CANTERBURY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 210, 11 August 1862, Page 5

CANTERBURY.

(FROM OCR OWN CORRKSPOITDEXT.)

Christenurch, 6th August, 1862,

I was absent from Christchurch the early part of last week, and did not hear of the arrival of the Gothenburg till too late to send you a letter by her; but your readers have lost nothing by my silence, for nothing whatever has occurred since my last likely to possess any interest to persons unconnected with the Province.

The Provincial Council met according to summons on Tuesday week, when a somewhat ludicrous contretemps occurred. The Superintendent, who represents the district of Heathcote in th Genera Assembly, is attending in his place at Wellington, and did not come down to open the Council, under the impression I presume, that he would be sufficiently represented by his deputy. However, when the Council had assembled, they received the agreeable information that the presence of the Superintendent waß absolutely necessary to set them going, and that, as he was not iorthcoming, nothing more could be done than merely elect a speaker, and adjourn till the devs c machina should descend to relieve them from their embarrassing position, and "give them Toice and utterance once again." At this, one honurable member was inclined to be satirical, on the want of legal knowledge displayed by an administration, headed by a barrister and numbering a gentleman of the profession amongst its executive members; and another fervently trusted, that should not be a second time called upon to undertake a long journey from up-country merely to be informed that his services would not be required till some future occasion ; but, on the whole, the Council took the matter much more good humoredly than might have been expected. After a little discussion on the point, whether the Superintendent's bodily presence was absolutely requisite, or whether he might not confirm 'the election of speaker and open the Council by letter or message, the Council adjourned till the 18th instant, on which day the Provincial Secretary on behalf of the government had pledged himself to produce the missing Super. It is understood that this is to "be only a supplementary session, for the purpose of voting another L 50.000 towards the extinction of the railway loan ; but it is probable that an attempt will be made to bring some other business before the Council, especially as regards the subject of immigration and education, both matters of the highest importance, the extinction of which was purposely postponed last session till the Council Enlargement Bill should have taken effect, and on which it is now very desirable that the public should be informed what measures the government purpose to introduce.

The railway contractors are now making better progress than they have been able to effect for some time previously, as they have got away from the hard rock which frightened Messrs. Baynes and M'Candlish into throwing up their contract, and have come upon much softer strata, through which they are of course able to drive at a much more cheering rate. Mr. Haast, the Government Geologist, who made a scientific examination of the Port hills before the works were commenced came to the conclusion that but little of this peculiarly hard rock existed in the line of the proposed tunnel, and I hope for all parties' sake—the contractors, his own credit, and the province at large,—that his prognostications, which in other respects have been found remarkably accurate, will be verified in this particular as welL Another accident occurred a short time ago at the railway works, fortunately without any fatal results. A fuse which had been lighted hung fire for a considerable time, till one of the men lost patience, and went up to see whether it had not burnt itself out, when, at that moment the expkmon took place and he was struck down, but luckily escaped with some bruises about the body and face. This is the third or fourth accident which has happened in the tunnel from precisely the same cause. It seems as though we were to hare literally no end of wet weather this winter. For the last week the rain has been incessant, especially on Friday, when we were favored with a son-wester which caused such a fresh in the Avon as I have never seen before. I am afraid much damage must have been done in other parts of the country Cnnstchurch is in a most miserable condition' and presents a soddea, water-logged appearance which must be anything but captivating to our visitors from Australia or the late arrivals from ibngland. Business however, appears to be tolerably flourishing-, several large Bales have taken

lately which were well attend*}, and prices Sen g\ I" th. c nd the SLI or the £* few weeks» but-that» always the case at this time of the year, and a i^J^V* confidentl 7 expected. The followLl a- G amo, auts ta^en on the different board I%RdU^ g Tthe moath of Julv:-July 3rd, mh ; T £ h; L 1292; loth ' L6O4 5 l4th > SSi?; *5? tal« &r &c month, Ll 1,780. The K^Jn'K^T 11^^ stock il*V°*™ Vev tZme^Z S£l* rrh and James 'are to A smaU suspension bridge Is now in course of bS°nl?V^— To 2' i!ear the Government! wiU bo both ornamental and useful The Vruiiit?el£h nf h&y-eaho, dctermiaed onll^ng and OrfoJ-f P PXeCCOf gs° Und feetween the r»'^ and tb?;n7 emCC)? ne Of the rf»ef thorouglrfares ii£^ mt° Christchureh from the south, winch will be a great improvement to the appearance of that part of the towTnnd Sve t somethmgof the aspect of a boulevard Th a work of lighting the town progresses but «lowlv- £? ISTS l todeterminTthe T Tn^f Ca7 ymg ll iDto execution The Lyttleton people have taken up the idea, and the Town Council there com menced operations by placing Ut^ along the streets at those points where ithS appeared most needed, which proved a great con venience. though not precisely in the wav tbev had intended. It was a very obvious resource when a mau had to traverse the streets after nisrhtiall, to appropriate one of these lantern* fo^lns own particular benefit, and certain of the townstoik accordingly used to avail them.^elves of tHlr Council's liberality; but of course, after the w-iv-farerhadat length reached his home through many perils, which the welcome light had enaKe* him to avoid, it would have been an absnnlitv u> have thought of retracing his steps to replace the lamp, which too lie might probably want the next evening; so at last it was found, that through his attention to individual advantage, the public interest was not much furthered by the lights ami they are, heneforth, to be elevated'on posts, in the accustomed manner.

A public Ball comes off ia Lyttclton to-n-hf, in honor of the Telegraph. Christclmreh may perhaps follow suit, and then, at last, will be .in end to these rejoicings. I can't conceive what the people of Canterbury will do, when the railway is opened, since they have thought it necessar*' to welcome the telegraph « so loudly, ai:i sa long " but I suppose at the bottom, the principle IS ranch he same as that of the old solig-"! W arr.4t twill prove an excuse for the glass "' T^.Jf^Harewood arrived in Lvttclton on the 23th ult., after a rather {edious passage of no days from London. lam sorry to say* that tV attempt to introduce de^r into Canteriwrv of which I told you in mr last, has turned out R failure. file fallow-deer were not put on board at ail, not being in a fit condition to stand tl*e voyage when the vessel sailed. Of the red deethe stag and one of the hinds died on the wav the stag from an accident, the hind in giving birth. to a fawn, which perished with its mother It has been proposed to send the solitary survivor to W eUington, where some of its kind have been successfully imported, and are, I believe, doivg

A scientific society has lately been started in Christchureb, under the name of the - Philosophical Institute of Canterbury." Its objects, as Lv be conjectured from ifs title, are the furtherance of science, arts, and literature, and the <-ene-l development of the intellectual resources &of tCe 1 rovince. It is intended to hold monthly meeting at wmch the members will read papers" on scientific and literary subjects, to be afterwards printed the Royal British Association, and in addition to these recreations, it is in contemplation to found a Public Library, a Museum, and an Observatory and to start an Acclimatization Society This Institute commences its career with great enthusiasm on the part of it* founders, and will tfonhfrless be productive of much good, if its higher aims and objects are kept steadily in view, and zealously pursued, A proposal has been made to effect an amalgamation with the society at present existing under the name of the Mechanics' Institute, but it is understood that the members of the Philosophical look upon that as a very derogatory mesdS"' rCJeCt thG Proposed Inatch'with

An important meeting was held in Christehurch^ early last week, to consider the best means of wh-5, n£ Ar K^S° al K^the purchase of which by Mr. Sheath gave rise to so much disfVm Snn?l du^the last session of the Provincial Conned. The committee appointed afc a previous meeting.to examine the locality and its depots reported that «thejformation is perfectly re-uW and will be found to extend over a very much larger extent than has been generally supposed. The coal lies in sections, nearly vertically, and can be worked at a comparatively small cost. Tt is estimated that a supply equal to 5,000 tons vex annum can be brought to the pit's moatli extending over a period of seven years, without resort to any extensive system of pumping The total capital estimated as required for this purpose may be set down at L 5.000 under the existing rate of wages; and after making liberal allowances for management and all other charts it is thought that coal can be delivered at "the pit s mouth at a price varying from 16s to «0s per ton Mr. Sheath has offered to lease "the whole estate for a period of 66 years, to any company for the purpose of working the mines, on condition of his receiving one-eighth of the market value of the coal raised. It was accordingly determined to raise the sum of L 2,500, in shares of .LSO each, for the purpose of opening the raise and proving beyond doubt the existence of coal by bringing it to view at the pit's mouth • and that accomplished, to for a company for continuing the works on a larger scale, and to apply to the Provincial Council for power to form ;> trW way from the Kowai to Christchurch. All the shares have been taken up, and the work will be commenced immidiately. Whether the anticipations of the proprietors. will be realised to their lull extent, experience alone can decide • but there is little room for doubt that the sckem« will prove sufficiently remunerative, and none "at all that it wid be of the greatest possible benefit not to Christchnroh only, but to the whole Province

*, Si V?i BJ£ ROCGn Chinolikk.—last week at the Bald Hilk, whilst a lady was in theaet rf drawing water from a l»le, the bank, which bad been underwashed gave way, and she'fell dWS we?l Happily, the representative Of the fair sex was anirlv ■applied with crinoline, and floated ontte *?teifke fuS?'nn r«f Vendini?UteS-v How^r, she screamed lustily, until some miners living close by promntlv procured ropes, and extricated hfr from fiV^ritt position. However objectionable the ironlbooped cage may be on terra finna, it saved, in this instance, the wearer from a watery grave.— Creswick Advertiser, Ist July. 7°w f°<r ,ulr' GeoTge Day> of Albury» despatched to Melbourne one ton of Virginian tobacco ' grown at his farm on the Sydney-road. He appears pretty confident of winning the prize of-^4O to be awarded by the Board of Agriculture for the best sample of colonial tobacco. Sir. Day gathers tW crops m each year from h* plants, and the quamk? sent to Melbourne represents the first two crops It was grown on about two acres of land, and but for the ravages of the grubs early in the season the reTwo Children Dsowxed.—iverv distressing accident occured at Barkly on Monday lit Sf girl, about eight years of age, named Cram whUe walking with an infant iS her^rms,WemaUv before aid could reach them. The youngest was th« child of a miner named Carpenter. AltWgh such accidents are common enough, it is still surprising they are not more so on onr gold fields.— Maryborough Advertiser, July 25. J Echuca.—The residents of this place are looking torward anxiously for the commencement of the rw£ way from Bendigo to the Murray. This great undertaking if accomplished as early tts it was expected to be, will throw new life into the little towa and district. There is some capital land in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, which fire yea» hence we hope to see covered with villas, the residences* ot some of our local merciants. Pastoral Ttm** July 26. wKvro* j.tmes>