Corrrespondence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 476, 27 May 1857, Page 7

Corrrespondence.

ToJhe, Editor af., the fiytteltpp. Time*. I Sis, —It is stated upofo no-mean authority tUnfc "if one member''suffers the whole' body snifters with it," iand<the converse is an' axiom equally indisputable, as well with a >bodj corpo> icite,such as the commonwealth of.this Province of Canterbury,* as «*ith the frame corporeal, the tenement of <Hir souls. The inhabitants of this towu cannot understand (no doubt from the .opaque nature of their intellects) why this member should be dishonored, or that, in Mr. Packer's words (on the debate in the Provincial (Jouneil/on Tuesday, the 28th of April, on fifr. Jtoornouse's addi'e'sa'tb,His Honw the Superintendent-, asking for a sum of £800 to'be placed ion the Estimates fotf inipfovinrg'tfhe port town of Akaroa) "that the interests of Akaroa were always carefully considered-by the Government, Messrs. Moorhouse, iWardj Davis, and Rhodes all spoke on the subjeot. They are the lour members for the district, and might- be assumed,correct in f their statements of its circumsUnces, backed; 1 as" they were, by"'a gentleman i who, made a very recent visit to'the district, and the worthy Coroner, <„ s Akaroa-town and district >seven yeats ago wssessed (when Jthe pilgrims made their advent 11 the country) tolerable bridges passable roads, lud a few public buildings; ; Of these last -but ,wo remain; one, about to be pulled,down to, gi^e )lace to the new street, haa been used as a lockip, but for tjhat purpose is no longer either safe » trustworthy; th« other, iof, the samß size; as !lie present-Custom Hou&e in Lyttelton,. which ould not now be, rebuilt, for £500, has been uffered to fall quife gently and peacefully into eeay, in -spite of an alarming*'qu'aritity'^of 'talk boat wise and thrifty economy, while the room \ one of'its'darners appropriated io'public busiess is disgraceful. ' i ' > Of the su settlements of New Zealand', but nee can be, described as having two >ports— iv'ng the pas to that Corinth, of the South, uckUnd, CSanterHury stands .Jiext in the enulerution, AAcaroa is the port of the southern istrict of the piovince, and the front door to ie great whaling' grounds of the Southern eas. a week naw passes - without vessels ping seen from the stations at the. jhefids that •c known to be pursuing' that industry which f>> i>rised New Bedibrd", and thepoi't;s ajfljivcent ) it, to such a w'Milfhy status. By ihese ves;ls Akaroa is appreciated as an excellent place ii recruiting, and stowing their provisions and Bmilure while cluiziug.1 Now, as it is' alashB" amongst these fishers to shin honsie from ■tue to time their oil and bone1 when fitting opB>minities occur, it is1 but re'as'ohable to'suppose Bai the same will be dead weight'for our wool Bips; and, if so, must decrease the cost of Wight on our eipovts, at\d be an additional ■tame of profit to the carriers, instead of bal■sting with New Zealand rock stones, which Hl* not, a«, far as we know, at any premium' at HAksHoa was the fu>.t> md for somp time the Hi) place in tho Province of Canterbuiyrthat Hd mills for giinding flour; and they ,were patronized by the early, k producers j b\^t H wdnt of a jetty s , the cost of landing and Hppiug was' materially increasep^j and much H^e was wasted. Tliere is an adage still extant Hieh coihpareT time "andT money" at rpav. Coast* ■ then acquired tKtj bad fashion of considering Bp' Ct*rgoe& were to- be fetched at 'the consigHt'^ expense .from afloat, or, whaltWas no]t'so Kedi.opable on their part/that' ft eight musl be that would conipenstate them H wading and' diaggmg tWotigh water1 and. Hd- 'Then tl^ roads 'by'constant traffic beV so difficult of passage' as to double the ■ of haulage to amVfrom'^he miHs, utterly ed for as ( these roads >yei%e by the' Govern has been represented as always so of these interests. Thus the industrious jHiers of the province were gently mulcted of

{heir fair gains; and 'Mfcrprizihg arid .practical miners were and still Ure yeiy seriously injured. It iy curious that; atf'thls' moment a Vessel ?has arrived from tlie neighbouring settleineht of Otago with wheat shipped from the Taieri district* the' carriers of which were intending to j bringsome thousands of bushels to have ground j herejbut are coming on) inexpressibly disgusttea to ;fin3 that the primitive system of huiripiiig'and wadirig^tib be still-adhered tojetty there being none. It is amusing, if amusement can be found op such a subject, to hear it -stated^al although: it wa»scuwently reported that Akaroa waswsonsidered as an inconvenient excrescence or, tumonr fu.ll' .of foul humours on the Province of Canterbury, rather than an integral portion of it, still it was reasonable to suppose that a port would have a jetty surmounted with some little mechanical purchase. The 1 source of revenue derived from fiscal dues, equally with a" capitation tax, must be population.; enquirers who have^ visited Akaroa and wished to know why, nothing w#s done, haxl it mildly put ,to them lhat "it was on account- of the smallness 6? "the revenue there raised., Certes, this ",go to rot" system and this singular manner of''always considering these interests' was not'likely to'addtoits population^ by offering inducements ,to settler^, or increase the number of those whose children would attendits schools. 'If the road had "first been, made' to Pigeon Bay1 from Akaroa town, i c., a good road, land worthy of purchase would haye "been opene"d'iind made profitable for occupation, and 'the road would in a little, paid for itself. If money should now'be voted for public works, siiitie no population has. been,tempte^ branding justice stilf a ' blindfolded lady, it is a query whether the money would go-Iso far as if there \v( r<> a number of1 pushing 'practical settlers'all re.idy to have a portion of Government contract work.. Akaroa church wants enlarging if the jpoor are to have the Gospel preached to them, and a school house should be"built at once," instead of ,the schoolmaster being> continually on. .the shift with the school on his back,like.a snail with its shell. sHalf-a-dozen years'.rent would build it, and when built it would be a provincial asset. This, motjon qf our .members being negatived, an anecdote, told by the Bishop Designate of this settlement to a public .meeting in England, to describe what would" hot occur here in his department, js' strongly brought to recollection : how,' that the' inhabitants of Virginia, were represented as having at one time remembered somewhat all of a sudden that they had souls to be saved, and that a deputation was,'sent home to represent the same, who for, answer got, " Damn your soills. grow tobacco."" So we appear to be addressed. "Damn your publje works, sj.Vh't shingles." ' Never mind, it is riaughty and vulgar to be radical,, still there are a hundred and sixty voters enrolled, and, some' day, perhaps, "' thepe shall Ife.-more cake,s and .ale." '' " Your obedient servant, ' > ' ' VINDEX AKARO.E.' To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sib —Allow a constant reader to proffer one word' of remonstrance as to tlie manner in which you htive, treated the debates in the Provincial Council on the subject of education. Were it not for a few funny and flippant remarks headed " local intelligence," your readers might almost imagine their representatives had voted away £2,500 a-year, for five years to come^ in solemn silence. " Want of space," " enormous amount of twaddle," you will doubtless reply. But if our members do talk twaddle, a faithful journalist ought to let their constituents know it, in order 1 that at the coming elections tlie twaddle may be stopped. And, as to want of space, if you can place whole columns at the disyos.il of anonymous, or semi-anonymous correspondents is seems odd that you cannot find room for even an outline of the reasons given in the Piovincial Council for the most important vote of the session. The discussions on education between yourself and your correspondents may be very ■ inteiesting, but we also want to know the rea- j sons which appear to have carried weight with thobe person? to'wlfom we have left the decision ,of this all important question. It may be quite | rji>-hl that £12,500' of our money should be liand'efl'over to two or throe reverend gentlemen to spend us they please; but I should like to know wlm{ appears to our legislators to call for [ such a vote. We hear enough of their sentiments and j

opinions at election times, but rumour says that when once inside the Counwtf Chamber a change comes o'er the spirit of their dream. Whether this be so, nine-tenths of the ek<tors (Jan only find dut by reports in the public newspapers. 'You need n6t cease being witty at the Council's expense. I agree with you ihat if* of n0 use having a Council unless one makes fan Of it. But, would it not answer both purposes if you were to head your parliamentary reports " Local Stupidity '* instead of " Local Intelligence ?" You' could display your wit, and we could judge for ourselves. ' ' Your dbedient servant, ELECTOR. ■May 25th, 1857. [We must take "Elector" into our confidence. The real reason why we did not give the debate on the education question was, that we had no reporter present; and "Elector" will agree with us that the reasons given by members for their votes, especially when ' the debate is in 'committee, are not to be picked 'up by hearsay. In such a case we only give the actual results of the debate, as sliowh by the resolutions come to. We ' regret that we cannot do justice to individual1 members "by this course; and still more that our " funny and flippant" remarks are rendered so prominent by the 1 '' absence of full and serious information. ' "'Elector" must not look for, "Parlia--1 mentary Reports "in our Country Contri- ■ butor's " Local Intelligence ;" even if they ' ' were one and the same, we have too sincere a respect for the abilities of the members of the council to adopt such an ugly heading for our report as our correspondent suggests at the close bf his letter.' A joke is a joke; and we do not intend the style of M Our ' Locologist" to pervade the whole of our journal. As for the letters which we publish, we have an established rule for the , ■' insertion of inoffensive correspondence, arid 'Elector' has now himself the advantage of it.—Ed. L.TJ