CHRISTCHURCH COLONISTS' SOCIETY

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 78, 3 July 1852, Page 10

CHRISTCHURCH COLONISTS' SOCIETY

A meeting- of tins society was held on Tuesday evening at the White Hart Inn, Christchurch, under the presidency of Mr. Tancral. lue meeting, though not very numerous was most respectably attended, and the marked attention to, and interest displayed in the preliminary proceedings and subsequent discussions by all present, agreeably surprised those who baa anticipated differently from the rumours winch had flown abroad of the proceedings of a previous meeting-. °

1 lie Chairman, on opening the proceedings, shul,—Our meetings have hitherto have been merely preliminary, and solely for the purpose of fnuniufr rules, &c, and appointing officers. U c now meet for the first time with a view of realizing those objects, which we originally contemplated. Interested as I f ee l i n the success of our experiment, I hope I shall not be trespassingtoo tnudi on your time if I offer a few remarks upon points connected with our position and prospects ; and I feel it the morn incumbent upon me to do so because considerable misapprehension seems to prevail, as to the real tendency of our

proceedings. It is useless to deny that a small, but, from their station and influence, a respectable minority, look upon us with distrust and suspicion. It -would be a useless and unprofitable %vaste of time to enquire, for what reasons these gentlemen keep so studiously aloof from us, in as much as their reasons—whatever they may he are only of two months' standing. But two short months have elapsed since the whole body of land-purchasers, in public meeting assembled —came to the unanimous conviction that " the lime had arrived when a general organization of all the inhabitants of tlie settlement was desirable," and even their president, (hear) seized—as it would now appear—with some unaccountable fit of democratic frenzy, gave it as his deliberate opinion, that the new society should include "every male inhabitant of the settlement." Where is now this president, and where are these land-purchasers ? (Hear, hear.) Some mysterious change seems to have come over the greater number of them, and they now condemn what before they so earnestly desired. This much I may say, in answer to those originators of oar Society, who now appear so horror-struck at what they themselves called into existence. Besides these, however, there is another class of objectors, who—without positively condemning—hesitate to join us, hecause they do not see what good we shall effect. To these a more explicit answer is due ; they may, at least, claim the merit of not having stultified their own acts. If it is meant by this objection to imply, that our society will in no way contribute to the increase of our material prosperity ; that it is not calculated to make our fields return a larger produce, nor our sheep a heavier clip of wool; that it will not enable its members to grow more cabbages nor sell more potatoes ; in short, that it will not make us any richer than we are at present: I admit that it will do none of these things. But while appreciating, at its full value, the duty of caring for our own interests, and providing properly for our physical wants, I would ask, whether, after having done this, there remains nothing further for us to do ? Does buying and selling—eating, drinking, and sleeping—form the only end of human existence? Gentlemen, if we had no nobler faculties than " the beasts which perish," these things would be sufficient for us, but, as reasonable and immortal beings, we have higher duties than these to perform; nobler wants than these to satisfy. Our minds, not less than our bodies, require care and culture. It is then for the iurtherance of this object, and as a means of providing for these wants, that I look upon this society as calculated to become a public benefit. By meeting together here for the purposes of friendly discussion, the best of us may hope to learn something he did not know before.—The wisest and most learned need not disdain to listen to the humblest and most ignorant; for ignorant, indeed, must that man be who cannot contribute one new fact, nor add one new idea to the common stock. (Hear.) Beading, even where the supply of books is plentiful, is not always the surest road to knowledge, nor the most effectual way of cultivating the understanding. A great amount of information is insensibly acquired by holding intercourse with our fellow-men, and many new ideas are suggested while listening to or joining a conversation which interests us. There is a certain degree of animation and excitement inspired by_ a well-conducted argument, which is looked for in vain in the cold and formal pages of a book. The mind of man takes a natural delight in that kind of teaching which appeals not to the understanding only, but to the feelings, the imagination, in short, to the whole man, calling all his powers and faculties into pleasurable activity ; and things thus learned with delight are not soon forgotten, but " leave their stings in the minds and memories of the hearers." (Hear, hear.) These, gentlemen, are the kind of benefits which we may expect to result from the establishment of this Society, and so far I believe no one will venture to dispute the soundness of our principles. But then it is objected, that even admitting mental cultivation to be of some importance, would not this end be answered by means of an Athenaeum or some institution established on the basis of excluding politics? I answer at once, it would not. I could give many reasons for this assertion ; but I will confine myself to one, because perhaps the most obvious, and certainly the one which the history of the world lays down as the most indisputable. Search that history, look through the records of past ages, and tell me of one single nation, which after neglecting its public affaire and giving itself up exclusively to the study of the fine arts, has not rapidly sunk into feebleness and decay. 1 do not mean to say that the cultivation of the arts and sciences has no benf ficial effects, all I say is that it is not an unmixed good; that it may be carried to a vicious excess, a-.id that while it imparts a certain softness and refinement to the mind, it also exercises a corrupting and enervating influence. And of this those despotic governments have been aware which have succeeded most effectually in enslaving their subjects ; for while they have encouraged to the utmost the highest development of mental culture in all those branches of learning which have no reference to actually existing circumstances, they have at the same time suppressed

every kind of knowledge that might lead people to f. rm independent opinions on questions of every day life and practical importance. The study of political questions, on the other hand, though not possessing that softening and refining quality, has yet a merit peculiar to itself; that of imparting a vigour and decision to the character, which it is not in the power of mere general literature to confer. These then, gentlemen, are the chief uses of this Society, that it will give us opportunities of talking over subjects of general interest, that it will promote habits of thought and reflection amongst us: that we shall learn to look at questions from different points of view, and thus to come to sound conclusions and adopt fixed principles of action. We shall then be in a position to think and act like men, and when consulted on any point, to proclaim boldly and decidedly what opinions we hold. This is our mission, and I doubt not that if we keep these objects steadily in view, we shall be able to live down all those unmeaning prejudices which our opponents so unreasonably entertain against us." (Cheers).

Mr. Fitton culled the attention of the meeting to the fact that two Vice-Chairmen had been elected, they having received an equal number of votes. Under these circumstances, and disclaiming1 any personal feeling, he wished to know how the question had been decided. Mr. Wakefield said that the Committee had been somewhat perplexed upon the subject, and had left it for Mr. Twigger, one of the elected vice-chairmen, (the other not being present,) to decide, who had given the casting vote in favour of himself.

A very long- discussion ensued, many members holding that a man could not elect himself, and therefore proposed that the election be held null and void, and that a new election should take place. This was however objected to by others who seemed to consider it a purely personal question that Mr Twigger should not be called upon to resign. Ultimately the sense of the meeting was taken, when the chairman declared that Mr. Twigger's election was confirmed. A great number abstained from expressing any opinion.

The Secretary, Mr. Wakefield, then read a long and able report which the Sub-Committee had drawn up relative to the Provincial Councils' Ordinance.

The report, which we regret our inability from want of space to publish, contained a valuable summary of all information that could be collected on the subject. It was listened to with deep attention, and adopted with thanks to the Sub-Committee for the able and efficient manner in which it had been drawn up. Mr. Packer, after making some observations with respect to the desirability of removing their meetings from an inn, which, though most respectably conducted, yet laid their proceedings open to the would-be-witticisms of their opponents, as had already been the case at the expense of their worthy Chairman and Vicechairman, moved, and Mr. Joyce seconded, " That it be taken into consideration whether the society cannot erect a building for its own use; such building to be erected by the members subscribing the required amount in £l shares." Adopted, and a Committee formed to take the necessary steps. The meeting then, after a vote of thanks to the chairman,' bvoke up at 10 o'clock.