CANTERBURY.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, Issue 57, 13 October 1855, Page 3

CANTERBURY.

We have Canterbury papers to the 3rd of October. A public meeting had been held at Christchurch, to take into consideration the present means of communication between the Port and the Plains. The meeting was the most numerous ever held in Christchurch, and was presided over by the Superintendent. The chairman gave a very lucid statement of the whole question, and showed that the rail•way laid out by the Commissioners had been abandoned because of the heavy cost of constructing it (estimated at £ 150,000), and because it would take six or seven years to get it executed. His Honor admitted that the road by Sumner, which the Government were engaged in making, was not generally approved of, but they were acting upon the report of a commission of engineers, who had given it as their opinion that, not only was that line the best in an engineering point of view, but the only one which ought to be attempted. The opinion of the meeting was, that the road now forming should he made as quickly as possible, .and that a tramway should be laid down upon it to facilitate carriage. The ordinary revenue for the quarter ending the 30th of. June was £2,097 1 9s. 3d., and the expenditure for the same period was £3,337 15s. 7d. The land revenue for the same quarter was £5,178 15s. 7d.

Stokthiarts and Wives. — In the general -way there ain't more difference between a grub and a butterfly than between a sweetheart and wife. Yet the grub and the butterfly is the' same thing, only differ«ntlv rigged out, and to is the- sweetheart and wife. .Bota'critteracrirwlfebout the house, and ain't very attractive to look at, and both turn out bo fine and bo punted when they go abroad, you don't scarcely know them again. Both, too, when they get out of. doors, Mem to hare no airtbly' object but to show themMvea. They don't go straight there, and back agin, as if there was an end in view, but they first flaunt to the right, and then to the left, and then everywhere in general, and yet ndwhere in particular. To be seen and admired is the object of both. They are all finery, and that ii to in their way that they can neither sit, walk, norjjUnd conveniently in it. They are never happy but when on the wing.— Sam Slick. A PxßraxED Dandy. — Sitting on the piazza of the Cataract-houio, at Niagara Falls, was a young, foppishlooking gentleman, his garments very highly scented with a mingled odoor of Cologne and musk. A solemnfaced, odd-looking man, after passing the dandy several tunes, with a look of aversion which drew general nobce, suddenly stopped, and in a confidential tone, •aid, Stronger, I know what'U take that scent out of your clothes , you-" "What do you mean> Sir? » ■ud the exquisite, fired with indignation, starting from Oh .getmAd > now: swear, pitch round, JSll^lS? < iri ai<m youakindness!" SSbSST^A"^ Uncle Josh^/foul £L^J^A e ~- Atthi »«»onent there lent up S3*£flS^ * "^Janeous roar of merriment ; S^air, ra7Wn ' lbly " cle^ the coop" and.