CANTERBURY. (From our own Correspondent.) Christchurch, March 20, 1864.

North Otago Times, Volume 1, Issue 5, 24 March 1864, Page 6

CANTERBURY. (From our own Corr espondent.) Christchurch, March 20, 1864.

In politics very little is doing. There has been a sort of recantation on the part of u great many who were the most firm supporters of Mr Moorehouse. This has been caused by his want of taste, to use the very mildest phrase. People begin to say that he retired from the Superintendentship in a fit of spleen, and that he would now be exceedingly glad to have the office. Certainly his conduct for the last six or eight months give some color to this accusation. He has been coqueting to a very large extent with politics, and at a recent election for the Heathcote district, j in which Mr Rolleston, the new Provincial Secretary, and Mr Aynsley were the rival candidates, he delivered himself of a speech which one would expect to hear in America, not in staid and sober Canterbury. It is alleged, and I believe with truth, that that speech alienated a great many of his quondam supporters. We are all looking forward to an interim meeting of the Provincial Council. "When it will take place is yet unkuown. It is expected that some startling disclosures will be made when it does meet ; and many people say that it is a " toss-up" whether the present Government remain in office, or retire in favor of what are called the •' disciples of progress," that is, the Moorehouse party. The personnel of the Executive has recently undergone a change. Mr Houston has retired from the office of Provincial Solicitor, having gone to England by the mail before last ; he is succeeded by Mr Trovers, who, if he could manage to get a seat in the Council, would render good service to the Government. Mr Tancred, President of the Executive, was elected for the Wainui district the other day, to the surprise of many who know the peculiarities of the Peninsular constituencies. As a speaker, he is almost useless, although ! he may, in some sense, be said to carry a good deal of weight with him. The Criminal Sittings of the Supreme Court terminated on Saturday evening last, having commenced on the preceding | Monday. There were no cases of importance. The severest .sentence passed by the Judge was in a case of bigamy — two years' imprisonment with hard labor. There was a perjury case, and a host of larceny cases, of no interest. It is a disgrace to a wealthy and prosperous Province like Canterbury that there is no proper place for holding the sittings of the Supreme Court. The Town Hall, where they have hitherto been held, is a " place of all work," and is certainly anything but in keeping with the majesty of the law. There is a bare probability that by next year at this time we will have a suit of rooms commensurate with the importance of the duties. Building, in and about the city, goes on briskly. The Union Bank of Australia will shortly find itself established in a brick and stucco building, of a very nondescript charactcr,in Hereford-street ; and we hear some rumor of the Bank of New Zealand commencing a very fine building in Colombo and Hereford-street 5 ?, one of the best sites in Christchurch, if not the very best. There has been quite a little war about our Cathedral Commission. As I understand it, and I believe, as most of the public understand it, it is briefly this. The Commission, after receiving the plans of the proposed Cathedral from Mr. Scott, of London, thought that the best way to have them earned out would be to appoint a superintending architect. Local talent would not do, so they wrote to Mr. Scott and asked him to send a man out. Before this had been done, however, a local architect, Mr. Mountfoit, applied for the situation, and requested the Commission to forward his application to Mr. Scott. They did so, and Mr. Scott appointed Mr. Mount fort, subject to the approval of the Commission. The Commission refused to sanction the appointment, on what grounds they have not said, although the inference is that they consider him incompetent. Upon this, the other architects, considering that a great slight had been cast on Mr. Mountfort, and through him on the professional men of Christchurch generally, wrote a memorial to Mr. Scott requesting him to urge the appointment of Mr. Mountfort, and not to allow himself to be biassed by the "nervous anxiety" of the Commission. This precious Commission, meantime, have taken the appointment of nu architect out of tbe hands of Mr. Scott, and requested Mr. Selfe and the Bishop's Commissary, in England, to settle the matter by sending a man out as soon as possible. There the matter rests for the present. The Lyttelton Times fought the battle of the Commission, while the Press and Standard took the side of the archiccts.