LYTTELTON.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 650, 25 October 1851, Page 4

LYTTELTON.

[From the Lyttelton Times, October 4.] Port Lyttelton, August 18, 1851. Sir, —I have the honour to acknowledge •the receipt ofyour communication of May 14th, -containing His Excellency’s reply to my letter of the 6th of that month, in reference to the appointment of a Post-master to this place. I am also instructed to acknowledge your communication of the 11th of June last to the late E. R. Ward, Esq., in answer to that gentleman’s letter of the 11th April, written on behalf of the Society of Land purchasers, recommending Mr. J. F. Ballard for the permanent appointment of landing-waiter in this settlement, on the supposition that that office was at that time unfilled ; and I am instructed in the name of the Council to request that you will convey to His Excellency the expression of their thanks for the promptitude with which he has replied to these several communications, as well as for the courteous language in which those replies were conveyed.

The Council hope that His Excellency will not consider them presumptuous if, after having received these answers, they venture oncu more to trespass upon His Excellency’s attention, by again reverting to the general subject of this correspondence, but they feel called upon to do so, as well on account of the great and general feeling of anxiety on this subject which prevades all classes in this settlement, as because there appears to exist some misapprehension on the mind of His Excellency wjth respect to the real object and intention cf the communications which they have had the honour of addressing to him. His Excellency’s well-known desire to he guided, as far as may be compatible with general convenience, by the well-ascertained wishes of the colonists in the different settlements, has emboldened the Council to lay before his Excellency their earnest request that he would be pleased to appoint resident colonists to the various offices that may be required in this settlement, and, in doing so, they beg to assure His Excellency that the Canterbury settiers would willingly renounce all claim to any share of His Excellency’s patronage in other settlements, if, by such a renunciation, they could be assured that all vacant offices in their own settlement would be filled by members of their own body. It was to solicit the recognition of this principle, as the one most conducive, in their opinion, to their own prosperity and success, that the Council ventured to address His Excellency on the subject of the two appointments already referred io, and not because they had reason to object, on the score of unfitness to the only gentleman appointed by

His Excellency who has yet entered upon his duties. On the contrary, they are bound to acknowledge that Mr. Howard, the gentleman referred to, and against whose appointment they felt called upon to remonstrate, has, during the short time that he has already been in the settlement, given general satisfaction by the manner in which he has discharged the duties of his office.

In making this renewed appeal to His Excellency on this subject, the Council desire to guard against its being supposed that they are advancing a claim on the grounds of right, (chough they cannot overlook the fact that promises and engagements on this head were held out to them before they left England,) they are however far from wishing to interfere in the least with His Excellency's undoubted prerogative to dispose in any way he may think best of the whole patronage of the colony; their ibject is respectfully, but earnestly, to solicit that bis Excellency will be pleased so to administer that patronage as not to disappoint the expectations which the settlers in Canterbury were encouraged to indulge in, that the local offices of the colony would be filled by men permanently attached to the principles and interests of the settlement. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, W. G. Brittan. Alfred Domett, Esq. Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary’s Office. Wellington, September 2, 1851. Sir, —I am directed by the Governor-in-Chief to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th ultimo upon the subject of public appointments in the Canterbury Settlement ; and in reply, I am to remark that his Excellency feels great difficulty in corresponding with a body such as the Council of the Society of Land Purchasers, when they claim to express the general opinion of all the Canterbury Settlers, as his Excellency is by no means aware that they represent the whole of the interests in that settlement. But, as the communications they have addressed to him have been so unobjectionable in themselves, and relate to subjects regarding which, by whatever denomination they style themselves, they must naturally feel a deep interest, his Excellency altogether waives for the present what is now a mere matter of form, in order that a substantial advantage may be gained ; and has therefore instructed me to convey to you for the information of the Council of the Society the following observations upon their communication made through you. Representative institutions being now about to be introduced into the colony, it is probable, in consequence of recommendations which his Excellency has made, that he will shortly be relieved altogether from the onerous and extremely unpleasant duty of making appointments to what may be properly termed Provincial Offices, which duty his Excellency presumes will devolve upon the Governments of the Provinces ; until, however, such is the case, his Excellency will, in as far as practicable, fill up the appointments alluded to either from persons resident in the province, or who have come out from Eng'and with the intention of settling there. But I am furthe*- to remark, that there is another class of appointments connected with the General Government of the country, such as the Customs’ Department, the Post-Office, and Land Departments, for the proper administration of the patronage of which his Excellency will be responsible to the General Legislature, and not to any Provincial Council, and the person nominated to fill the higher situations in which will be those entitled to such appointments by long service and experience in public business. The junior offices in these departments will, as a general rule, be filled up in the provinces in which they occurred, and if a vacancy in the senior branches of a department takes place in one province, and is filled by the promotion of an officer from another province, the vacancy caused in junior branches by the promotion which will take place will be filled up by a candidate from the province in which the first vacancy occurred.

In conclusion, I am desired to add, that his Excellency must be understood as only stating a general rule, which it may not be always possible to observe ; and further, it must be understood, that his Excellency has no power in any way to bind his successor, or to abridge any powers with which he may be entrusted. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, Alfred Domett, Colonial Sectary. W, G^Brittan, Esq., J. P., &c., Canterbury. [From the Lyttelton Times, October 18.] I he following correspondence has passed between the Local Government and Mr. Godley with reference to the Memorial on ;he subject of appointing a Harbour-Mas

ter, and laying down moorings in this harbour : — Lyttelton, September, 1851. Sir, —J have the honor to forward to you a memorial on the subject of appointing a Har-bour-Master, and laying down moorings. I have not been able to arrive at any satisfactory estimate of the expense of laying down moorings for six vessels in this harbour, there being no one here who has had any experience in a similar case. I beg leave to. lay before his Excellency, for his consideration, the following suggestions with respect to this matter. If his Excellency will be pleased to direct a letter to be written to me, to the effect that he will cause such a sum as he mav think fit to specify to be placed on the next estimates for the purpose of providing moorings for this port, I will write to the Canterbury Association, recommending them to send out proper moorings from England, and to defray, out of the land fund, whatever expense (if any) may be incurred over and above the sum proposed by the Colonial Government for that purpose. I think by the plan suggested above, we should obtain the moorings cheaper and better than by sending for them to Sydney.

I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, John Robert Godley, Agent Canterbury A ssoc f at * on « The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary’s Office, Wellington, Sept. 30, 1851. Sir, —I am directed by his Excellency the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of the memorial signed by yourself and other gentlemen on the subject of appointing a HarbourMaster, and laying down moorings in the harbour at Port Victoria, and to return you the following reply on the several points raised in it. Firstly, his Excellency observes that, when he was made acquainted with the opinion of the memorialists, that it was requisite that an officer combining the duties of HarbourMaster and Pilot should be appointed, he at once directed the Resident Magistrate to appoint such an officer, and he presumes that their request has already been to this extent complied with. Further, his Excellency thinks it right to remind you, as your name stands at the head of the memorial, that had he followed the dictates of his own judgment alone, he would have made such an appointment the moment the settlement was established, but that you, as the agent of the Canterbury Association, expressed yourself so strongly against the propriety or necessity of so doing, that the Government, from the peculiarly delicate position in which it was placed with reference to that Association, hesitated to .oppose the wishes so decidedly stated of their agent upon this subject. With regard to the other points mooted by the memorialists, namely,—that his Excellency will be pleased to cause such steps to be taken with as little delay as possible as may tend to avert a recurrence of the disasters which have occurred to the shipping at Port Lyttelton,—l am instructed to add, that bis Excellency regrets that it is not in the power of the Local Government to do this. It would, in such a case of emergency, have immediately made the requisite advances from the land fund of the district, or on its security, to provide for the safety of vessels in the coasting trade. At present, it is not in his Excellency’s power to do more than to undertake that when the Local Provincial Legislature is constituted at Canterbury, he will, as far as depends on himself, assent to any measure for devoting any portion of the surplus revenue of the Province to the provision of moorings at Lyttelton. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, Alfred Domett, Colonial Secretary. John Robert Godley, Esq., Agent Canterbury Association.