The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, Sept. 29.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 304, 29 September 1855, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, Sept. 29.

Thb " Canterbury Standard" of Thursday last and the " Lyttelton Times" of today are nearly filled with reports of the meeting which was held at Christchurch on Wednesday evening to discuss the much vexed question of the communication between the Port and the Plains. We cannot think that the resolutions arrived at will contribute much towards the solution of the difficult problem which we have to solve. The best communication we could have is, it is generally admitted, a railway throughout the whole distance. But that we are not now in a position to obtain immediately. The next question is, what will be the most advantageous manner of spending the limited funds at our command. As yet our difficulty has not so much been the want of carts as the wantof boats. Produce was carted down to the Quay a great deal faster than it was taken away. The resolution which was passed on Wednesday evening proposes that a tramway should be laid down from Christchurch as far as Sumner, at an expense that would not only absorb all the money now in the Treasury, but would also entail a heavy debt upon the Province. The tramway could not be completed in time for the next harvest; in the meantime the work on the rest of the Sumner Road will be at a stand-still. The tramway will not increase the number of boats running between Lyttelton and the river; in 'the meantime it will delay the establishment of good land communication. Not long ago we rejoiced at the steady prosecution of the work on the Sumner Road; people saw their way (o the removal of the bugbear which terrified all new arrivals in the Province. But it appears that some people want another change. If private enterprise does not meet the wants of a community during one year, the want will be most probably supplied the next. The high- !; freights will induce people to send boats down from the neighbouring colonies. We have no doubt but that the merchants of Canterbury have let their correspondents know the state of the case. We do not think, however, that it is the duty of Government to change its plans on the occasion of every new outcry, to attempt to make up for the want of private enterprise. If Government and the Provincial Council accede to the resolutions passed by the meeting at Christchtrch, we think that as far as regards immediate improvement in means of communication, the money will be thrown away. A Government is bound to make roads as practicable as possible ; but we do not think that it is bound to enter upon what certainly appears to many a chimerical scheme, when the attempt involves the abandonment of a work which has been allowed to be necessary since the foundation of the Settlement. We agree far more with our correspondent " Some one" than with the proposers of the resolutions on Wednesday evening. The road question is not one in which the interests of Christchurch and Lyttelton are antagonistic, and we must deprecate the style of argument which is too common in the Province7and which is founded on an hu

tense belief in the selfishness and narrowmindedness of those who differ from ourselves. His Honor said truly that the course of trade will find its natural channel, as surely as water will find the lowest level. In the meantime, do not let us ask Government to go out of the line of its marked and natural duties, to force one particular scheme of export by a premature appliance of means for which we are not yet prepared. We see no reason to change our opinion, that all funds now in the hands of Government, or which may be raised by Government, for the purpose of facilitating communication between the Port and the Plains, should be expended upon the completion of the Sumner Road, before any new scheme is set on foot. Let those who think of signing the petition, which is in the course of preparation, consider these questions.—What occasioned the delay in the shipment of produce this year ? Would the traffic be more frequent over the bar if we had a tramway'to the Shag Rock instead of an ordinary carti road ? What will be the expense of keeping a wooden tramway in repair ? Where will the means come from for paying off the debt incurred without putting off the completion of the cart-road to an indefinite period ? Let the road be completed first between Christchurch and Sumner by all means; and let it be made a good road before the next shipping season. This we can do, and this will be bona fide work towards the completion of the Sumner Road. We shall be working upon solid ground, where we are sure of the way before us. The very ignorance displayed at the Christchurch meeting onght to show us what danger there is in embarking in such a scheme as the one now proposed. We have not money or time to throw away upon mere experiments. We hope that the Provincial Council will not lightly make any alteration in their disposal of a sum voted for a specific purpose so short a time ago as during their last session.

We are happy to learn that the amount collected in this Province for the Patriotic Fund and for the Ladies' Fund, for the relief of the sick and wounded, is £1,314 4s. 2d. Of this £316 14s. lOd. is for the Ladies' Fund, and. £997 9-. 4(1., f»r the PatrioticjFund, of which latter sum £542 6s. 6<i., has been collected by the Lyttelton District Committee, and £455 2s. 10d, by the Christchurch District Committee. The whole amount has now been scut to England, the greater part through the bank at par.