The Globe. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 15, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 751, 15 November 1876, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 15, 1876.

We are pleased to observe that steps are being taken to present Mr. Eolleston with a testimonial, on the occasion of his retirement from the office of Superintendent of Canterbury. We feel sure that the movement will meet with the almost universal support of the people of this province. Few Superintendents have succeeded so well as Mr Eolleston has, in winning the respect and esteem of the people of their provinces. It has therefore been felt, by his political friends as well as his opponents, that the present opportunity should not be allowed to pass without in some fitting manner recognising his services. A few people may perhaps ask, what have those services been? and what has Mr. Eolleston done for Canterbury more than many other of her public men ? His name is not associated, like that of Mr. Moorhouse, with any special great and lasting work. This may be true. But the evidence of Mr. Eolleston’s work is to be met with in all parts of the province. It is only necessary to compare the present condition of the province with what it was when he first took office. Then trade was stagnant; our provincial revenue was at a very low ebb ; and our land sales were a mere tithe of what they now are. The prospects of the province were gloomy indeed, and commerce, as a consequence, suffered. Such was the state of the province when Mr. Eolleston was induced to accept the office of Superintendent. The task which he undertook was not one which was likely to lead to immediate and general popularity. A system of prudent economy had to be introduced into the administration of affairs of the province, to which for many years it had been a stranger. In the course of a year or so this course began to* tell. Our provincial finances assumed a healthier tone. Our land sales gradually increased. The consequence was that, before the great scheme of immigration and public works was announced, Canterbury was doing the same work herself. Our railway extensions were being pushed forward, both to the north and to the south. Of course our progress then was not so rapid as it has been of late years, but no one could question its soundness. When the public works scheme was promulgated, Canterbury was in a position to take full advantage of it, so that the present high state of prosperity which characterises the province of Canterbury is to a considerable extent due to the wise administration of her affairs during the early years of Mr. Eolleston’s Super* intendentship.

The Synod of the Church of England brought its very protracted session to a close last night. Its proceedings have been characterised by much wordiness, and little work. The disposition to expend one’s superabundant energy in talk has been found to prevail this year in various assemblies. Not only in the General Assembly of New Zealand has this disposition been found to prevail, as we know to our cost, but also in the Parliament of .New South Wales it is complained that the same symptoms showed themselves, and the Sydney correspondent of the Australasian charges the same fault upon the Church of England 6ynod meeting in that city, The (KicQathw logtmdi) thereto, he

attributed to the atmosphere. The fever is in the air. The Synod, which has just “ closed its labours,” has really done little else than talk. The whole of the business done may be contained in about twelve of fifteen resolutions. An examination of the sheaf of order papers, which indicates the subjects under discussion will show that the larger number of attempts to legislate were either abortive or futile. 11l considered schemes and resolutions were brought up and discussed issuing in the loss of much valuable time—and were either rejected, thrown out on points of order, or withdrawn in order to receive more careful preparation. Speaking without book, we should say that the case of fully a hundred resolutions and regulations falls under the above description. Doubtless the resolutions actually passed will prove of value to the members of the Church of England. The “burning question” of ritualism did not make its appearance in the Synod at all, unless indeed, it came in the resolutions respecting the New Zealand Church News, in which case the question was so disguised that neither its friends nor its foes recognised it.