The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, August 30, 1851.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 34, 30 August 1851, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, August 30, 1851.

The Memorial to His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief from the inhabitants of Canterbury, requesting that this settlement may be constituted a separate province, is now in the course of signature. We believe it will be largely, almost universally signed. , After the public demonstration which has taken place we have no doubt as to^the manner in which this Memorial will be supported. But we feel it our duty to call upon ourfellow-colonists,whilsturging them to lose no time in giving this final testimony to their opinions, not to forget the words in which Mr. Godley concluded his speech at Lyttelton. " I have not, I trust, exaggerated the benefits to be expected from the measure which I advocate, I have not concealed from you my conviction that there is serious danger of its being carried out so as to do more harm than good." Especially it is our duty to repeat that " if notwithstanding this danger we have the courage to ask for this measure," we must be prepared " after having obtained it, to resist manfully any de-

lasions and abuses which may be imposed on us under its cover." Now it is idle for us to conceal from ourselves the real danger which does exist. It must never be absent one moment from our minds, that from the day of the Proclamation constituting this settlement into a separate province, patronage to the amount of \ six thousand pounds a year will be placed at the disposal of the Government, and that the improper use of this patronage will inflict deep and lasting injury upon our settlement. There are two evils to be dreaded. First, lest the officers of Government should be needlessly multiplied; secondly, lest unfit persons should be appointed to fill them. The whole history of Colonial Government affords the most formidable testimony of the amount of the danger in the former case. The difference between the cost of a modern Colonial Government and that of one of the early North American.colonies is almost incredible. Yet' the Government of the settlements in North'1 America must have been sufficient, for under it scattered villages expanded into mighty states. But there are peculiar reasons for dreading the second evil, —an abuse, of the patronage by the appointment of unfit persons. Sir George Grey has shadowed out the policy which he proposes to, pursue, in a despatch addressed to Earl Grey on the 22nd of October, 1849. His Excellency there says, that upon the supposition of several new provinces being made, it will be possible " to keep the expenditure upon account of their several governments within very narrow limits, and even considerably to reduce the expenditure on account of the government establishment in the existing provinces, by transferring officers to the provinces which might hereafter be established." It is hardly possible not to remark in passing the" direct confession which this pregnant sentence affords of the unnecessary expence of the existing establishments. For if officers may be thus " transferred," without injury to the public service, of course they cannot be wanted where they are. New provinces are not required merely to divide territory, but because new settlements and new masses of population have appeared. The quantity of government requisite at Wellington is neither increased nor diminished by the creation of Otago. The conclusion, therefore, is unavoidable, that^there are officials in the existing province who are not wanted :we have the authority of the Governor-in-Chief for the fact that the present government establishments are overofficered. That question is at rest for ever. Let us pass, however, to the particular manner in which we are affected by the blunder thus recognised, and the policy by which it is proposed to be remedied. It seems that the new provinces, Canterbury of course included, are to be the receptacles for the useless, cast off, or inefficient officials from Auckland or Wellington It is not to be supposed that the public seryants will he promoted from an old and comparatively wealthy, to a new and comparatively poor settlement. That is not likely. In these rettsarks let us not be misunderstood for a moment to refer to any individual appointment which may have taken place ; we shall never be backward in doing justice to the merits of all who may come among us. We speak of a system:—and we say if the words thus used by His Excellency mean any thing at all, they give us cause to dread the practical application of the meaning which we suggest. The best public servants will not be sent to the new provinces. The worst, we fear, will. The opportunity will not be lost of removing- men who have incurred the dislike, or awakened the jealousy of their superiors. Rumours have reached ,us already which would attribute to such an ulterior design His Excellency's unac-

customed alacrity, in appealing to the people, upon a great question of government, as he has done in this of the separation of Canterbury. We hope these rumours are false. The manner in which our reply is received will test Sir George Grey's sincerity. We shall see whether he really wanted to know whether we wished for local self-government, or whether he was laying a trap for the new corners, making them the stalking horse for a design of relieving himself of difficulties in his own political relations in other parts of his government. We^ earnestly hope this is a false alarm. We are very loth to doubt the sincerity and integrity of the Representative of Her Majesty. But this we say advisedly, that should Canterbury be created a separate province,and should those other conditions named in the resolutions passed at the Meeting not be fulfilled, a grosser piece of treachery will never have b£#n perpetrated in all the annals of colonial misgovernment. We have asked for a separate province, if we can get it without " pageantry and display,"—without unnecessary expence : and we have pledged ourselves to a man, " manfully to resist any delusions and abuses which may be imposed onus under the cover of that measure."

Last week we had the painful task of copying from the Wellington papers an account of the melancholy death of Mb. Wm. Deans. But a loss so deeply and universally felt in this community cannot be passed over, without some record of his career in the colony. Mr. William Deans, of Riccarton, near Ayr, in Scotland, was one of the first body of Wellington colonists. He arrived at that place in the Aurora, the first emigrant ship which cast anchor in Port Nicholson, on the 22nd of January, 1840. He first located himself at Okiwi, or Hawtrey Bay, on the eastern shore or that harbour. Soon afterwards, he formed one of an exploring-party, which examined the country between Wellington and New Plymouth. In tlie next year, Mr. William Deans made a voyage for the purpose of exploring this part of New Zealand; and he formed so high an opinion of the capabilities of the country, that he returned to Riccarton, accompanied by his brother, who had then arrived from Scotland, and placed upon the plain its first stock of sheep, horses, and cattle. From that time till the arrival of the colonist fleet in December last, the two brothers have been essentially the settlers of the Port Cooper Plains. When Captain Thomas was collecting information as to the capabilities of this district for the Canterbury Settlement, the Messrs. Deans furnished him and his staff with the most ample and valuable results of their experience, and extended to them unbounded hospitality and assistance. This amiable conduct was continued up to the period of the arrival of the colonists. Of them, there can hardly be many who have not experienced some kindness from the owners of the farm-house at Riccarton. Gratitude must be felt, not so much for the bountiful and yet unostentatious good cheer offered to all comers, as for the kind manner in which information was imparted, and the desire evinced to smooth the way for their inexperienced fellow-men. Mr. William Deans was placed in the Commission of the Peace for the Province of New Minister in the year 1850, and was the senior unpaid magistrate residing in this district. In that capacity, he was summoned to take his seat in the Legislative Council of New Zealand ; but he declined to do so on the score of pie-occupation by his private affairs. The Wellington papers relate how much our poor friend was esteemed there. The grief of the Canterbury settlers may not surpass, but it does not fall short of, that of those earlier friends. We venture to hope that it may in some measure alleviate the.blow to his sorrowing relations, to be assured how sincerely Wiiliain Deans was honored and respected by his brother colonists.

Thursday night brought in the «* Dominion " from London with emigrants to the number of 120, ten or twelve of whom are for Otago. It may not be generally known that the fin* organ brought from England for that purpose, has been erected in the church at Christchurch, and was used there for the first time in Divine service last Sunday, with great effect, Mr. Baton being the organist. We understand that the Fire Committee have in the past week taken steps for the immediate employment of a night watchman. The hut behind the barracks, known as the " Sailors home," afforded the Brigade an opportunity of getting their hands in on Wednesday night— there being no winu,the fire was happily confined to the wharre where it originated.