The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, February 16.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 655, 16 February 1859, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, February 16.

The polite and elegant Chesterfield tell Ins son in one of the most sensible of his maxims, on matters of dress, to pay every attention to his clothes while ho puts -them on, but when they are on to appear altogether indifferent as to the state of his costume. The habit of forethought inculcated here, the practice of undivided attention to the matter in hand as contrasted with a trick of constant petty alteration and interference in what is already established, is no less a result to be gathered from the Peer's lesson than the more evident one of the acquirement of ease in society to which his Lordship specially directs his son's attention. If Chesterfield, however, did not see quite the whole extent of his maxim, at any rate he recognised the fact which the most serious of us. may attend to with

advantage, that a pleasing- personal appearance is often a great aid to success in life, and is always a feature which charms many, while it is objectionable or offensive to none. We should like to apply this maxim freely to ourselves, transferring its subject from the body personal to the body corporate, and from the human dress to the signs and marks of civilization which are stamped upon the territory. In our new rough couutry we are in the state of Lord Chesterfield's son when he was about to dress. .Everything depends upon the attention which we give to our toilet. Let old countries possess their palaces and their parks, their cathedrals and. their canals, their objects of beauty, grandeur, or utility, and be silent about them. They are already decked out hoping to be the subr jects of the world's applause, and should avoid troubling, themselves about their appearance when their labours are over, whether they have made scare-crows or Brummelsof themselves. But it is not so with us; we have

yet to begin our toilet; and it behoves us to take great pains—for undeniably much that helps success depends upon it —that by our public buildings and works great and small we contrive to make a respectable appearance in the world.

For example, in this town of Lyttelton, (Christchurch being- entirely taken charge of by the state authorities) if the public mind were to disregard external appearances altogether, bur aspect in a few years would be such as to repel with disgust any stranger who should come down here seeking for a home. On the contrary, rows of handsome houses, terraces, gardens, fountains, with here and there a market house, an exchange and a Church, of tasteful architecture, might lure amongst us even the passer by whose "mind had been bent on going further.- Canterbury owes a duty to Lyttelton, and Lyttelton owes a duty to itself, to cultivate such a personal appearance as will strike favourably the eye of the visitor. Certainly there should be something* substantial behind—just as Lord Chesterfield, no doubt, wished his successor to be something more than well dressed—but that we all consider to be quite satisfactory already, and well provided for in the future. Let us then, when we set about any work which will stand conspicuous in the town, give it our best attention, and use our best endeavours to make it such as to obviate any fretting or fussing about its appearance after it is finished.

There is a work of just this character which, though not in the strictest sense public, demands attention to its construction by all who are interested in the good looks of the town. We mean the Church. Lyttelton is. not yet famous for the style, of its public, building's, and the few efforts yet made have scarcely laid the foundation for a good character in this respect. There is therefore the more room for useful effort ; and the chance now presented should clearly not be neglected.

A Building Committee could certainly found a claim to help in building1 a church on higher grounds than this which we have noticed ; but without stepping1 one inch from the public position which this undertaking of what must be the principal edifice of its kind in the town holds —without venturing upon those arguments which are best urged elsewhere than in the columns of a newspaper — we request that the public generally should give its uid in erecting* a building 1 such as shall be worthy of the town so long as it shall stand.

The new Church is to be undertaken at once.