LYTTELTON ELECTION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 618, 9 October 1858, Page 4

LYTTELTON ELECTION.

On Monday last the election of a member to serve in the Provincial Council for the town of Lyttelton in the room of. Mr. Waitt, resigned came off according to notice. The attendance of electors was not numerous ; at no time were there more than about thirty persons present. A little after twelve o'clock the • Returning Officer (Mr. Robert Latter) proceeded to read the writ, and to declare the purpose for which the meeting was convened. Having requested the electors to consider seriously the duties devolving upon them, he called upon any person who had a candidate to propose.

Mr. Haegbeaves then came forward to propose Mr. Crosbie Ward as a tit and '• proper person to represent the town of Lyttelton, He hoped that a speech was not expected from bin-, and he was glad to think that any arguineuisho might have to advance were needless, as his candidate stood unopposed 7 Still he would have been ready, if opposition had been offend, to have come forward, on the part of the retiring member, Mr. Waitt, who was unavoidably absent on this occasion, to urge, the claims of the gentleman now before them upon their suffrages, as he considered him fully worthy of the most cordial support. He would not detain them, but formally nominate Mr. Crosbie Ward as a fit and proper person to. represent the town of Lyttelton in the Provincial Council of Canterbury. Mr. Grxtbb came forward to second the nomination. He believed Mr. Ward would make a good member, and was the best man to choose, not because there were not others just as able to represent the place, but because Mr. Ward had plenty of time and means to do as he liked. There were many other persons quite fit to do the business of the Council, but they were too busy and could not leave their work to attend. He hoped Mr. Ward would pay attention to his duties, and particularly to the questions of communication between the port and the plains, and education. He trusted that these two points would not be lost sight of. No other candidate being proposed, on the suggestion that this was a proper time for electors to ask questions of the proposed member, Mr. Bayfeild said he had desired to ask Mi\ Ward his opinion concerning the tunnel under the hill; but he supposed that the article in that morning's ' Lyttelton Times ' represented Mr., Ward's views; and as that was most satisfactory, he would refrain. No other elector coming forward, the Returning Officer declared Mr. Crosbie Ward to be duly elected.

Mr. Wabd said that there were some questions which called for a remark from him, and he .was almost sorry that the absence of opposisition deprived the occasion of that excitement which would have made it easy to treat those subjects as they deserved. He would first notice the remark just made by Mr. Bayfeild as to the identification of his views with those expressed by,the ' Lyttelton Times.' It was true that his views as to the proposed tunnel coincided with those enunciated, and he would not deny his share in the responsibility for the general conduct and management of thepaper. But he need not say that everything which appeared there was not to be attributed to bini, any more than to any one else; and he begged therefore that, as a member of the Council, he might be judged solely by his acts and recorded opinions. It was now expected that he should give his opinion aB to the tunnel question, and he would fully explain himself on that point. When the project was first mentioned not long ago as one likely to be undertaken in no long time, he had endeavoured, to obtain some authentic facts to rest a decision on; and he had therefore made enquiries at the office ot Public Works: it 7 was to that office that the Government avowedly looked for advice. Ho found the tunnel estimated there at 2,860 yards, or between one and a half and one and thr'-;e* quartern of v mile in length, and its .]>>' K-''' (with the accompanying works svtjutu':..) •'<' £300,000. Tliin was tod '-groat a prii*i'/'''';,. v" country to p:ay for even the most; ■ bßiiJj",I.'.1" *work afc this time/ either in ono sum|.or by uv

* stalments oyer five years. Fully as he acknow--1 ledged the immense benefits to be attained by *i the construction of a level and short road from f. Lyttelton to Christchurch, he could not, nor % did he think could any prudent man, assent to % engulfing in it all the funds of the province |t for- five years, and neglecting for its sake the rf care of minor public works, of education, and 1 of the hundred undertakings to which a portion "§■■ of' the resources of the country was already 1^ pledged. If, .therefore, what was ostensibly the 1 best advice in the province and that upon which if the Government was supposed to rely, declared U the required outlay to be so great, he for his 13. part felt bound to say that lie would not conis sent to beginning the work yet. He would 3 neither sacrifice everything else to it nor risk $ "being compelled to stop short in the middle fe without the power of completing it. In the H Superintendent's address, however, he saw that H the undertaking was contemplated, and he ob§j- served a remark that there were ample funds to fb meet all proposed works. It had come out also || in other ways that the anticipated expense was jp stated oh good authority to be not nearly so |J great as that mentioned —perhaps only one- |* third as great. This would make all the differjk ence; and he could assure the electors that if the information laid before the Council led to If the conclusion that the latter estimate was cor- | rect, he would be found one of the most for- | ward in urging on the undertaking. He would I not detain them by going through the other $ business spoken of in his Honor's address: f that was before them, and of the facts upon f which it was founded they knew as much as he f himself did. It was to the Council in Session I that reliable information would be first afforded, | and when he had considered the facts, his '.s opinion of the measures proposed would be s' formed. The great duty before the Council t was to deal wisely with the Provincial Funds. i. It might be safely said that ou the face of the $. earth there did riot exist a people governing |f themselves who had such a large revenue to f spßnd in proportion to their numbers. Canter- § bury had an enormous surplus revenue for its g- population;. it was exceedingly rich. There | was, however, plenty to do with the money, and "$ he considered it therefore a most foolish thing I; —in fact, a political crime—to suffer a single f? pound to remain unemployed in the chest a £ day longer than could be possibly avoided. $ On the other hand, the time of riches was g the time for economy; it was of great f service to refrain from extravagant expen- *■ diture, when there was money to be thus | saved which could be otherwise spent; but H after the money was gone retrenchment would I' be of no service. He considered it therefore a P prime duty to watch that nothing was at this |f time wasted improperly, or too lavishly expenf| ded. At the same time it was to be expected fy that in the haste to set to work, and perhaps 6 with-a lack of skill, abortive attempts might be H sometimes made, even over and over again, be--2; fore the right course could be struck out. Even $■ though funds might be thus sunk without re- |; turnj he would prefer the energy which y£ prompted efforts towards a great object to the ?l indolence or timidity which would let money | accumulate without finding a use for it. He L would now allude to a remark which he had H heard made about himself since he was a can--1 didate; although, it might be thought ungraf* cious, in him just after being returned without opposition, to lodge complaints against the : electors, he could not pass over this accusation. : It was that he was not independent in his opinions, but took his course from the opinions iof others. This was very untrue. If his conduct was to be judged by that of the • ' Lyttelton Times,' he could appeal to the columns of that paper to show that at one time or another, with all sorts and \ classes of people, even the highest and he might say the most venerable in the settlement, that journal had never failed to mark its censure of any improper act, or its disapproval of-unsound opinions advanced, .whether on one side or 7 another. This course he proposed to pursue. \ As member for Lyttelton he would state at ) once that he considered his duty to be to oppose | any unfair claims of other districts which might | injure this town, and also any unfair claims of \ this town which might injure the rest of the province. If, therefore, he should be found I at any time voting against a measure which '.. would be to the advantage of Lyttelton, he \ trusted that it would be held as a valid excuse, or justification, if he could reasonably prove that I that measure was unfair to other parts of the I province. He should as soon think of uphold- | . ing that part of the town in which he had an f interest against the rest, as of pushing the interests of the town to the injury of the country at large. He would now thank them, he would not say for the honor conferred upon him; it was proper only for the tried member who had served with credit for a lengthened time to talk of attaining to honors ; but he thanked the electors of Lyttelton sincerely for giving him the opportunity of achieving honor in their service. He would conclude by proposing a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer, Mn R. Latter, a gentleman whose age gave him the experience and dignity'needful to the duties of . the office which he held, without depriving him of the energy to perform them as they ought to be done.

The suggestion was heartily responded to,

The Returning Officer acknowledged the compliment, and made some observations on the business which had brought them together, on the present, condition and future prospects of Canterbury, and ou the duties devolving upon I'Hu settlers of the province at this time; in the «oiu-de of which he remarked that they (the electors present, had selected a gentleman to represent their \yants and protect their interests

and ho thought they had done well. But that Mr. Ward was present he might say a great deal more on that subject. However, he would say that they required a man of intelligence to represent them, and they had got such an one; they wanted a man of sound principles, and in Mr. Ward's principles they might have full confidence. Still there was something more than intelligence and right principles in their representative required for the well being of the community—there was required a spirit of forbearance in the constituency towards their representatives to secure that unanimity essential to provincial prosperity. As Mr. Ward had observed in his address, it was only fair that, when a member of the Council gave a vot^ opposed to the views of some of those who had sent him, he should be allowed to shew his constituency the reasons which had prompted him to that course of action; for it was only by candour and calm investigation that they could hope to do well. Some remarks had been made about our provincial wealth, and it was quite true that we had a considerable revenue at our command. It should be remembered, however, that a time of wealth was a time of danger, and we should therefore be careful to use our means wisely. This led him to another subject which had been mentioned by Mr. Ward. He alluded to the projected tunnel through the Port hills to Christchurch. The past three months had taught them a great lesson. Vvith all their wealth they might be said to have been laid on their backs by the weather. What had they seen during the three months just past P A complete stagnation of trade resulting from the want of communication between Lyttelton and the interior of the country. They had indulged in a good deal of exultation about the advantages of possessing a local steamer, for which they had paid £2000 in the hope of carrying on an uninterrupted river trade ; but the late bad weather had proved how futile that hope had been. The merchants' stores in Lyttelton had been crowded with indispensables, such as sugar, tea, Sec, ordered for Kaiapoi and other parts of the plains, whilst the steamer had been detained for four days together by the Waimakariri bar; and of our mosquito fleet a dozen or more had been lying idle in the bay or blocked up in the river from the same cause. The river-craft men had not been able to earn their bread, and thousands of pounds had been lost to the community by this check to trade. Surely then, the experience of the,past three mouths had taught us a lesson; if not, then the experience of twenty years could not be expected to teach us wisdom. We should not rely upon the river communication alone for our already large and greatly increasing trade. The only safe course for us was a tunnel through the hills and a railway to Christchurch. Let us all be satisfied of the truth of this ; and, being satisfied, help forward thegood work. It was not fair in them to expect too much from the Government. He would say to every man in the community, you should be ready to lay out one-fourth of your means on this tunnel, — if your have a hundred pounds devote £25 to this work; if you have a thousand pounds, £250. They might not reap all the advantages that would accrue from such an outlay, but their children would; their means of progress would be largely increased; the merchant and producer would be brought into closer promimity; and all parties would be benefitted. With every confidence he expressed his belief that this scheme was a better investment for their money than any other, whether they regarded merely their own immediate requirements, or looked forward to the future prosperity of the province. They had been told a lesson in the fable of a man whose team had stuck fast in the road, lying down on his back and folding bis arms, and looking to a higher power for help, instead of vigorously putting his own shoulder to the wheel. Let them not repeat that waggoner's folly, but remember what theFrenchproverbsays—" Help yourselves and Heaven will help "you." He sincerely hoped that both the Government and the people would work together for the common country of their adoption, and that from their joint labours and the blessings of Providence such an improvement would be seen amongst them as should give them and their children cause to rejoice more and more that they had made Canterbury their home. Mr. Hebbert Alport begged, though not an elector, to say that he considered Mr. Ward to be labouring under an error with respect to the tunnel. The length of a mile and threequarters would be from high water mark to Mr. Cookson's house, but he was convinced that what was wanted was not a tunnel on a level with the water, but one which would would be higher up the hill, and correspondingly less in dimensions. The expense would not, he felt certain, be anything like the sum mentioned, viz., £300,000. After a few other observations the meeting separated.