CANTERBURY.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 41, 10 February 1864, Page 3

CANTERBURY.

(from our own correspondent.) j; ,i. ■•:» 5 Csbistchxtk^h, lsfc?Feb.,:lß64 • The political world of Canterbury is again in a ferment. The calm, which siicceeded to the comm'o.tion . that arose three months ago respecting the resignation or non-resignation bf > the Superintendent, has~ been interrupted by r » pretty sharp storm, "and froni the gloomy look of the horizon, I fancy vthe good. .ship .of, the state will, for some time; to come, have to look out; for squalls. The cause of the disturbance was the election which .-I mentioned in, ; my last letter, as likely to cause some political agitation. A vacancy having occurred in the Provincial Council by the retirement of Mr Williams, one of the representatives of the Heathcote district, Mr.' Rolles'ton, the Provincial Secretary, took the opportunity of getting himself a seat previous to the approaching meeting of the Council. , Mr. .Murray Aynsley, a resident in. the district, and a member of the late Executive, opposed him. It was railier a bold stroke for Mr. Kolleston to stand for the Heathcote, yet it was a case '.. when boldness became the best policy, for it is ■■ clear that the business of the 'country could not be carried on with a Grovernment almost entirely unrepresented in the Council, and unless the Secretary could contrive to obtain a seat, they would have no course left but to send in their resignations. On the other hand the Heathcote district, for extent and importance and character of its constituency, ranks very high in the Province, inferior only to Christ-church itself, and the fact that the new Provincial Secretary had succeeded in carrying his election for that district would give him much greater weight in the Council than if he appeared as the representative of some small and, numerically speaking, unimportant constituency. Of course too; the same reasons which made it an object with Mr. Rolleston and his friends to secure his return rendered it a matter of the highest importance in the eyes of the opposition that he should be defeated, and the result was an election struggle such as within my recollection has never been known in this steadygoing, unexciteable settlement. However, after a hard fight, in which each side worked tlieii- liu.TcT.ost and did t.lieir best to ivin. Ml-. Rolleston came in a-liead by twenty -five votes, to the dismay of certain of 3iis opponents who thought their victory secure, and arc at an utter loss to account for what mysterious causes could have led to this unexpected defeat. No day lias been named yet for the meeting of the Council, though it has been notified that it will be summoned together very shortly ; I suppose they will wait till this All -England business lias been got over. In the mean time two fresh vacancies have occurred by the retirement of Mr. Rowland Davis, member for Lyttelton, and Mr. Wilkinson for the Heathcote. Mr. Moorhouse lias come forward for the latter, and is not likely to meet with any opposition. For Lyttelton Mr. Ainsley was in the field immediately, and for three or four days had no competitor ; now, however, Mr. Ilargreaves lias consented to stand against him. Mr. Hargreaves lias represented the town in a former session, but retired in consequence of business compelling him to leave the colony for awhile. What the respective chances of the two candidates may be I have 110 means of determining, but Mr. Hargreave's friends appear very hopeful of success. I should tliink that the Grovernment were likely to get on very well in the Council, if the measures they bring forward are such as to prove that there is no truth. in tlio charge brought against them at the late election, that they are " opposed to progress and to the prosecution of great public works," and if matters go on pretty smoothly, it is quite on the cards that the Superintendent, if his wish to retivs from office was really prompted by a feeling that the duties of his post were something more than he was able to discharge, that he was as Costard has ifc " a little o'er-parted," may accept the success of his Executive, after all that has passed as, to a certain extent, a vote of confidence, and accomplish his original purpose of resigning the Superintendency. If so, there are plenty of indications that the political troubles of the last few months will reach their climax in a general election. The races came off on the 19th, and two following days. The weather fortunately proved fine the whole time, L nnd perhaps the threatening aspect of the first day made holiday keepers all the more thankful for the sunny days which followed it. The meeting was held on the new course, which was brought into use for the first time, and proved in excellent order. The attendance, however, was not so good as it should have been to do honor to the arrangements for the gratification of the public ; and although the new course is at a less distance from Christchurch, the number of visitors fell considerably short of last year's. 2for was the result of the racing so favorable to Canterbury ; for whereas last year Canterbury horses won every event during the whole three days, on this occasion several of the best prizes were carried off by Nelson. The most interesting and exciting feature of the meeting was the competition between Mr. Lance's Golden Cloud, the best horse in Canterbury, and Mr. Redwood's Lady Bird, winner of the Otago Champion Match. They ran together three -times, once each day. On the first clay the Cloud Avon the Canterbury Cup by half a length, and on the se'eond he lost the Ladies' Purse by a neck. Both of these were splendid races, and the result of a third trial between two so well-matched rivals was looked forward to with great interest. Unfortunately on the third day Grolden Cloud was amiss, and though his owner started him it must have been only for the gratification of the public, as the horse stood no chance from the first start. Several of the horses winch figured at this meeting were disposed of by public auction on the following Saturday, when Mr. Redwood purchased Goiden ' Cloud, for £450. The Jockey Club have since issued a programme for a champion meeting, to be held hi Christchurch in January, 1865. It was submitted to the inspection of several of the leading men on the New Zealand turf, who all gave at their highest approval, declaring it to be the most liberal programme that had ever been issued in the colonies, and one likely to draw large ■fields 'from! Australia. The great item run thiis : — Champion stakes, of £1,000, added to a sweepstakes of £50 each, h. f. 3 miles ; weight for age. It is fixed for the first day of the meeting, by which means the Jockey Club hopes to bring the horses more together, and ensure good sport for tho three days; there are besides the Derby Stakes, of £700, the Canterbury Cup, of £300, the C. J. C. Handicap, of; £200, and several smaller sums, I making altogether nearly £3,500 of public I money to be run for. On Saturday we expect the arrival of the ; All England There does not seem to be much excitement felt about it though ; nothing like what we hear of at some other places, especially Dunedin. Perhaps doleful forebodings of the fearful thrashing they are about to reccivo weigh heavily on our cricketers' spirits. We have not heard anything yet 01 the Eleven we sent to. T Dunedin, to play against Otago, but according'to the Daily Times, we were to be beaten there also,

in which defeat a certain- Province, with which you may be acquainted will, no doubt, sympathise. r heartily with us. I shall not be at all surprised to hear that our men had been made to look rather small, for they 1 were none of them in proper practice, and two or three of the best had not, I believe, been, on the ground at all this season. A liiblo wholesome experience, would ,not be purchased very dearly by the loss of .the first match, and we might hope to' : turn the tables in the next. A -meeting of Presbyterians was held in Christchurch on the. 26 th, in St. '.Andrew's. Church; for the purpose of forming a Prysbytery in this Provinca. The Rev. W. Kivton was chosen as Moderator, who, after, a brief address, declared the Presbytery formed, and they at once proceeded to the despatch of business. The Rev, C. ITrazer was elected cleric. The lief. W. Hogg addressed the meeting at some length, and gave an interest-, ing account of his visitations to the north of the province, and acquainted the meeting with the generoiis offers of land for the erection of manses, &c, which he had received from proprietors in that district. The general state of the Pl-esb'ytierian Church in the province was discussed, and various... arrangements entered into for its due supervision, and to give it more effective organisation. The second Wednesday, in each quarter was settled to be in future the days of meeting, and thus amid the greatest harmony and good feelling among all present, tho first Presbytery over held in I Canterbury was brought to a conclusion. , An Acclimatisation Society is being got up here under the auspices chiefly of Mr. Weld. Upwards of fifty jjersons have alreacly joined it, and the number is expected to be greatly increased. The subscription is £5 for the first yeai', and £2 2s. per annum afterwards.. There must be, -I should imagine, so many people- who would take a,n interest in the O23crations of stich a society, and be ready to assist them by every means in their power, that with sufficient activity on the part of its promoters it can hardly fail to be successful. We have had two arrivals from England during the past fortnight. The Trptreo arrived on the 20th with about 37 cabin passengers and a large number of assisted immigrants, after a much quicker voyage than vessels front England have generally made during the last six months, being only 76 days from land to land. On the 26th the Alpaca came into port after a passage of 121 days. She brought eight cabin passengers, but no assisted immigrants. On .Saturday we were visited by an old friend under a new name, the Lyttelton. formerly the Volga, Captain Taylor, from Boston. She brings a large cargo of American merchandise.