CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 113, 5 March 1853, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir,—l have long made up my mind that, let youv correspondents, or any one else, abuse or hold me up as much as they please to public contempt or derision, as a helpless " incapable," &c, nothing shall induce me to wage a paperwar with any of them. But as the Lyttelton Times has been long made the channel through, which information, respecting the Canterbury Settlement in New Zealand, has been so extensively circulated in the United Kingdom, I feel satisfied you will lose no time in giving publicity in your columns to this letter. Allow me, therefore, to request your attention to what is given, at the loth page of the " Canterbury Papers," under the head of " Form of Government:" " The Colonists will sail from England as far as possible an organised Society ; and it is the intention of her Majesty's Government to direct that the Settlement of Canterbury may be, if no local obstacles or other unforeseen objections prevent, constituted a distinct Province with a separate Legislature. If this intention be carried out, they will possess institutions of local self-government to an extent unexampled in the history of new colonies in modern times, and the enjoyment of this boon alone would suffice to stamp the Canterbury Settlement with a peculiar character, and to make it especially attractive in the eyes of all who are acquainted with the evils of the opposite system. Its colonists will possess complete powers of self-tax-ation, of legislation upon all matters which concern themselves alone, and of control over all functionaries engaged in local administration, without any interference on the part of other and differently constituted communities, while it is hoped that the care exercised in selecting those colonists, and their general unity of opinion, on topics which form a fertile source of discord at home, will enable them to exercise with peculiar advantage and facility the privileges with, which it is hoped that they will be entrusted." In the margin of a,copy of the " Canterbury Papers," now before me, and opposite the above, I wrote in London the following memorandum in August, 1850 -.—"lllusion. Unless such privileges are at once conceded, they neither can nor will be hereafter. And it is therefore to be regretted that they were, in a measure, even p.romised]as they are to the first body of colonists. I must see to this." Mr. Brittan knows well the part which, from - first to last, I took in the affairs of the Association ; and also that I did see to this. But finding that, even touching upon or agitating such subjects, was seemingly become unpleasant, if not embarrassing to the officiating members of the Committee of Management, (there are marked at the 3rd and 4th pages of the " Canterbury Papers," as Members of the Committee, no less than twenty Bishops, Lords, &c.; but of these Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Hutt, Mr. Halswell, and Mr.Simeon only acted; and to these Messrs. Brittan and Sewell were latterly added by; Lord Lyttelton;) yet I determined that, as I had so much to say to many intending colonists upon these and other subjects, nothing should be wanting on my part so that the real intentions of her Majesty's Government as to them should be distinctly ascertained before the first body should sail for New Zealand. Therefore, with this in view, I drew out a memorial to Earl Grey, and gave it to Mr. Brittan, in order, as he.'was in such high favour with Lord Lyttelton, that he might do, as I expected he would, his best to induce the Committee of Management and some of the leading Colonists to sign it. But no one would either join or support me in what I may term a necessary remonstrance against the Colonists being allowed to sail without an assurance being given by Government that, at least, what had been promised to them in the "Canterbury Papers," should, as soon as possible, be conceded. I am, however, still of opinion, that the Home Government, though they would neither lend nor advance money to promote the grand experiment, having countenanced and supported Lord Lyttelton and his coadjutors in their reckless attempts—especially after it had been ascertained that, in place of 100,000, as calculated upon, only 12,000 acres of land had been sold up to July, 1850—to carry out the wild and impracticable scheme upon which the Canterbury Settlement was founded, they, in some degree, became bound—at least, hud they remained m office—to see that, when the undisposed ol lands of the Canterbury block may come to be sold

upon the same reasonable terms as those in ray two extensive districts, North and South of it, that, in consequence of the unavoidable reduction -which may thus be caused in the value of their lands, compensation, in some shape or other, should be made to the Canterbury Colonists for their losses and disappointments. I have no hesitation in saying that, shonld this assimilation of the price of land take place, I shall not be backward, whether Superintendent or not, in trying to effect something of the kind for them. But, the Report from the Committee of Management of the Canterbury Association, presented on the 15th of July last, is indeed a " gem of the first water," of which you may well be proud; as it is, in a great measure, a reflex of what were so ably adduced in your columns as to the present great and increasing prosperity of the Settlement, under Mr. Godley's rule, as Agent of the Association, and also as Chairman of the Canterbury Justices ; to which office he contrived to have himself elected,after cashiering the Resident-Magistrate ; and thus, in fact, appointing himself absolute Dictator of the Settlement. After an elaborate and self-congratulatory preamble on the part of the Committee, for what they have, as colonizers, achieved for the colonists, and all they did to obtain for us a Constitution, for which, in fact, we are chiefly, if not entirely, entitled to Sir George Grey, they go on to tell us that— Clause 12. " Your Committee have witnessed with unqualified satisfaction the passing of the recent Constitution Act. which has i transferred to the colony itstlf the future control of its local affairs. One principal feature of that measure, is the division of the colony into Provinces, of which Canter- i bury will be one. Its limits will be fixed by the Governor, and will include and necessarily extend beyond the Canterbury • Block. 13. " The Province so formed will (in common with the others) possess within itself the amplest powers of local self-govern-ment. 14. " All legislative, as well as executive authority, will be, in a great measure, vested in the colonists themselves, restricted only as regards matters of general and imperial concern. 15. iC An elective legislative body will be established, with full power to make laws relating to all local affairs, with the consent of a Superintendent, himself elective, subject only to the disallowance of the Governor-in-Chief. 17. « The constitution of such a legislative body is, in fact, the completion and end of the work which your Association undertook. To that body we must look for the continuance and development of the plan which you have originated ; and looking to the character of the present settlers, and the principles by which they are likely to be governed, your Committee feel that it may with confidence, as it must of necessity, be intrusted to them. 20. "No persons can be more deeply sensible than themselves of the futility of all attempts at regulating, in this country, that important branch of colonial economy, the disposal and management of waste lands. All attempts of the kind have hitherto been little more than successions of mistakes. 21. "The experience of your Committee has added another testimony to this truth, and though it has confirmed their belief in the general soundness of the principles on Ayhich your undertaking was planned, particularly as regards the price of land, and the part application of its proceeds to religious and educational objects, it has satisfied them, that even these questions, and a fortiori all matters of detail and regulation, must, with a view to establishing a sound system on a permanent basis, be "entrusted to the colonists themselves. 31. "With a more direct view to such an object, your Committee sought for and obtained the introductiun of a clause in the bill, enabling them to transfer to the Provincial Legislature of Canterbury the special functions and privileges vested in the Association. 32 " The 76th Clause of the Act provides for that object, and enables you to make such transfer sudject, to such terms as may be arranged between yourselves and the Provincial Legislature.

34. " You will observe that a simple transfer of power under that clause would have the effect of placing the Provincial Legislature in the same position as the Association itself, invested with like functions and subject to like disabilities and restrictions. 35. " Your powers are two-fold, those derived under Charter, and those conferred on you by Act of Parliament. 36. " Your Charter has created you a permanent corporation, for a fixed and continuing purpose, viz.: to found a colony for the reception of immigrants of the Church of England, and for the maintenance of religious and educational institutions, in connection with that church. Under these powers, coupled with special provisions in your Act of 1851, you hold in permanence endowments for religious and educational purposes; you also hold extensive and valuable property, such as wharves, buildings, and land, appropriated for public purposes, but subject to your absolute control. Your Act of 1850 gave you a limited and temporary control over the lands in the Canterbury Block; you were to exercise your power of selling land there for a term of ten years—renewable if thought fit—but subject to be resumed in various events— in particular in the event of your not selling £50,000 worth of land in each year, ending the Ist of March. 37. "Your Act of 1851 added further powers of regulation, but did not alter the essential conditions of the former Act. 38. " Thus you will perceive that the functions which are to be the subject of transfer under the 76th clause of "the new Government Act will be:— " Ist, Those of a permanent and fixed nature, created by charter. " 2nd, Those temporary and conditional powers vested in you by Act of Parliament. 40. " After stating various particulars as regards the quantity of land sold, the present position of the Association, the claims of the Crown and the New Zealand Company, and the disputes with that body, who have laid claim to the whole Miscellaneous Fund, the report sets forth a proposal to be embodied in an official letter to the colonial office, and to be recommended to the New Zealand Company, containing specific suggestions. 41. "It embraces also a general outline of the terms on which it is proposed to transfer the Association's functions to the colonists under the 76th section of the new Act, viz.:—that the colony shall provide for the outstanding liabilities, receiving a transfer of the Association's property; and that a suitable trust shall be created for the management of the ecclesiastical and educational fund. 42. "As regards future land sales, the Committee propose to complete all pending transactions, and for that purpose to keep open the land sales in this country till the 30th September next, after which they will cease in this country. 43. " But referring to the claims made by the New Zealand Company upon the Miscellaneous Fund, the report runs thus:— The result at which your Committee have arrived, and which they submit to you as their deliberate judgment, is—that clogged with so large a payment to the New Zealand Company as is now insisted on, it will be generally inexpedient to continue the system of selling land in this country. Looking to the unfinished state of the works in the colony, particularly the road between the Port and the Plains, and to the comparatively small sum exacted from other settlements towards the Company's debt, they think it would be impolitic and unjust to charge the Settlement of Canterbury with a tax so oppressive and unequal. 49. " As regards the prospects of the colony itself, your Committee are happy to state that, notwithstanding groundless rumours to the contrary, the latest intelligence gives no cause for apprehension of its having suffered from the gold discoveries of Aus° tralia. * 51. " The same advices describe the state of the colony as at that time in the highest degree promising. Stock was being fast imported; population was increasing; a large breadth of land was under cultiva-

tion; towns were rapidly vising; and churches and schools were being built at Lyttelton and Christchurch. 52. " It would be right to notice one great drawback to the progress of the colony, namely—the incomplete state of the road' from Port Lyttelton to the Plains. 54. " When this is accomplished there seems little doubt as to the advancement of the Settlement. 55. " That work will have to be done by the efforts and through the means ofnhe colonists themselves. But there appears every reason to believe that the revenue, of which they will shortly have the control, will prove sufficient for the purpose, and they will have full powers of local legislation. 56. "your Committee conclude by expressing their general satisfaction at the result of their labours. * * .* Many miscalculations may, no doubt, have been made, and some disappointments experienced, but these are inseparable incidents to such undertakings. As a general result, a new and highly promising colony has been formed, which may be looked to in the terms of the charter as, in a special manner, suited for the reception of immigrants of the Church of England. 57. " Much, no doubt, remains for the colonists themselves to do under the powers conferred by the new Act; but, possessing those powers, your Committee are confident they will not fail to complete the work in which many of them were engaged actively from the first. Through their instrumentality and co-operation, your Committee look forward to the establishment of the Canterbury Settlement on its original principles, more firmly and permanently than would be practicable through any distant agency in this country." This report, obviously intended for the British public only, contains no less than fiftyseven clauses, and of these, being anxious as much as possible to condense, I have given but twenty-four, as, I may say, they contain the whole substance, which amounts to little more than this—that, certainly a high class settlement, superior in point of rank in society, education and intelligence, to any other of the Empire, has been formed in the great Middle District of the Middle Island—whether judiciously or not, it is for the Canterbury Colonists themselves to judge from the results—which, will, I trust, now go rapidly ahead, and of which the Canterbury block is not one-fourth of the extent. But any one desirous of perusing the whole report, and deciding for himself whether I have' fairly curtailed, can refer to the Lyttelton Times of the 25th December last; in which, I was almost as much surprised to see it brought to the notice of so intelligent a public as that of New Zealand, in general, as I was in England, when I found that the Committee of Management had given publicity in the " Canterbury Papers," and also in the London Times of the 19th December, 1849, to Bishop Selwyn's famous letter to them. I still agree with the sarcastic Bishop that it is a pure delusion to talk of successfully founding a colony at once, and that it is a very pretty analogy to think of Minerva coming forth full armed out of the head of Jupiter. But a more wasteful scheme could not have been devised than that of congregating large bodies of settlers at once upon the same spot, requiring at once the same supplies, and tempted by their discomforts and necessities to acquiesce in the most extortionate prices for everything they bought; so that the money which they brought out with them was unavoidably wasted, in place of being usefully applied to establishing themselves upon their rural lands which, until they are enclosed, and in some measure brought into cultivation, are of little or no value. But it seems of late years to have been altogether forgotton or overlooked that, of old, almost all the settlements of Europeans, in various parts of the world were, in the first instance, formed by slave—that is, cheap labour. The United States of America, New South Wales, and Van Diemen's Land are not exceptions ; for what are convicts but slaves, who laboured for the public, as for the individuals to whom they were assigned, and who provided them with, food, raiment, and shelter only; and by the sweat of whose brows so many fine plantations and estates were brought into -profitable cultivation. But a question has now forced itself upon public attention, particularly since the

discoveries of gold in Australia, and it is one of vast importance—can they be kept so, or can the numberless flocks and herds scattered over its vast surface be any longer rendered sufficiently remunerative to their owners by what is termed Free Labour ? One thing, however, is certain that there cannot possibly be successful colonization in any part of the world where land is not low priced, and where moderately priced labour is not readily to be had. But allow me now to ask you, Mr. Editor, and the Electors of the Canterbury Province in general—for you are one and all interested— what do you think of the great bargain so liberally offered to you by the Managing Committee of the Canterbury Association, as set forth in the clause of their report which I have numbered 41 ? And are you prepared to elect as your Representatives in the Provincial Council, gentlemen willing to accept a transfer of the functions of which the Committee are so desirous of divesting themselves ? At all events, I should advise you to elect no one to the Provincial Council who will not pledge himself to have nothing whatever to say to the trusteeship of the Ecclesiastical or Educational Funds, or 'to the debts or outstanding liabilities of the Canterbury Association or its Managing Committee. Let those who, without the Canterbury Colonists' knowledge, or consent, contracted those debts, look to the liquidation of them ; as Sir John Pakington seems wisely to think they ought, before he can sanction the transfer of tbe functions and outstanding liabilities of the Association to the local Government. I am, Sir, your very obedient servant, James Campbell, Commissioner of Crown Lands, &c. Akaroa, Feb. 24, 1853.