PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION IN ENGLAND. [From the "Lyttelton Times," June 14.]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 557, 16 August 1851, Page 4

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION IN ENGLAND. [From the " Lyttelton Times," June 14.]

The accounts which we have received of the proceedings of the Canteibury Association are exceedingly encoui aging;, as regards the prospects held out of a large and rapid colonization. The whole quantity of land sold up to Fcbruaiy 11, was a I'ttle more than 17,000 acres, hut of this 2,800 acres had been sold in the last seven weeks, and puvate accounts assure us that there was every appearance of a progressive increase in the sales. One private letter from a member of the Committee says, " If good accounts anive from the first colonists, I have little doubt that we shall sell within the spcond year to the amount of the ,£"300,000 we originally dreamed of." Another says, " The fever for Canterbury rages fiercely throughout the country." It is proposed to send out at least one ship every month, and during the next summer and autumn a much larger number will sail. The Labuan was laid on for the 6th of April ; and the Dominion, a firbt-class vessel, (or the Bth of May. We have before us the draft of a bill which it ! was proposed to submit to Parliament during the pre- [ sent session; the piovisions of which would authorise thp Association to make some voiy important changes in its constitution and powers, with reference, more especially, to the qualification of its members, the disposal of pasturage, the laying out of roads, and the offering of debentures on the security of future land sales. Great preparations appear to be in progress for tho establishment of the College on a most extensive scale. The necessary instructions and funds for the erection of the College buildings are to come out with the June ships, which will also bring what is called in London the " main body of Colonists." In looking over the reports given in the New Zealand Journal (which has been revived under a new direction) of the meetings of Canterbury Colonists, in January and February last, we find that every one of the first fleet of ships had been reported at home, as spoken with by other ships at some period of their passage. The Sir George Seymour had been spoken with off ltio Janeiro on the 21st October, a letter of the same date had also been received fi oin a passenger on board the Randolph. This intelligence will quell any doubts which may have arisen as to the bafa conveyance of letters transhipped at sea. The Duke of Newcastle, (late Earl of Lincoln) was about to take an active part in the management of the Association. A report had been made to the Association, by Mr. William Bowler, late superintendent of shipping, and published in the form of a pamphlet, giving full paiticulars of the first eight ships, including the Duke of Bronte, with regard to their total and individual cost ; the profit and loss of each ship ; the number of passengers and emigrants, the average cost per head j the actual cost per head to the Association, with a variety of other interesting details. We are unable this week to re-print, in full, from the report, the tables exhibiting statistics of the several vessels ; some general remarks, however, may be made on the subject. It appears that the number of cabin passengers in these ships amounts to 7J for every 100 tons of shipI ping, and 24 per cent, on the whole number of emigrants. Of the whole sum expended by the Association in the sending out of these (ships, viz., .£20,685 9s. 7d., more than two-fifths, or £11,818 2s. Bd. were contributed from other sources than the public funds of the settlement, comprising the amount paid for cabin passages reight, &c. » A comparison is made in the same document between the eaily proceedings of the New Zealand Company with respect to emigiation, and those of the Canterbury Association. Prom rhis it appeals that tho cost per head to the New Zealand Company exceeded £31, while the outlay of the Association has only been £16 per head, and the cost to the Canterbury Settlement, alter deducting the proportion paid by the emigrants themselves h.is only amounted to £12 per head. It was intended to supply futuie vessels sailing for this colony with Phillips' Fire AnniLilator, which, by evolving a certain gas, extinguishes fire almost instant" aneously. The apparatus for turning salt water int° fresh was also to be tried. A gold medal was to be presented to the colonist who should first he successful in introducing ft ash-water fish into the lakes and rivers of the settlement.