Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 466, 22 April 1857, Page 6

Local Intelligence.

The Provincial Council undoubtedly deserves one of the best characters which can be given to a governing body. It. is slow in deliberation but rapid in action. It is a very stale jest, oi-, rather, no jest at all, to dilate upon the propensity to talking which the Council displays. This is its great duty to the public, a delivery of the article bargained for between the public and every member in the elections and purchased by sample at the hustings. The Council may debate slowly indeed, hut its acts are most rapid. The shelling' out the tin was performed in the most animated way on Wednesday and Friday last; the amount got rid of in the time speaks well for the industry of members, and there seems no reason to fear. that any amount of revenue that may accrue in the course of time will ever be found beyond their power to dispose of.

While we conscientiously praise the Council on this account, however, we must really take it to task forits behaviour towards the Government. It ought to be clearly understood what the position of the Government is. He may be bound to lay the Cathedral-Square Bill hefore the Council, but he is not bound to understand it; He did not sign articles to that effect, and members should recollect that circumstance. Too much time will be wasted if the House adjourns at every embarrassment, even with the expedient suggested of putting up some gentleman to speak while the Government trots home and back again for the solution of the difficulty. The plan of "spelling the long clauses and skipping the hard ones" is suggested by precedent in analagous cases, and should he adopted for the convenience of the Government, who has too much business of different sorts on his hands to play schoolmaster. But we did intend not to let the comedy of the Provincial Secretary raise another smile on our faces or. lead us to imitate his style any more. We have before now given our modest applause to the hon. gentleman's conduct, and are ready to praise him again, if he, gives as a chance. But may we not be excused for some display of annoyance at the murder of our pet joke by the statements in the letter of the Provincial Secretary, which is published to-day ? Really our reporter must give up laughing and mind his business, and we must ask the Secretary not to tempt him too much. We are the more annoyed at the matter as the joke would have been just as good if we had stated the facts correctly. To make sure, suppose the Secretary supply us with a copy the next time he wants his private instructions correctly published.

The Council has adjourned during the week till Friday morning, when a meeting will beheld to give notices of motion for Tuesday, and that day will be the first of real business. The sitting *of the Supreme Court is the cause of this adjournment. His Honor Chief Justice Stephen came, down in. the Zingari, and opened the Court on Tuesday, at the Town Hall in Lyttelton. There were eight cases on the calendar, but one was. not proceeded with by the Crown Prosecutor, there not being any satisfactory evidence- producible. The person accused (Hare) was accordingly called up, cautioned by the judge, and discharged. Many of the other cases- were for escape by persons already com-

mitted, Ronnage, Smith, and Sullivan; so that as his Honor,.pointed out, our list of criminalis not much, augmented. The business before the Court win . not occupy much time the Chief Justice lias arranged to return by the Zingari on Thuvsday. We received an English mail of January the 12th, on Sunday, 95 days after its departure from Southampton, In all probability we should not have had our letters for many days to come, but for the arrangement entered into , between the Provincial Government of Wellington and the owners of the Marchioness, which, carried into effect on this occasion for the.first time, brought down the mail direct from Melbourne to Wellington, There is no reason why our .mails should be more than 70 or 75 days out, if we make a similar arrangement for ourselves; and the opportunity now offers. We are in .a position to say that an. offer has been made to our Government by the captajn and agents of the Highlander, to lay on that vessel and another (the Prima Donna we believe) two first class schooners, to be ready to start from Melbourne for this port immediately after the arrival of an English mail, for the sarae sum as is charged by the two vessels under the Wellington arrangement. The terms are £70 per month for each vessel, amounting to about £1,700 per annum. This we must look upon as a very low rate in comparison with the advantages offered, and. we hope that it may be found convenient to close with the offer. An obstacle exists at present in the shape of an application to Wellington to be allowed to bear a share of theadvantages and expenses of their contract.hut it would be by no means the best condition for us to be spliced into, a neighbouring province, for whose convenience our letters and merchandise would be delayed. Mail communication with Australia on this plan ivas proposed in the memorial on the subject from Lyttelton to the General Government, and, so far as we can see, would be as cheap and as efficient on the whole as a series of steamers. Mercantile communication with Melbourne has not of late been important, but as an instance- of its benefits we may .remark that by the'last advices from Melbourne, to the Ist of April, we hear of a sale of New Zealand wool at Is. IOJd. We have not heard of any such price having been obtained in Sydney. Mr. Banks, the gentleman who has set on foot the preliminary negotiations in the above matter,, has also tendered for the establishment of a coasting steam service for the province, according to the- proposals of the Government, advertised in our columns for the past four months. Negotiations are now on foot for the completion of the contract, and we hope to see a fair trial of the efficiency of steam in our rivers and harbours shortly, result therefrom.

But a nervous' feeling,, either of longing or dread, now attaches to all our dealings with the future. Prom Nelson we hear a voice,, not to be scorned or doubted, that gold, is found there; that that part of New Zealand, at any rate, is productive of the precious metal; ; that men have picked up more solid money from the gullies, than they could earn in exchange for any other labour of their hands. We have given elsewhere the published reports of the gold discovery ; we have only here to say that„ with all the care journals can give, reports only of successful cases will be published, and readers, in balancing the probabilities, must make large allowances on the unfavourable side.. We could, if we chose, quote private accounts, reporting the Nelson diggings froni both extremes of view. The future of Canterbury will doubtless be much affected by the success of the diggings, whether at Nelson or within our own province; in the meantime we must recognize the Nelson gold field as a great fact, not necessarily as either a great curse or a great blessing. We> have hot room to notice the news from the other Northern provinces or from Australia in our present issue. There is nothing of great' importance. . We have to mention a very important change in the postal charges between this colony and England, by which the pre-payment of letters is rendered compulsory at both ends: The rates established are 6d. per half ounce, via South■ampton or long sea, with an additionalrate of 3d. per jounce, via Marseilles. The new regulations came into force yesterday morning, at the Lyttelton post-office. Those who have inadvertently posted letters at the former rates since that time, must remit the difference in order to ensure, transmission.. We shall as soon as

possible publish in extenso the rates for letters, newspapers, and books, to the United Kingdom and other countries. The great fact now is that all letters &c. hence, must be pre-paid, and there will be no payment on English or Foreign letters received.

The province of Canterbury has been proclaimed a district for holding ' Courts of Sessions of the Peace,' under an old ordinance. This ordinance gives an extended criminal jurisdiction to the Bench of Magistrates, under a chairman appointed by the Governor. The appointment in this case has been conferred on Mr. H. B. Gresson.

We understood that a new brewery is about to be established near Christchurch, by^ Mr. May, brewer, of Wellington. The site will be, we are told, in the neighbourhood of the windmill. Such an undertaking must encourage the, growth of barley on the plains. Times are bad among the farmers, if we may judge from one circumstance. We hear that, at a meeting of the inhabitants of the Lincoln Road, it was agreed not to subscribe towards the building of a church nor towards a clergyman's stipend. The reason is alleged to be the hardness of the times from the low price of grain.

Talking of the Lincoln Road, rumour, which made an inhabitant of that locality, Mr. Ollivier, a candidate for the Superintendency, has now withdrawn his name. This reduces the present competitors to two. The weather continues fair and favourable to farmers, who are looking to the near approach qf seed time for next year's wheat. The small amount of rain which we have had has been iust enough to be beneficial to general agricultural operations/and has not rendered any of the low lying lands unfit for work.