The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 601, 7 August 1858, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, August 7. In 1850, the ordinances passed in the first ten sessions of -the General Legislative Council from 1841 to 1849 were arranged, classified, and published in a compact and intelligible form under the superintendence of Mr. Domett, the then Colonial Secretary. Any one who has much occasion to . refer to our laws, will bear witness to the value of the service rendered by the work in question. Since its issue we have had a strange accumulation of laws. The ordinances passed in the eleventh session of the General Legislative Council in 1851 are still on loose sheets, and generally difficult of access. Then there are the ordinances of the Province of .New Munster, which are in force for Wellington and the provinces of the Middle Island, while the New Ulster ordinances affect Auckland and New Plymouth. Now, New Ulster and New .Munster are names of the past, and every province has its own long series of laws. Besides all these there are the acts passed in eight sessions of the general Assembly under the new constitution. It would be hard to find our way through all the changes and repeals that have been enacted since the date of Mr. Domett's work, even if it were easy to get a sight of the various laws passed; but difficult, as it is to get possession of a copy of the acts of our different legislatures, there are very few who are even tolerably acquainted with the whole course of New Zealand legislation. We would earnestly impress upon the Government the duty of appointing a commission from time to time to do for New Zealand law what was done in 1850. If such a work were properly executed at once it would be easy in future to keep up with legislation. We have now fortunately got Mr. Domett's valuable compilation to start from, so that there are only eight years' work to classify. But they are eight years of very complicated legislation owing to the changes in our constitution.

We quote from the report of the Committee of the Legislative Council of New

Minister, the views -with which the vepubication of former Ordinances was undertaken .':—

The object of paramount importance in tins mutter is, in the opinion of the Committee, the reproduction of the Ordinances in such form as will render .an acquaintance with their" provisions most easy of attainment by all whom they affect. To secure this it is necessary to present them in as compact and concise a shape as is consistent with completeness, aud with the preclusion of any need of reference to other copies or collections of them. A new arrangement and classification of the whole is another obvious means of attaining this end. The Committee have, therefore, recommended in the first place, the exclusion from the main body of the volume to be reprinted, of all Ordinances not at present in•■ force; that is to say, of all disallowed, expired, or repealed ones. To these they have proposed to add all Ordinances the operation of which is confined to that of repealing others. But in order that, a knowledge of the whole course of legislation in this colony, and, the ■bearimr' of all the Ordinances upon each other may be attainable by all who for any reason desireit, and as besides it may be advantageous to show on what subjects and in what manner legislation has been attempted, and either been condemned or failed, or ceased to be of use, they have recommended the reprinting of the titles and analyses even of the Ordinances thus excluded. . All these latter they propose to print in an appendix to the main body of the volume.

The consolidation of different Ordinances upon the same subject would be -a great improvement to any system, of classification. The. 'Legislative Council of New Munster had not sufficient powers to undertake this; but there is nothing to prevent our present Legislature from effecting it.

A volume containing the law of New Zealand as it now stands, both General and Pi'ovincial, with a statement of all Acts repealed, disallowed, or expired, in the form of an appendix, is absolutely necessary. Every year will r~make .the labour of compiling such a book more and more diflicult. V, „.."

Ijt the Blue Book of -New "Zealand Sta-' tistics for the four years ending; 1856, inclusively, the figures 5 give satisfactory evidence of the rapid;; advance of the? colony, and the regularity of its prosperity, if we except the fluctuations caused by the demand for agricultural produce consequent; on the discovery of the gold'fieldsJ in Austi^Ua,..wh;ich/.haa:'atti;acted!.such''an-J extraordinary influx of population; Pas-: sing by the tables of births; deaths; mar- • riages, immigration, &c, ;we append;the-( statistics relative to shipping, and aggregate of imports and exports. The ; former gives only a : limited- -account, as <it does not include onr large fleet of "coasters/ Although thesefigures shpwa steady adyancement we believe: the two succeedingyears 1857 and 1858, will appear in the next Blue Book on the subject to exceed the general average of the previous ones given, especially in the Province of Canterbury, and the wool export will doubtless be far above that figiire.; '■ ■ The total 6f vessels entered inwards are as follows :—1853/.. Auckland, ,97.; New Plymouth, 9j Wellington, 43, Nelson, 24; Canterbury, 18; Otago, 5. ; 1854: Auckland, ,159; New Plymouth, 14; Wellington, 05; Nelson> 32; Canterbury, 13; Otago,: 10. 1855 : Auckland, 207; New Plymouth, 19-; Wellington, 56; Canterbury, 27'; Otao-o, 24. 1856: Auck--16 4; New Plymouth, 10; Wellington, 63; Nelson, 30 ; Canterbury, 15; Otago, 37; Chatham Islands, 7. General Totals for the Colony: 1853, 238; 1854, 293; 1855, 378; 1856, 326 ; ,or an aggregate total for the four years, of 1,235 Vessels. The returns of tonnage for the same period are, 1853.: Auckland, 40,071; NewPlymouth, 2,190; Wellington, , 8,159; Nelson, 5,038; Canterbury, 7,526; Otago, 2520. 1854: Auckland, 42,905; New Ply month, 3,322; Wellington, 12,142; Nelson, 7,542; Cantefbury, 5,531; Otago,. 3,389- 1855: Auckland, 53,579; New Plymouth, 3,425; Wellington, 10,075; Nelson, 9,367; Canterbury; 7,805; Otago, 4,363. 1856: Auckland, 49,706; New Plymouth, 2,277; Wellington, ,12,954: Nelson, 6,282; Canterbury, 5,221; Otago, 7,814; Chatham Islands,' 1,494;- General Totals: 1853 : 65,504;; 1854," 74,831; 1855, 88,014; 1856, 85,748;. or, for the: four years, a total tonnage for the colony of 331,697. The total number of men manning the shipping entered inwards in 1853 to 1856 was 18,027. The returns of vessels cleared outwards in the several provinces during the same period, give these results:—lßs3 : Auckland 135, tonnage, 37,367; New Plymouth 10, tonnage, 3,43 i; Wellingtoni ■ 48, tonnage, 12,446; Ndson 24, tonnage, 5,282; Canterbury 10, tonnage, 3,474; Otago 2, tonnage, 808. 1854: Auckland 163, tonnage, 44,005; New Plymouth 18, tonnage, 3,960 ; Wellington 63, tonnage, 15,021; Nelson 20, tonnage, 4,070; Canterbury

122, tonnage, ~ 7,920; ; Otago 7, tonnage, i1,742.:■■■1855:" Auckland 168, tonnage, •43,615; -'New Plymouth 24, tonnage, 4,620; Wellington 59, tonnage, 10,990; Nelson 30, tonnage, 6,454; Canterbury 34, tonnage, 9,444; Otago 26, tonnage, 4,702. 1856: Auckland 172, tonnage, 54,922; New Plymouth 9, tonnage, 1,870; Wellington 56, tonnage 8,228; Nelson 24, tonnage, 4,892 • Canterbury i 26, tonnage, 6,981; Otago 26, tonnage, 4,737; Chatham Islands 10, tonnage, 1,361. General Totals: Number of vessels cleared outwards, Ijl86; tonnage, 302,425: ; :::::'':\.: .,;.;; ...:. ■■■... ...;-

T0ta15......£624,139. ... £684,295 —The increase in the total. amount of exportsi from Canterbury and Qtago, is very marked, and is mainly attributable to the development of sheep-farming in those two provinces; and show that tn*e young .provinces of: the south, will, at a very early period, take the lead, especially in the exportation of wool, that grand staple of permanent prosperity. Agricultural produce is also becoming',an extensive export. sFrom a note to the table of exports from Lyttelton, it appears that\ in 1853; the clip (estimated at between ;£8;000 and £9,000) from Cantei'buryvvas sent coast-: wise to Wellington for final shipment: the first wool ship to England from Lyttelton direct sailed in 1856. Nelson also appears -at a, disadvantage, as compared with Wellington, from [, a similar circumstance:; since;,while the amount of wool sent from Nelson in 1856 was estimated at: 800,00085., and valued at £45,000,; the return only ci*edits the province for ■£15,000 worth shipped from -the Port of Nelson,; "excluding 'considerable 'quantities sliipped at .other outlets of the province, and cleared at otlier ports of the colony"—we believe Wellington chiefly. ; , r The t^otal values of all kinds of grain, flour, and -bran exported from ■ New Zeaiahd in those four years, were,—lßs3, £21.268 ;ÜBs4> £45,318 -1855, . 1856, £28.151. . Of these amounts Auckland contributed ■> £12,495 ; £27,589 ;; £6i;i94; and £12,934". New Plymouth, £2456; £5181 ;;£3007; (no return for 1856.) Wellington : £1175; £6607; £5706 ; and £5889. Nelson : £4532; £3395; £4070; and £2535. Canterbury,: "£IBO ; £2237 ; £3587 ;■ -and £4551. Otago: £430; £311; £11,094 ; and £5073. Chatham Islands (only 1856 returned) £168. ; ,: : ;: '■For the sake of expedition, we have copied the aF^ove figures from the ■'■■New-. zealancler's ' summary of the tabular details. ■'■ ■■ -■ '■-' '■'•"": ''■■■;■■:" ■ ;.:'-;- .-' ■'■ '::'

IMPORTS. .' 1853-4 1855-6 Auckland ..£608,837: ... ' £643,180 Wellington... 437,430. ... 356,954 Canterbury . , 184,040 ... .188,044 Nelson .... 138,608 ... 167,395 NewPlymouth... 65,243 ... 62,194 Otago.... 55,766 ... Chatham Islands . nil ... : 1,707 ; Totals... ...£1419,028 ... £1524,328 ' EXPORTS. 1853-4 1855-6 Atickland .........£335,734 ... £281,312 Wellington......... 184,400 ... 153,891 Canterbury ...... 18,173 ... 91,786 'Nelson... ;...... 55,859 ... 77,269 New .Plymouth... 22,722 ... •■■• 34,850 Otago ........; 7,251 ... 49,919 ;Chatham Islands nil ... 5,268