pages of the Lyttelton Times. The removal of himself and the entire business of bis office to Akaroa must

have seriously affected the business of the department, besides inflicting untold annoyance and expense upon all having occasion to transact business in connection with the Crown lands. The mischief thus wantonly inflicted upon individuals and a department by a capricious subordinate, in spite of all remonstrances, met with no reproof or redress from Sir G. Grey,. and continued until the Constitution Act swept all such abuses of patronage away. His impotent efforts to form townships to the north and south, in immediately proximity to the Canterbury block, and the special inducements offered (by instructions from the Governor we must suppose), Were regarded at the time as intended to injure or retard this settlement, by attracting from it labor and capital, and would have piobably succeeded had the duty been entrusted to an officer of ordinary capacity. For a proper understanding of the import of this' manoeuvre (for I cannot otherwise characterise it),Jit must be remembered that at that time, as little or no improvement had been effected on the plains, the advantages of the Canterbury settlement were not very apparent to persons in the colony desirous of purchasing land ; a few miles north or south were comparatively unimportant, and the prices of the Government land, both town and rural, together with freer pastoral regulations, presented a strong contrast to the terms of purchase in the Canter ury settlement. . It was also well known that very similar tactics had been pursued in regard to the New Zealand Company’s settlement of Wellington by Governor Hobson, when he founded the Government settlement at Auckland. . Under the ancient Regime it was customary for the Government brig to make a periodical round of the settlement, and empty all the coffers, and the settlers had to supplicate the Governor in forma pauperis for a small dole Of their own money for some absolutely necessary public work. The colonial financial arrangements of this period were of a beneficent and fraternal character that provin- ' cialists and political economists of the present day cannot hope to emulate. As an instaiice, the sum of £3OOO was taken upon one occasion from Lyttelton, and expended in constructing ri lighthouse at Wellington. As these are but desultory sketches, with no particular sequence, except the order of their occurrence being preserved as far as possible,,! hppe 1 shall be excused for this apparent digression into which, I have been insensibly .led by the nature of the subject? touched upon. Of Mr Godley I have little more to add, though much might be written. At the close of 1852 his personal connection with the Canterbury settlement terminated after two years of indefatigable labor; he had a sure prescience that hisjmission was accomplished; that the settlement was firmly planted, and possessed all the essential elements of progress, and with the measure of local self-government just then conferred upon the colony by the Constitution Act, he saw that political free dom achieved for which he had been so long and so zealously striving. Invaluable as his presence and assistance had been to the settlement (which I feel I have but very feebly succeeded in pourtraying), I cannot help, with all due diffidence, hazarding an opinion that I dare say will be deemed very heterodox in this Canterbury settlement, the scene of his disinterested labours. It is simply, that in his brief career of usefulness his wisoom and judgment were never more conspicuously displayed than in choosing the appropriate time of retiring from a position he had filled with such advantage to the settlement. His commanding intellect, matchless eloquence, and administrative ability, conferred upon him such a proud pre-eminence, and removed him so far above his contemporaries, that, unconsciously it may have been to himself, his was a personal government of the most pronounced type; a kind of intellectual despotism that unintentionally; repressed and stifled all free discussion, because no one felt sufficient confidence . in himself or ability to enter the arena. Ii was hot that Canterbury was deficient in capable men. Indeed it was far otherwise. . As soon as there was a clear field for action, a band of talented men came to the front, and* from th,at time to the present, have filled all the most important offices in the v gift of the colony, with credit, and honour to themselves, and to the benefit and advantage of their constituents and country. What appeared to be wanting ui this time was the old British privilege of grumbling; this safety-valve of all English communities, seemed to be over-weighted, and it was shrewdly suspected that the “ Captain” was sitting upon it. To continue the metaphor, and in a manner to justify it, I may state that immediately after Mr Godley’s departure there was a great blow-off of steam, that had evidently been collecting for some time. Mr Godley embarked at Lyttelton, December 21st, 1852, and on January Ist, 1853, appeared a curiously-worded notice in the Lyttelton Times, convening a public meeting. The notice implied that there had been a tyrannical “ incarceration of indigent Immigrants,” which the public were called upon to investigate. This notice caused some genuine excitement in Lyttelton, to which the public had long been strangers. People formed in small groups at the street and discussed the points of the special grievance with solemn gravity. At the appointed time a crowded meeting assembled. Dr Donald was voted to the chair. After considerable discussion, and, as a Yankee would say, some “ tarnation tall talk ” indulged in, resolution No 1, censuring the Canterbury was carried by a large majority. The pro-' moters of the meeting were jubilant. The Canterbury Association being a distant, and to some, a mythical sort of body, could be kicked with impunity; but when resolution No 2 was proposed, reflecting upon the actions of individuals existent in the settlement, it was gently hinted that it was libellous. The chairman felt his responsibility, and declined to put it to the meeting. After this elimination of the most interesting part of the discussion, the business flagged, and was virtually shelved by the appointment of a committee to investigate and report at a future date. The meeting then separated, and *• the subsequent proceedings interested them no more.” As far as I could learn, the circumstances were these—The Canterbury Association appropriated a certain amount of the proceeds from land sales to assisted immigration, and land purchasers had the privilege of nominating parties for passages, i u proportion to their land purchases. Some one or two land purchasers had construed the cost of passage into a debt due to themselves, had obtained judgments for the amounts, and failing payment had imprisoned the debtors. Not being 'an original land j nrebaser, or one o£ the investigation com-

mittee (which, byerihe-bye never furnished any information), rcannot vouch for the accuracy of the foregoing, I merely give that which was the general impression at the time. Sir G. Grey’s first action on receiving the Constitution Act, was to pigeon-hole it for some months, and in the meantime by proclamation to suddenly reduce the price of all the waste lands of the colony to 5s and lOs the acre. This was considered a very unconstitutional proceeding; as by the aforesaid Act all control of the waste lands became vested in the General Assembly so soon as that body was legally constituted. But Sir George in the most arbitrary manner (as it was considered by the colonists) delayed for many months issuing the writs for the elections; and, when he could delay no longer, proceeded to constitute the Provincial Councils, still postponing the principal section of the Act relating to the General Assembly, that his new Land Regulations might have time to operate. A gentleman whom E. G. Wakefield used to style a great constitutional lawyer, proceeded to Wellington, and moved the Supreme Court in the matter, and obtained the judgment of the Court, declaring that no legal title could issue to purchasers of land under Sir George Grey’s proclamation —which Sir George regarded not—seeing that Acts of Parliament sometimes received scant courtesy when inimical to his views. As Sir George Grey’s proclamation reducing the price of waste lands could not affect the land within the Canterbury block, unless the Provincial Council about to be constituted so willed it, there began to be formed a strong party in the settlement, but chiefly in Lyttelton, in favor of cheap iand (/.<?., the Government price). The trial of strength chosen was the election of the first Superintendent, I may notice here parenthetically that at that time there were two or three recent arrivals from Australia, with large sums to their credit at the Bank to be invested in land —(one was stated to have £26,000, which seemed a fabulous sum in thbse days)—not uninterested in the result of the result of the coming struggle, and who quietly watched and waited. Mr J. B. Fitz Gerald was the first candidate, and Mr Tancred shortly after entered the lists ; but as they both represented the same interests, it was simply a question of men. The cheap land party saw their opportunity in the division of their opponents, and put forward Colonel Campbell as their candidate, with a very fair prospect of carrying the election. As there was no Treating at Elections Bill in force at that date, full scope could be given to the most exuberant fancy, which was freely indulged by the “ Radical” party. Other stimulants to excitement were not wanting, as two or three public houses in Lyttelton were considered to be open houses on the day of election, if not for some days bffore. A band was improvised, and so were some of the instruments ; a number of empty oil cans were procured, and sheep skin dexterously fitted over the ends, and if noise was the principal desideratum I must admit they were a great success. A local artist, of the scene-painter order of merit, executed a large cartoon in gay colors, which, being fixed upon two long poles, was carried in procession in the form of a large banner. It was intended to represent one of the two opposition candidates holding a working man’s nose to a grindstone, which the other was assiduously turning. Other emblematic devices were not wanting, and were carried in procession amid a deafening noise, varied at inter vals by the voices of the processionists singing “ Cheer, boys cheer,” and o her popular tunes, which made things in Lyttelton uncommonly lively while it lasted. The whole affair was conducted with great good humour and honest mirth, there not being the faintest symptom of drunken rowdyism, notwithstanding the opportunities. The result of the election was accepted as a decisive settlement of the cheap versus dear land question, and the Australian speculators before mentioned, hastened to make their land purchases outside the block, ere the Provincial Council should quadruple the price. There was one amusing episode connected with this election (tho’ we, Fitzgerald’s committee, were grave enough about it at the time) that deserves a passing notice. By the electoral regulations then in force the onus of objecting to any one not entitled to vote remained with the constituency, and a personal service of notice to appear before the R. M. Court was required to be made within a certain time preceding an election. Being a member of Fitzgerald’s committee, I was cognisant of the fact of about fifteen notices being prepared. After a careful scrutiny of the electoral roll, anticipating a very close contest, it was considered of the greatest impoi tance that these notices should be served on. the parties in good time, as they were all cheaplandites. Judge of our chagrin and dismay when, on proceeding to serve the said notices, we found the birds had flown. Some generous philanthropist had chartered one of the small coasters belonging to the port, and invited them to take a cruise to Akaroa, when, after admiring the beauties of that sylvan retreat, they returned from their lengthened picnic, recruited alike in health and sp rits, and with excellent hilarity resolved themselves into the noisiest of the processionists The election of the Superintendent may be considered to have terminated the real nonage of the settlement, though its twentyfirst anniversary was not celebrated until 1871. It was one of Dame Britannia’s very vigorous offspring, and had had the incalculable advantage of first-rate nurses and guardians. As my pretensions do not extend beyond a somewhat desultory record of a few passing incidents of its early childhood, they may fitly terminate here, leaving to abler hands the privilege of narrating the successes and achievements of its malurer years. Christchurch, November 30tb, 1874,

We take the following theatrical items from the Pall Mall Gazette, of November 14th : —The Liverpool papers apeak highly of the revival of Shakspeare’s Henry Y., which Mr Calvert has produced at the Alexandra Theatre. At the Prince of Wales’s Theatre in the same town, Mrs Kousby commenced a twelve nights’ engagement previous to her departure to America, and has appeared as Marie Stuart in Mr Wills’ historical drama “Marie Queen o’ Scots” At Manchester, Miss Bateman is playing in “Leah” at the Theatre Royal; and “ Romeo, and Juliet,” with Miss Leighton, Miss Gainsborough, and Mr Ryder, continues to attract at the Prince’s Theatre. At Birmingham Mr and Min Bandmann are playing at the Prince of Wales's in Othello, Macbeth, and oPum Shakspearian characters ; and at Glasg >\v Miss Ada Cavendish is performing at the Theatre Royal iu “ The New Magdalen.”