CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 170, 8 April 1854, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttclton Times. Sir, —A system of farming which would prolong the season of seed-time, and extend the duration of harvest, -would afford valuable agricultural advantages which none but farmers inconvenienced by a scarcity of labour, can rightly appreciate. Judging from our past experience, the advantages alluded to are easily secured, by sowing a portion of the oat and barley crops in autumn/and reaping at midsummer, instead of, as hitherto, sowing exclusively in Spring, and reaping in Autumn. In England, this system cannot be adopted because similar crops sown at a corresponding season would be liable to material injury from the severity of the winter, but here where the winters are mild, the growth of grain is continuous, and on all light dry soils, where the crop is not likely to suffer from surface water in winter, an abundant yield and early maturity will be the certain result. This assertion is supported hy the experience of a Rev. gentleman in the neighbourhood of Christchurch who, last autumn, sowed a portion of a field with oats, and early in January reaped, he conceives, not less than 80 bushels per acre. Another gentleman, in the town of Christchurch, sowed an acre of barley about the end of April, and reaped an excellent crop early in December. These instances, with many others that might easily be adduced, are sufficient to establish the perfect practicability of the autumn sowing of oats and barley, and their consequent early ripening and productiveness, thus extending the duration of harvest from December to March, usually the finest period of the year, enabling farmers, within themselves, to secure much of their own crops, and thus defeat extortion by a prudent exercise of the colonial superlative virtue of self-reliance. I am, Sir, Yours truly, W. Wilson. Christchurch. MaT. 29, 1854.

To the Editor of the LyHelton limes. Sir.—Your correspondent "Festina Lente" in last Saturday's paper, presuming the communication between the Port and the Plains to be by railway, assumes that it must be by steam, and that "we could not expect the steam to be put on for every individual wishing to go between the port and Christenurch." N^w, Sir. it does not follow because we have a railroad, we must have a steam engine to ply between the two places. The cost of a steam could not be less than £1400, besides the cost of an engineer and fireman, which would be considerable in the course of a twelve-month. All this expense however would in a great degree be avoided by employing horse power instead of steam, which would answer every purpose until the projected towns of Oxford and Cambtidge, as laid down by the Canterbury Association, were peopled, and a more rapid and extended communication was required between the Port and those towns. Such was the perfection to which railways in the year 1825 had arrived, that on a level line a single horse could draw with ease a load of 15 or 20 tons, besides the weight of all the carriages. Since then railways are so remarkably improved that we may now reckon upon a still greater increase in the powers of traction. Some of your readers may probably recollect that in 1825 the celebrated Stock ton and Darlington railway was opened wi.en the above facts were practically demonstrated and for five years prior to the opening of the Liverpool and Mauches-

ter railway, coaches were regularly plying between 'the two, towns on that railway. Each coach was drawn by a sir.gle horse;, and carried six inside and twenty outside passengers, with a due proportion of luggage, and the general speed was at the rate of 10 and 12 miles an hour. The above may appear an enormous load for one horse to run with and at such speed, yet we are told the animal appeared to make scarcely any exertion, certainly not so much as a horse in a common gig. The rapidity and smoothness of the motion, and the ease with which the animal drew his load, was surprising. It was only occasionally he appeared to give the traces a pull, and even where there was a slight ascent the traces hung quite loose, and the greatest exertion the animal then appeared to make was in keeping up his own motion. Now, Sir, this mode of conveyance would at the present and for some time to come, answer the requirements of this province, and more especially the towns of Lyttelton and Christchurch, and the expense of running carriages and conveyances three or four times a day would be very trifling in comparison with those of a locomotive engine. The road might be made of a sufficient width to allow a horse and cart to pass along, which could be laid down with another line of rails as soon as the increased demands of the inhabitants of the towns and villages which it is reasonable to hope will ere long stud the plains should require it. By substituting horse for locomotive power at present, the cheapness of travelling to and from Christchurch, would be an additional recommendation, and could perhaps be accomplished without loss at one shilling per head each way for passengers, with a very moderate charge for goods as compared with the present high rates by water ; avoiding also great delay and inconvenience to parties in the delivery of goods sent from Lyttelton to Christchurch by water arising from contrary winds, to say nothing of the great risk, damage, and loss of goods occasioned by the bar at Sumner, to which small vessels and their cargoes are more or less subject to, and occasionally meet with at all seasons of the year. Before this can be carried out T am aware considerable expense mnst be incurred in forming a railroad between Lyttelton and Christchurch, but as a direct communication between these towns and the Plains, is absolutely essential for the prosperity of the Settlement, the sooner it is made the better ; if it be worked even by locomotive power ; nor do I think " such a work" if undertaken "in the present state of the settlement would be a disastrous waste of money," • seeing the great and more than adequate ad\antages which must at all times thereafter result from it. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, He mo.

To the Editor of the Lyitellan Times. SiR,--Although your correspondent, "A Member of the Provincial Council," declines entering into discussion with me, perhaps he will oblige me so far as to inform me where I have charged the Provincial Council with playing into the hands of the Association ; as I confess I am at a loss to conceive how anything I have written could be tortured into such a meaning. It is true I doubted the correctness of His Honor's interpretation of a clause in the Constitutional Act, but I expressed no doubt of his integrity. I also stated that 1 thought it behoved every colonist to enquire strictly in:o the title of the Association to the lands in dispute, and if they agreed with me to urge most strongly upon our representatives the necessity of asserting our rights over them. In another part

of my letter I mentioned that 1 had heard that the Provincial Council were eno-a^ed in investigating the accounts with a view to the purchase of the lands, and suggested whether it would not be better first to ascertain if Mr. Sewell had any right to sell at all. All this, however, has nothing to" do with imputation of motives, good or bad—and yet I am not aware I made any further allusion to either Superintendent or Council; unless indeed the small joke with winch T concluded my letter be considered as suoh. Perhaps, however, that may be it. The sensible feelings of your correspondent have been wounded by the supposition that a simple colonist could impart wisdom to such august potentates! If such be the case, 1 humbly beg his pardon, and if it pleases him, will freely admit that his letter has convinced me that any attempt on my part to instil additional wisdom into his pericranium would be as futile as presumptuous. My purpose in so pertinaciously calling the attention of the public to the concerns of the late Association is to carry into effect an axiom which was frequently insisted on by Messrs. Godley and Fitz Gerald— when they were busy establishing Colonists' Societies, viz., that it is necessary to accustom the public mind to think on and discuss political matters in order that when the people become possessed of political power they may know how to make the right use of it. Now I was rejoiced to learn, on the authority of the "Provincial Councillor," that the case is to be laid before the public to express their wishes and thoughts on the subject. But if such an expression of public opinion is to be more than a farce, it is clear that the matter must, be discussed and ventilated long before-hand, and that is most readily done by means of the press. And it should alwaj's be remembered that the means of information at our command, however-limited, are at least correct. All I wish is that my fellow-colonists should read and think for themselves, and not be frightened from the consideration of the subject by the assertions of Mr. Sewell and his friends, that the matter is one above all human comprehension, barring a lawyer's. Let your readers take the two Acts of Parliament, the Charter, and the Constitution-: Act, and compare them with Mr. Sewell's sayings and doings here, and I am confident they will speedily be convinced that' they have been grossly wronged by the Association, although it maj7 not be clear, at first sight, how we are to get our remedy. Allow me, before I conclude, to congratulate my old friend (who endeavours to conceal his identity under the appropriate name of " Snarley" something) on his discovery of a mare's nest. If my venerable Mentor will go and look at the Land-office map, he will perceive that within the block of land reserved for the capital, there was abundance of room for the Association to have laid out the requisite 1000 acres of town land, and still have left plenty for streets and reserves. But whether it were so or no, the land I selected was " 50 acres immediately outside the town boundary," and if the Association have made a mistake in laying it out, they can easily rectify the blunder, and give mo the necessary compensation out of the adjoining section belonging to their great originator, Mr. Gibbon Wakefield, who doubtless will be only too happy to sacrifice himself for the honour of his confederates. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Ali-jred C. Barkek. [For the present we must decline continuing' the correspondence on this subject, as, judging from the above letter, all our correspondents arguments appear exhausted.]