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A selection from the writings and speeches of John Robert Godley

To the Editor of the 'Lyttelton Times.'

On the 29th of May 1852 the following letter appeared in the 'Lyttelton Times':—

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 me to tender my resignation to the Managing Committee of the Canterbury Association, and the grounds upon 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 administration of 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 that 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 institutions could be established. page 232As soon, however, as I found that the Committee took a different view of their duties and responsibilties, 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 it 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 same 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 reason 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 page 233powers, 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 existence of a difference of opinion between us upon many points of detail connected with the management of the land fund,

J. R. Godley.