CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 48, 6 December 1851, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times.

Sir, —In reply to a letter signed '"Enquirer," which appeared in your number of the 22nd ult., I am to state, that if any persons in this settlement are desirous of procuring' assisted passages in the ships chartered by the Canterbury Association, for their friends in England, and will send in the aanies of the persons on whose behalf they are interested, to this office, Mr. Godley will transmit a recommendation to the Committee that such persons shall receive passages upon two conditions. Ist. That they shall be bound to come within the class to which the regulations of the Association extend. 2nd. That the persons making the application shall give Mr. Godley proper security that they will pay the required proportion of the passagemoney upon tlxe arrival of their friends in the settlement.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, James Edward Fitzgerald, Immigration Office, Lyttelton, Dec. 4, 1851.

The Lord Bishop of New Zealand held a Visitation on Friday sennight at Lyttelton, which was attended by the following clergy;— The Eev. B. W. Dudley, M.A., Incumbent of Lyttelton, the Rev. H. Jacobs, M.A., Tutor of Christchurch College, the Eev. G. T. B. Kingdon, M. A., lucumbent of Christchurch, and the Bey. E. Puckle, Assistant Minister of Christchurch, and the Hamlets adjacent, all of whom took and made the usual oaths and subscriptions, at the last Visitation, and the following clergymen, all of whom signified their desire to assist as opportunity might offer, and their ministrations be acceptable under the direction of the bishop, or under the sanction of his lordship:—The Rev. W. W. Willock, the Eer. J. Wilson, the Eev. O. Mathias, the Rev. E. B. Paul, and the Rev. G. Cotterill. His lordship having expressed a wish to that effect, there were present also J. R. Godley, Esq., Agent of the Canterbury Association, and 0. A. Calvert,Esq., Secretary to the Bishop Designate of the intended See of Lyttelton. The most important portion of the ecclesiastical business transacted on this occasion related to the direction of the clergymen in the temporary absence of the Bishop Designate. Bishop Selwyn, whose every proceeding was marked by the greatest delicacy, and who stated that any arrangement made by him was to be considered as only temporary, and until the erection of the settlement into a separate diocese, proposed ,to nominate two of the clergy, to be cLosin by their brother clergymen, his Commissaries, and whose direction and opinion should be taken as that of himself, in all matters in which such aid was required. The unanimous choice of the ministers present fell upon the Eev. O. Mathias and the Rev. R. B. Paul, who have accordingly, we understand, received the neces?avy powers. His lordship stated that after conferring with the Governor-in-Chief, he had recommended the division of the islands into three dioceses, one of Auckland and the northern portion, another of "Wellington and the central portion, and a tuird of Lyttelton, extending southwards from the 43rd parallel of south latitude. _ In order to give the settlement the benefit of tne ministrations of those unbeneficed clergymen wuo had expressed a desire to be useful, and aiso to meet the wants of the dwellers on the plains, the bishop recommended that the sum of 750/. proposed to be granted by the Associat on, together with the contributions of the people themselves, towards the erection of a durable Church at Christchurch, should be expended in the erection of four or five decent buildings for public worship, in which the clergymen referred to might minister, and thus every inhabited part of the plains might be supplied with a church near at hand. His Lordship expressed himself favourable to the erection of the Collegiate Grammar School, and to that of the church at Lyttelton, upon the plans proposed. Upon every point mooted, the most perfect unanimity prevailed among all the clergy present. The Bishop also appointed the Rev. R. B. Paul to be a Surrogate for granting Marriage Licenses within the Canterbury district; and C. A. Calvert, Esq., M.A., to be his Lordship's Secretary for Local purposes.

On Sunday last Bishop Selwyn held a Maori Service in the Church at Lyttelton, commencing at an early hour, in the course of which nine-

teen Maories were admitted within the pale of the Christian Church by baptism. This interesting ceremony, performed by the Bishop, to use his own words, " gladly, yet with fear and trembling," was followed by an extempore address in the native language, delivered' with much expression and fervour,- —a lively exhortation to various Christian duties, founded on Matt, xii., 36. Of the columns below, that on the left hand . contains the names of these Maories before baptism,—that on the right the names they took therein. Te Whakangari . . Taimona (Simon). Tarewa .... Kinatana Hanita. Te Iwipau . . . Haimora Rewiti. Waeriko . . . Karanama Reihana. Pihurihia . . . Rawiri. Tawiri .... HenariPereita, (Henry Fletcher). Tawha . . . Te Meihana. Te Mutu. . . . Harauera. Te Pori . . . Anaru. Tangiori . . . Wiremu. Popoirau . . . llimeni Hataraka. Te Kaharoa . . . Te Karehana. Hutoi . . . . Matiu. Parekuku . . . Penia Mini. Te Upoko . . . Nikorima. Kiarakau . . . Riwai. Raukohi . . . Ripeka. Pi Ani Patere. Patahe . Erihapeti. In the course of the morning service the holy rite of Confirmation was administered to eighteen young persons belonging to Lyttelton. The Candidates were ranged in front of the communion rails, and received from the Bishop an affectionate and impressive exhortation. His Lordship afterwards preached in behalf of the Australasian Missions, from Isaiah lx. 5, " Your heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." Viewing his audience as fresh in their remembrance of the voyage from the old country, he traced one by one the circumstances that should lead them to indulge in enlarged views and desires, and should prove an antidote to that narrowness which was a besetting failing of every man. The howling storm, the flashinglightning, the view of the greatness of the waters, the new stars that opened up to their sight, including that symbol of their holy religion, the Southern Cross, while others, long familiar at home, sank below the horizon, never perhaps to be again seen by them, and while, at the same time, there were some stars and constellations they could look upon as shining over both hemispheres, and the " bands of Orion," and the " sweet influences of the Pleiades " were alike extended over their native land, and that new land which would probably contain their own and their children's graves ; all these newly begotten idea?, ought, under God's blessing, to minister in them all to enlargement of heart and mind. Was there golden treasure in those hills? they had not come here.merely to dig it. Were there riches of fertility in yonder stretchedout plains ? they must not think all their work was included in their cultivation and development. The tending of flocks and herds on those hill-sides was not to be their only occupation. They had come here, he hoy ed, for higher and nobler purposes, to extend the Kingdom of Christ, and to assist in planting the standard of the Cross in islands where yet it was all but unrecognised and unknown. To some of those islands northward of New Zealand he had lately been, in company with the Bishop of Newcastle, in that mission ship now lying in their harbour, the gift of the neighbouring churches of Sydney and Newcastle. They had found that, attended only by a little child as interpreter, they could gain access to the most barbarous tribes, and be listened to with attention and even respect. Thus a door was opened for the furtherance of that which should be every man's chief object, the spread of gospel blessings. His Lordship concluded by asking the contributions arid cooperation of the congregation. The collection made amounted to 121. 15s.