Original Poetry.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 241, 10 February 1860, Page 3

Original Poetry.

SHEEP BELLS.

Sheep bells, sheep bells, What is it ye tell to me, Ringing by "some lonely brook, Climbing in some sunny nook, Where sweet grass and flowerets be.

Sheep bells, sheep bells, Ye have stories all your own, Ofthe thistle tempest-nursf, Of the heath flower newly burst; Of the time for ever gone.

Sheep hells, sheep bells, Only music that I knew, When the whole world unto me, Was the.brightly-spreading: sea ; Bounded by its mountain blue.

Sheep bells, sheep bells, I shall hear you ne'er again, With life but one summer day, With lip tuned to laughter aye; With glad spirit as 'twas then.

Sheep bells, sheep bells, Hearts that once were warm grow cold, Fortune turns and brows look strange, But ye ne'er have known a change; Still are yours the times of old.

Sheep bells, sheep bells, Of my holiest love's ye breathe, Faces fair as summer's bloom, Wliite cot where tlie queenly tipffini, Hung around her golden wreath,' ;;

Sheep bells, sheep hells, y .. .T y-.-Wherefore do ye cause me tears, ..,_-.—. -.-<. Ah, your music seems tOibear-op, My mother's hymn, my.father's prayer,'.... All lov'd'things of other years. '" ' ""••"'• "*'',':.

SONG OF THE ENGLISH EXILE. Where are the friends I once lov'd so dearly, The faces kind that once npon me soiil'd; The warm true hearts that lov'd me so/.sincerely, And the -sweet -voices that my ear heguiPd ? Here ? They are far from here. Where the old homestead thro' the elm trees gleaming,

The blue lake gushing forth its endless song ; The sunlight on its rippling bosom streaming, The white swans sailing thero the whole day long.

Here ? They are far from here. Where the dear church with its green ivy clinging; On its old grey turret, and its wails around; Tlie cheerful bells their music measure ringing, The porch whose wild rose trail'd upon the ground.

Here ? They are far from here. Where the wliite gate that opsn'd on the meadow, Where clover blossom'd, and the tall grass wav'd ; The bow'r beneath the walnut tree's broad shadow, The lonely grot with varied sea-shells pav'd. Here ? They are far from here. Where the green lane where the summer bees were straying, When the sybil told me I should cross the sea; When laugh'd I, mocking the prophetic saying, Ere the dark waves scver'd my fair home from me.

Here"? Ifc is far from here. Where the sweet fancies that one time came throng-

With changless happiness to my breast; Oh ! That my heart would cease its weary longing, Break in its struggling witli its own mirest. Here ? Thafc alone is here!

ZOILA,

LYTTELTON. The following summary for the European mail we take from tbe Lyttelton Times of the 28th ultimo. The mail for England closes this evening. The Lord Worsley will take our mail boxes to Sydney, whence the Salsette, or other vessel of the Peninsula and Oriental Company, will carry them to Suez, leaving Sydney about the 14th February and reaching Suez about the 26th of March. Letters despatched tbis evening are clue in London via Marseilles on the 4th, and via Southampton about the 10th of April. We take this opportunity of summarising the events of the period whicli has elapsed since our last occasioned summary for England; and of describing shortly the present position and prospects of the province. Observing conventional propriety, we commence with the department of news called political.

The session of the Provincial Council, which commenced, at the end of September, closed under difficulties in the first week of the new year. It will be remembered that early in the session a spirit of antagonism was displayed against the Executive then holding office on the part of a considerable number of the Council; and that on a finaucial question a resignation aud a reconstruction of the Executive took place. The new arrangement did nofc last, the Government not even meeting the Council once for business. On finding thafc a vital question of financial policy was viewed differently by themselves and by the Superintendent, and that his Honor would certainly not continue to hold office if that question were pressed by his Executive, the latter, of whom Messrs. Ross, Harmaa- and W.yatfc were the principal members, retired, and an Executive somewhat similar to the previous one was reconstructed. For a time the business of the Council was carried on quietly ; but the arrangements made were manifestly imperfect, no gentleman being found willingjjto accept the one pecuniarily-res-ponsibla post of Provincial Secretary. This temporary arrangement was further weakened when, at the close of the. session, theuLoan Bills' prepared in England by the Commissioners appointed in that country, where submitted for consideration. At once, Mi\ Ros&Jwho had given the Government his services.. as\a, member of the Executive in order that" the necessary work of the province should- be 'carried?on, findiug that he could not assent to the views of his new colleagues, upon the Eailway scheme, resigned bis seat. The rest of the Executive took upon themselves the task ofApassing the two important measuresi mentioned through the house, and succeeded, in site of a smart position. The session was closed on the 3rd of January, all the work prepared having been performed. On the last day of the session it was announced that the Secretaryship had been filled up, by the aoceptance of Mr. Blakiston's offer of his services in that capacity. Mr. 01----livier, who had been the working man hitherto, soon after resigned his seat in the Executive, which remains as follows: —Mr. Blakiston, secretary; Mr. Duncan solicitor ; and Mr. Cass, chief surveyor. As most persons iv Canterbury are attached to quietness and order, it is probable that this Executive may remain in office until the next meeting of the Council; but there are none so sanguine as to anticipate for it a longer existence. Events generally and the difficulty in finding so self-denying as to accept a paid office, in particular, tend towards the early realization of a plan sometimes talked about, viz : —the appointment of a permanent paid under-secretary, as well as of a shifting unpaid 'nominal head of the office; or even perhaps, to be consistent, without officer of the name at all.

The position of the Eailway question is at present somewhat tbis. "While the Council was sitting the province learned had the Commissioners appointed at home had entered into a contingent contract with .gentlemen, in

■England, to .undertake the construction of the desired works for a certain sum:—contingent, .that 'is, .upon first, the contractors being satisfied through their agents that the 'work was not falsely described to them; secondly the Provincial Council ratifying the terms of the contract; thirdly, the General Government permitting the expenditure to be incurred. The Government received atthe same time a plan of finance recommended by the same Commissioners, which plan they had embodied in a draft ordinance to be proposed for adoption by the Provincial Council. It is commonly asserted that this scheme did not meet the desire of the members generally but that the Provincial Council adopted tbe bill submitted to them on the subject, with the desire to avoid repudiating in the slightest degree the acts of their agents at home, and at'the same time to clench without delay the railway scheme generally, even though its details might afterwards be amended. The Railway and Loans Bill were therefore passed by the Council. About the same time the agent of Messrs. Smith and Knight, the English contractors and their Engineer arrived in the colony, and proceeded with investigations on their own behalf. The result of these though not, of course, known with exactness, ia '■understood to be sufficiently favorable to remove any'doubt of the contract lapsing ou the first-mentioned contingency. It remains, •'therefore*, 'Xbhlf to obtain the-'''assent of the General Government to the undertaking, and its consideration* is now before them. His Honor the Superintendent has gone to Auckland himself to supply all information which may be demanded; and Mr. Baynes, the agent of Messrs. Smith and Knight, has gone there also for a similar purpose. It is generally believed that the Loan Bill; as it at present stands, will be vetoed by his Excellency onatechnical ground of objection; and that an opportunity will be thereby given to the province to reonact the measure, with improvements. A scheme would be generally preferred which would contemplate the raising an mount of .£200,000 by loan instead of borrowing £70,000 only and meeting the remaiuder out of current revenue. The scheme proposed from England was one which, placing the total disbursement at £235,000, contemplated a loan of £70,000, and a cash contribution from the provincial revenue of the remainder, the whole payable over five years, at the rate of £40,000 per annum for the first four years. In the mean time the engineer has proceeded, with a gang of men procured on the spot, to make a trial drift into the hill on the line of the tunnel, in order to ascertain the quality of tha ground through which it will have to run. These preparatory works will be prosecuted with great vigor on the arrival of the Robert Small from Loudon, bringing miners and navvies despatched by the contractors for the purpose. During the time that the greatest excitement about the railway existed, His Excellency the Governor was a visitor to the Province, having arrived in H.M.S.S. Niger, on the 28th December. His Excellency did not come down on business —that is to say ostensibly—and none of his advisers accompanied him; but it is probable that the main features and characteristics of tbe provinces in which he travelled did not escape His Excellency's notice, and that 'though on pleasure he was bent, he had a frugal mind.' Canterbury and her proposed railway could not be matters of indiffenence to him; but he gave no sign that his opinion to be given am6ng his advisers would be directed either to one side or the other of the argument; if we learned anything by tbe visit ifc was simply that the transaction would be considered in a strictly legal point of view ; and that the assent of the General Government might be expected only ia case perfectly satisfactory security were offered for money borrowed, independent of thafc amount for which as part of the whole colony the province is . pledged, to the creditor under the Imperial guarantee. If this be the case we need not fear the result. His Excellency attended two public balls in Christchurch, held an undress levee in that town, travelled over a portion of theplainn, addressed a Native meeting in Lyttelton, and embarked'on the 7th of January, for Auckland. The Iris frigate,. with the broad pennant of Commodore Loring, C.8., was a visitor iv our harbor at the same time with the Niger; our balls were kept alive by the uniforms of the officers of the two ships, unci our streets by the uniform intoxication of their crews.

years.

Dry weather has been the predominant characteristic of our climate during winter, spring, and summer. A want of water and no want of wind has been experienced for several months past, and up fco the present time no alteration has presented itself. It Is eighteen months since we have had a copious down-pour of rain; during thafc time no more than onehalf the average fall has been received. The crops are generally good, owing to the favorable' state of the soil at seed time. The same cause has favored the sowing of a breadth of grain considerably larger than the average; and a plentiful wheat -harvest is therefore expected. Eeaping (with hooks and machines) has in fact commenced, and the whole harvest with this warm weather will not be long in hand. But a great drawback exists in the prevalence of wind, especially of the northwest wind— thafc pest of our climate—which when rising to a gale dries the grain like a kiln, and thrashes the standing corn with the exhaustive properties of a flail. That which is ripe this week and and not cut has suffered not a little by the northwester of the past day or two; and orchards are in as bad plight. The remaining newsofthepast few weeks may be briefly summarised. Mr. Henry Sevvell, well known in New Zealand and among friends of the colony in England, has been elected member for the town of Christchurch iv the House of Eepresentatives. The opposition which was brought against him was not strong enough to effect his overthrow. Mr. Sewell has declared himself in favor of the railway generally, and has given to the public his views on some of the most important points of New Zealand politics.

A rumour alleging the existence of a gold field was spread about the province a short time since. The inquiries which have been made to ascertain the truth throw discredit on the report.

The Saving's Bank returns for the year 1859 are published,. It will be seen that the dealings of the Lyttelton branch have i alien off; the withdrawals being of larger amount than the deposits, some oi the withdrawals, however, have been made by .parties transferring their account to Christchurch.,

On the whole the bank is flourishing; the profits of the year have increased in spite of the increase of current expenses. ' The building' fund is now a large one. COMMERCIAL. Tlie turn of the year has brought an easier condition of the money market—a time of considerable difficulty to all classes having been got over without ono serious failure; and, though it is perhaps premature to say that affairs are altogether as bright as they were, still there is no doubt that the worst has passed. There have been very few arrivals from foreign ports tbis month: one vessel, the Roman Emperor, with immigrants and cargo from London, and three with general cargoes from Sydney. The coasting trade has been brisk; tho steamers and small craft being busily employed in bringing the wool round. The Mermaid sails on the 4th February, with a full cargo of about 1800 bales of wool, : which she has received on board and stowed, without assistance from shore, in the short space of three Weeks; she has besides several passengers for Loudon. She will be followed by the Cashmere, Royal Bride s.s., Eegina, and Ashburton.

A moderate amount of business has been done this month, which would doubtless have been larger, had the market been better supplied with some of the articles of consumption, viz: flour, tea and sugar, all of which arescarce, and quoted at prices very considerably in advance of those ruling in Sydney; for instance, the last advices from Sydney quote transactions in tea at _£6 to £6 10s per chest, with a heavy market, while we quote actual sales during the past week at <£11 10s. The same difference to a lesser extent exists in the flour and sugar markets. There is surely room for improvement here; our supplies are either too short continually, or we require a more open market and more competition. We quote tbe following prices:—Flour -227 10s to £28 10s per ton; tea, £10 10a to £11 10s per chest; sugar, Mauritius, £45 to £50 per ton; ditto snow drop, 9d per lb.; ditto loaf, 8d per lb.; ditto Company's Pieces, (none iv the market); brandy, Martell's or Hennessy's, 14s per gallon, in bond ; rum, 4s 6d to 5s in bond; Geneva, 5s to 5s 6d in bond; port, 14s to 18s duty paid; sherry, 12s to 15s duty paid; tobacco, Negrohead, Is 9|d to Is 10^d per lb. in bond; ditto Cavendish, Is 4d to Is Gd per lb. in bond ; porter, (in bulk) £8 to £10 per hhd.; bottled beer, lis to 13s per dozen, duty paid. We subjoin some returns from the Customs Department of this port which give several items of value as to the shipping, imports and exports of the past year. The amount of imports and exports for the year stand thus in point of value: — Imports Exports. Quarter ending— N.Z. produce. Other. March £72,187 £98,375 g.462 June 99,468 19,800 1029 September .. 77,291 10,809 1269 December .. 85,094 7,252 2008 The Customs Revenue during the year for the port of Lyttelton has been as follows: — March £7,223 4 2 June 9,224 11 8 September 6,081 0 2 December 7,233 8 7 •629,762 4 7 The shipping entries give a return of 559 vessels, measuring 14,568 tons, entered inwards ; and 597, with a tonnage of 16,216, entered outwards, representing the provincial coasting trade. Tlie inter-colonial trade shows 244 vessels, of 26,959 tons, inwards ; and 252 vessels, of 28,074 tons, entered outwards. The foreign returns give 63 vessels, of 18,738 tons, entered inwards; and 56 vessels, 15,114 tons, entered outwards. The passenger traffic gives the following results: — INWAEDS. Quarter ending— Foreign Ports. Ports of N.Z. March 729 359 Juno 696 331 September 855 254 December 942 262 3222 1206 OUTWAKDS. March 59 28S Juno 31 180 September 20 ~ 193 December 35 2j3 ~145 914 Bal. of immigrn. 3077 292 Shewing a balance of 3369 persons who have arrived in the province during the past year. It should be mentioned, however, that the return of passengers leaving for colonial ports cannot be quite relied upon, many going on board of vessels after the entry outwards at the Custom-house has been made ; but even if we add 50 per cent to the number of departures —reducing thereby {he balance of immigrants to, say, 2750 during the year—a very satisfactory result will remain. If we add the natural increase of population In the Province during the year to this amount it will show an accession of numbers during the year to the extent of over 3000 souls, and bring up tbe total of Europeans within this Province on 31st December, 1859, to upwards of 12,000.

The postal returns show a gratifying increase of business. The letters despatched from the Lyttelton post-office in the March quarter of 1858 numbered only 3084; in the March quarter of 1859 they rose to 5289; and in the December quarter of the same year to 8368.

The registered letters despatched in the year 1856 were 340 in number; in 1858 they were 653; in 1859 they were not less 1165 in number. These figures are important: as registered, letters for the most part cover •remittances.