CANTERBURY.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 21, 24 December 1863, Page 2

CANTERBURY.

(FROM OTJU OWN COKHF.SrONDENT. ) CiiRiSTCHURCH, Dec. 19Lh s 18")3. My budget of.. news for this letter is exceedingly scanty, nor does it make up in interest for what it lacks in quantity. There really seems to be nothing going on in Christcharoh, at all events nothing of importance enough to demand notice, while the political crisis which formed the piece de resistance of my last few letters has come to a termination as sudden and mysterious as it? commencement. In my* last I told you that the Superintendent had, after much personal exertion in riding about th-a country . in search of a man strong enough and bold enough to accept the premiership in such a critical moment, s uccet>ded in forming a Ministry which gave tolerable satisfaction, and to a certain extent restored public confidence. Ifc was thought by some that the next step would be to call a special ' Session of the Provincial.* Council, when all the secret manceuverings and caballmgs which rumor asserts to have been going on would be dragged into the light of day, and the public would be admitted behind that cUrtain which has hitherto period impenetrable to the sharpest curiosity. But this idea seems never tohave entered the heads of the new Executive, or if it has, it met with very little favor among them ; not a syllable has been uttered of expressing any the most remote intention of convening the Council ; Ministers remain hid in the retirement of Government buildings, • where they are supposed to be laboriously working their way through the pile of .papers that has choked up every office during the time when the official stools were unoccupied, and give very few tokens of their presence to the -world at huge. The. Lyttleton Times seem 3 greatly aggravated at this, and has two or three times endeavored to insert the long pole into the Ministerial cage, and make its occupants bestir "themselves ; but the peopie generally take it very quietly. Canterbury i<* not a place where political excitement ever rises to a very high pitch. We can get up the steam upon a fitting occasion, but it never lasts long, and we collapse into nil the greater ; indifference from having been roused beyond our wont. The most probable reason why the Government are in no hurry to summon the Council, (to advise his Honor to summon | the Council I believe is the 'more., constitutional way of putting it,) is simply this, that only, one of theiri has a seat there, and that one; too, is Mr lio3s, who, though* a member of the Executive, is without . office. I can readily understand that the Government doe's not much relish the thoughts of setting the tongues of the thirty-five members in full motion, while their own are compelled to remain mute, and that they think it much

better to postpone the expected session, till they have -made some arrangement 'about their own seats. In-the, meantime, as I said before, the so-called crisis has quietly" come to an end, and with it, the excitement which has prevailed for the past month, with ; the exception of an occasional grumble, ha 3 completely died away* Another monster, very rampant, a short time ago, has also been tamed, at least for the present, i.e., the Waumikariri- The works which have been carried out there have proved, succeesful, and what is called by .the some- . what enigmatical nanie of the ''diversion of ■ the Waimakariri *' has been accomplished I have before described the peculiar course this river takes, and the damage it did to Kaiapoi and_the country in that neighborhood when it lett its accustomed channel. Of course the great object was to tnake it resume its usual course", and tlits was effected fey throwing a dam across the northern channel so as to-turn nearly the. whole volume of water into the southern channel, and also :by excavating and clearing away the.silt and shingle, so as to incline the; iiver in the desired direction, Several heavy freshets came down while the work ; was :in*, progress, and it was greatly feared that tlie whole, would be rendered ' labor in .vain, but' the embankments which had been erected were < fortunately, strong enough to prevent the water from overflowing' the island, and no material damage was done.y ".'■".. .-•.;'-: I have nothing more to report of our : diggings at Oxford. More gold has been;found, but still in very minute quantities, and there does net .seem to-be very much reason tfi:suppose that a payable goldneld will ever be discovered. However, many people think differently, but the geologists are one and all against them, and an unfavorable opinion has been expressed by experienced, miners who have examined the locality. Parties are still, out prospecting, and if there is anything to be found it ought not to be long before we have news of their success. • We have had several arrivals from England this month — the Pekia, Bahia, Brother's Pride, D. G. Fleming and Zealandia all came in within ten days of each other, having made passages varying from ninety-six to one hundred and thirty-seven days. I have noticed in reports from other provinces, that the voyage from England during the latter, part of this year has occupied unusual time. We have r.ceived about six hundred assisted immigrants by these vessels, and a large number of cabin and intermediate passengers. One ship, the Brother's Pride, is in quarantine, forty- six deaths having occurred during the voyage from typhus and low fever. There is to be an inquiry into the cause of so much sickness prevailing on board, which, according to report, was owing in a great measure to bad management on the part cf those who had to tit out the vessel and of the captain. What the particular causes 'of complaint are, I don't know, except that the medical stores Were very deficient ; but the captain has not prepossessed himself in good orn-nion by his conduct on entering the harbor. The vessel -was boarded as usual by the Health Officer, who, finding what was- the state of things on boaid, directed the captain to hoist the yellow flag and 'remain at the quarantine station at Camp Bay. In spite of these orders, however, he weighed anchor, came up the harbor, and brought up among the other shipping, just opposite the town. Of course he' had to make his way back again pretty quickly. I presume a breach of quarantine regulations is a serious offence in the eye of the law, and I ceituinly hope end feel very confident that whatever penalty, may be attached to it will be vigorously, exacted in this case. The Supreme Court concluded its sittings on the 15th. The cases have been few in number and of no great importance. The judge congiatulated the Province on the fact that crime was not increasing in the same ratio as the population, and on the small number of ie'Committals, which appears and speaks well for the prison discipline. One crime however, seems to be decidedlyon the increase, and that is cattle stealing, which lorrned the staple of the cr.mina leases. In one of these the jury., weve locked up for 27 hours before they agreed to a verdict. After keeping, the accused party so long in suspense, it was only fair, and sho\v< d a proper consideration for bis feelings, that their verdict should have been as it was — Not Guilty. Talking of trials reminds me that I have just been-hear-ing of a rather suspicious looking accident that occurred lately at the Ashburtoh. A certain pedlar called at : Mr ' Petre's station, and remained there a short time, during J which he sold one of the men a watch. He * then left, and shortly afterwards his body i was found in the river, at the ford he would have to cross after leaving the station. The suspicious part of the story is,', that on examining the body a quantity of valuable articles, jewellery, &c., that the deceased was known to have had on his person was found to have' disappeared. The above is all that I have heard of the matter as yet, but in a day or two we shall know more of the par- . ticulars. , - Hay harvesting has commenced, and if the weather should hold up the Crop .will be a splendid -one, but it all depends on how =it is got in, and unfortunately it has been rather stormy of late, and still looks very-' threatening. The farmers are looking forward to. a very successful seasou, All the grain crops, wheat and oats especially, are doing remarkably well, and promising a most abundant^ yield. We may hope next year,. too, not to have quite such a scarcity of potatoes -ns we . have suffered from this winter. . The wool is begining to come down, though the weather has interrupted the shearing a good deal There are two vessels (the Donna Annit'a'arid. the White Star) loading with' wool in Lyttelton harbor ; the former has about 800 bales on board.' " "' " .V. The Lord Ashley arrived from Auckland lately, and brought down all the. Canterbury . members except .Mr Walker.