The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 584, 9 June 1858, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday, June 9tk. It is quite time that the subject of increased Church accommodation should begin to create some interest among us. For seven years we have made very inadequate efforts to remedy the deficiency; but now that the province is making1 such strides in material wealth, people begin to ask whether the chief feature of the Canterbury scheme has grown in proportion to the rest of the body corporate. At first, we depended entirely upon that portion of the funds arising from land sales which was put apart by the Association for ecclesiastical purposes;—this amount however proved' insufficient, as the quantity of land sold by the Association was much smaller than was at first contemplated. When this fact became apparent to the public, a season of apathy and disgust ensued; —men said that the ecclesiastical fund ought to have been enough to build and endow Churches, and that because it was not, it was hard that they should be called on to supply the deficiency. Money was looked for every where but in .the quarter from which it ought to come. Even poor struggling "Cheshire laborers" appeared on our subscription lists as contributors' to our Church funds to shame the prosperous churchmen of Canterbury. Even men who had never contributed a penny by the purchase -of land from the Association at £3 per acre talked loudly of the injustice of asking them to subscribe to what ought to have been Supplied by the ecclesiastical fund of the Canterbury Association.

There has sprung up of late, however, a growing- inclination among- churchmen to bestir themselves and to contribute to .Church purposes in proportion to the increase of their means and resources. Several circumstances tended to encourag-e this spirit;—the arrival of a Bishop,—the authorative statement of the Church funds, —and, above all, the rapid and alarminggrowth of a comparatively uneducated generation. Lyttelton is now prepared to set aside the present temporary buildings and commence a very substantial Church. The funds are collected for the purpose and want of, labor is the only difficulty. The town is concentrated and there is no doubt as to the proper position of the intended building.