The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 6, 15 February 1851, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

SATURDAY, February 15, 1851

Monday nest will he one of the most important days in the Chronicles of the Canterbury Colony. At nine o'clock in the morning, the land-office will open at Christchurch, and all the applications. sent in by those who are among the first portion of the first body who have purchased land in England, will be opened and considered ; and the'purchasers put in legal possession of their estates.

Notwithstanding the busy ""scene that Lyttelton has exhibited during the past six weeks, nothing has yet been really done towards the permanent establishment of the colony. Nor could it be otherwise. A great many houses have been built at Lyttelton'; —a number of stores opened ; —every symptom of the growing prosperity of a toivn has been displayed. But the progress of Lyttelton is entirely speculative. Towns depend generally on counties ; —they can only exist when they become depots for merchandise or convenient spots for manufactures. Lyttelton can only prosper by becoming the mart for the produce of the district; and all that has yet been done, has been on the speculation that an import and export trade will secure the existence and prosperity of a port town. On Monday the first steps will be taken towards realizing the expectations which have been] excited. The Land-Purchasers will be transformed into Land-Owners. Each man will begin to establish himself on his own property, to build houses, to cultivate the land, and to, buy cattle and sheep, and to invest capital in permanent improvements. The tents whose snowy canvass add so much to the picturesque appearance of our hill-sides, will be struck in a few days, and will reappear on some distant part of the plains; and their occupants instead of drawing upon, will be engaged in supplying, the .resources of the town. The multitude of huts and hovels in which employers and labourers have taken temporary shelter, will be deserted or. destroyed, and make room for those permanent buildings which the labour of their present tenants, when applied to the land/wilL of necessity call into existence. We are far from wishing to puff off our settlement, or unduly to extol any of the management of its founders. But it is fair to say that in no settlement hitherto founded has there been, as far as we aro aware, less loss of time in putting the first body in possession of their land. Whatever difference 1: of opinion there may exist as to the wisdom of many of the clauses of the terms of purchase, and still more as to the legal interpretation which they may bear, (and it must needs be that many such differences of opinion should exist where so many interests are to be

consulted, and so much anxiety for the future is unavoidable,) —we do say that if the colonists do not get upon their land at once, and set to work without delay, and in earnest, to expend their capital so as to produce a profitable return, they will have no one but themselves to blame. It'may be every one will not get the exact spot upon which he has set his heart; it may be he will be prohibited from taking his section of precisely the shape he anticipated ; very likely he will have much difficulty in making up his mind as to, the locality most adapted to his wants : but this will still remain,—that he will have obtained, if he choose, a most excellent piece of land for his money, land which fully comes up in every quality to the representations which he believed in England, when he made the purchase. It is unavoidable that some disappointment should arise ; but we think that if any land purchaser, who is disappointed in being able to obtain his favourite locality, use his privilege of choice with discretion in the selection which he actually does make, and then manage his affairs with prudence and energy, he will in a few fyears come to the conclusion, that it was of very little consequence, his failing to obtain the spot to which he first took a fancy. The real truth is, there is good land enough for all, and for ten times as many as those who form the first body of colonists; —for ten times as many, even in the country of the Christchurch district; but vast tracts of land, said by some who have visited them to be quite as valuable, lie in the more distant parts of the Canterbury district, which afford many a lovely site for a homestead and farm for multitudes of colonists to come.

Two months have not yet elapsed since the arrival of the colonists, and in the course of next week every one of them may, if he please it, be hard at work on his farm.

This, after all, is the really important result ; —important in a degree, compared to which individuals being unable to follow accurately the dictates of their fancy, in choosing one good piece of land, instead of another, is of little moment. If, therefore, our voice could have any weight in the proceedings on Monday, we would venture to ;-iitreat that no obstruction of any kind should be offered by - individuals to the speedy and satisfactory settlement of the choices of land. Every one is deeply interested in this ; the colony becoming independent of all supplies is a question which will affect every one. The colonists getting speedily and quietly on their land is the first step to this result. We do therefore earnestly hope that all will be prepared with their choices, and that whatever individual disappointment may be felt, it may not <lefe'troy mutual good will, or paralyze active exertion. For thus, it is our conviction, the interests of the colony and of individuals, will be best consulted.