LYTTELTON.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 714, 5 June 1852, Page 3

LYTTELTON.

With respect to the proceedings of the Association in England, we understand that although no revival has taken place in the sales of land, there is a prospect of a considerable emigration to this Settlement in the course of the ensuing spring and summer, comprising ' several families of wealth and respectability. , The general interest in the progress of the Settlement appears to be on the increase, and the reports from all quarters are decidedly more favourable than those which have been received , for several months. J The announcement which we quoted from the 1 Morning Chronicle, that Dr. Rowley had been J appointed to be Bishop of Lyttelton in the place of Dr. Jackson, is contradicted. No ap- ' pointment has as yet been made, but it is possible the Bishopric may be conferred upon Dr. ! Gell, late President of the College in Van Die- ! men's Land, who is represented to be in every J way well" qualified for so important an office. — Lyttelton Times, May ,22. His Excellency air George Grey has remitted, ' through the Rev. 81.B 1 . W. Dudley, Five Guineas ! towards the erection of a church at Lyttelton. —Ibid. The following letter from the Colonial Secretary, referring to advances by the Local Govern- ! ment to the Canterbury Settlement, for public , works, appeared in the Lyttelton Times, ' May 15 :— * I " Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, ' April 27th, 1552, " Sir,-tI am directed by his Excellency the Governor-in- Chief to acknowledge the receipt | of your letter of the 15th inst., enclosing a memorial from the inhabitants of Lyttelton, requesting that the portion of the surplus-revenue of the Canterbury Settlement to be applied to the formation ofroajds'might b.e.expended on the. completion of the Road between Lyftelton and' Christchurch." " In reply his Excellency desires me to request you will be good enough to inform the Gentlemen signing the memorial, that in compliance with the wishes therein expressed, they may rely on his Excellency doing his utmost to promote as far as lies in his power the completion of the road between Lyttelton and the Plains, an object in which his Excellency has from the first formation of the Settlement ta ! - en the most lively interest." " At the same time, his Excellency remarks, they will have seen from the correspondence already published on this subject, that he has been cautioned by the Secretary of State, to abstain from making advances in future to the Agent of the Canterbury Association, for the purpose of enabling it to carry out objects which it has undertaken itself to fulfil. His Excellency, therefore, feels that he cannot interfere in these questions, without incurring a very serious responsibility, nor unless any measures he might adopt with respect to them shall have obtained the entire concurrence of the Agent of the Association, and a sufficient guarantee from him for the repayment of advances which might be made with a view to their execution." I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) Alfred Domett, Colonial Secretary. A. J. Alport, Esq., &g., &c, &c. Lyttelton." The following letter from Mr. Godley is extracted from the Lyttelton Times, May 29 : — To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, — I think it due to the people of this settlement, that I should make public the reason which induced rile t6 tender my resignation to the Managing Committee of the Canterbury Association, and the grounds upori which I have now determined to retain my office for the present. When I first accepted that office, I was under the impression that the London Managing Committee, though of course formally paramount, would practically leave the affairs in the colony to their Colonial Agent, controlled (as he is controlled to a certain extent) by the public opinion of the colony. I need hardly say that I never thought this would have been a good arrangement, but I did think that, however defective in theory, it would have been just tolerable as a makeshift, until better mstitutions could be established. As soon, however, as I found the Committee took a different view of their duties- and responsibilities, and thought (very naturally and properly, no doubt) that the management of affairs ought practically to be kept in the hands of those who were answerable for it to the Crown and the public, I thought it necessary either to obtain a pledge that there should be a speedy and radical change in the system, or (if that were not contemplated) to disconnect myself from i' altogether. I did not choose to be an instrument in carrying out plans of which I might or might not approve ; which, at any rate, neither the colonists nor myself could have any effectual means of influencing ; and of which we could rarely become cognizant, until they were finally settled. I therefore tendered my resignation ; at the sami

I time offering to assist, so far as I could, in carrying any change which might be determined upon into effect, and expressing my belief that, under the circumstances, I could make myself as useful to the colony in an unofficial as in an official capacity. I have just received the Committee's reply to my letter of resignation, and I am bound to say that nothing can exceed the frankness and good feeling with which the questions raised by me have been considered, and met. While the Committee justify the manner and extent of their interference with local affairs, they express in the strongest terms their consciousness of the extreme evils attendant on distant Government, and their regret at having been (as they conceive) compelled by their position to endure and inflict them. The most important part, however, of the Committee's communication consists in the announcement that it is their intention to apply, during the present session of Parliament, for an Act which shall transfer their functions to the Provincial Government about to be constituted. Some constitutional legislation for New Zealand there must be this session, and there is every r.eason to hope that it may confer upon us tolerably complete powers of local self Government. At any rate, the Canterbury Association is pledged to an immediate abdication of its anomalous powers, if Parliament will allow of such abdication upon proper terms. The Committee have requested that-during- the interval which must elapse before the proposed change can be effected, I should continue to hold the office of their Agent, and it is impossible under the circumstances which I have stated, I should refuse to comply with that request ; a request which is the more gratifying to me, and the more creditable to them, inasmuch as it is made notwithstanding the j existeuce of a difference of opinion between us upon many points of detail connected with the management of the land fund. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, John Robert Godlet. Lyttelton, May 25, 1852.