I think I have not sufficiently explained the grounds on which I acted in acceding to the desire of the colonists, and declaring Christchurch the capital. In the first place that desire was unanimous and clearly expressed, and I agree with the Committee in thinking that on such a point the colonists' opinion ought to prevail. Again, the site of Lyttelton affords page 187no possibility of giving town sections to the purchasers possessing a right to them, except by considering and allotting as town sections land nearly inaccessible and utterly unfit for building purposes. The supply of water is very scanty, and it is impossible to say whether it could be procured in abundance by sinking wells in the higher parts of the town. The general appearance and impression of the town are disagreeable; it is confined, hot, difficult of ingress and egress; in short a place which, though it cannot fail to be of great mercantile importance, is incapable of extension to the limits required for a seat of Government, and for the residence of a large and wealthy population. The argument that if an inland capital be fixed upon, a road, bridge, &c., will be required is just as telling the other way; for a communication between the country and the chief town is surely quite as important as one between the chief town and the port. To make the port the chief town, and allow it to remain cut off and isolated from the Plain, would, as it appears to me, be worse than to have the Plain and chief town cut off and isolated from the port. But the fact is that whatever distribution and arrangement of localities we may make, the road is an object of urgent and primary necessity. Without it, as I have repeatedly stated, this district can hardly be considered as fit for settlement, and I do think we are bound, in justice to the colonists who have come out believing that the Plain is easily accessible from the port, to find means, if by any possibility we can do so, for its completion. I do not see the necessity of making at present any large addition to our public buildings, in consequence of the site of the capital being fixed at Christchurch. A land survey office, and a small barrack, part of which may be used as a store, are all that we want for the conduct of our operations, and both would be necessary in the Plain, although the chief town were situated on the harbour. A school and a church will be required, no doubt, but only because there will be, or, rather, if there be, a considerable population there, a population which page 188would have to be provided for wherever it congregated itself. For a considerable time to come Lyttelton will be the more important place, and therefore the most proper seat of our principal offices, stores, &c.; but when the growth of population at Christchurch and on the Plain shall make it desirable to transfer them, the move will be an exceedingly advantageous one in a pecuniary point of view, for the price of the land which we shall then be able to dispose of here will very far more than suffice for any additional outlay which may be necessary elsewhere. My idea is that having satisfied the claims of purchasers to town sections, we have in fact but little more to do with the making of a capital. It is very possible that we may not have selected the best place for it; time only and the evidence which time will elicit by the tendency of settlement and the discovery or development of natural advantages can show this—in short the capital will make itself, and it would be extremely unwise to incur a large expense in the erection of buildings round which perhaps no proportionate population would gather. Upon this idea I shall proceed; a short time will show whether Christchurch or some other place will be the capital of the Plains; and in the meantime I shall not expend any money on buildings which are not absolutely necessary. While upon this subject, I beg the instructions of the Committee with reference to a point the decision of which may involve some modification in the terms of purchase, and even in the Act of Parliament. By these, as they at present stand, I am, compelled to lay out 1000 acres as nominally town property. I have done this, but by doing so I have been obliged to interpose a very broad belt of unoccupied land between the rural sections and the town This land can never (or not for a long and indefinite period) be sold at the price of town land; I should be very glad therefore to be empowered to sell it by auction at the upset price of £3 an acre. If it be sold at the fixed price of £3 an acre, some dissatisfaction will no doubt be excited at its not having been thrown open to the first body: if the town land price be page 189adhered to, it will remain unsold, involving the inconveniences incident to the interposition of unappropriated land between portions of a settled country.

It is impossible for me as yet to say whether there will be a sufficient number of labourers for the capital of the Settlement, because, until purchasers shall be in possession of their land, the amount of the demand cannot be ascertained; but I do not anticipate any deficiency in the supply. Nor can I describe accurately the exact extent of road now finished, partially it is finished the whole way to Sumner, but there are impassable spots remaining at intervals, so that there is no part except the first half mile out of town available for transport. So essentially necessary do I consider the Christchurch road to the prosperity of the Settlement, that if the local Government had not pressed me for a re-payment of the advances made two months ago, I should have ventured to proceed with it, even at the risk of spending more money than the amount of sales would under other circumstances justify me in spending; but, that re-payment having been insisted on, my funds are too much exhausted to permit of so large an expenditure, unless the ships now due bring a further remittance.

I have devoted one Immigration Barrack altogether to the purposes of a temporary school and place of worship. It seems peculiarly well adapted for them, and will save the necessity of any immediate outlay on permanent buildings. The Bishop of New Zealand has expressed his disapprobation of the plan of making Nelson a part of this diocese. He wishes that a third diocese should be formed, to include the Nelson and Wellington districts, and that in the meantime the Southern Diocese should commence at the northern extremity of the Canterbury Block. In all other respects he has evinced the most cordial approbation of and sympathy for all our proceedings, and has formed apparently a highly favourable opinion as to the future progress of the Settlement.

I have already intimated that the Governor-in-Chief page 190expressed in general terms his wish and intention to appoint Canterbury colonists to the civil offices of the Canterbury Settlement; in some instances that intention has been carried out, but in answer to my application in behalf of a colonist for the office of postmaster, I have been officially informed that a duly qualified person will be sent down from Wellington. I am not in a position at present to make suggestions as to the precise form which is best adapted for our civil institutions. Upon this point the proceedings of the Wellington and Nelson colonists, an account of which will go to England in the same ship as this dispatch, will no doubt afford valuable hints; but the inhabitants of this Settlement are too much occupied just now by the pressure of private business, to devote the necessary attention to public affairs, nor in fact have I time to think of anything but the routine of my multifarious duties, as agent of the Association and representative of the Government. Within a very short period, however, I trust that public attention will be called to local politics. My general views upon this subject, I believe, are known to the Association, and conformable to those entertained by most of its members.

There is, however, one point on which the Committee will perhaps pardon me if I make a few observations. It has reference to the franchise. I have observed, with considerable regret, that the Wellington and Nelson settlers have expressed an opinion in favour of universal suffrage. Now, it appears to me that to a country like this, which on the one hand is so much frequented by some of the very worst kind of population in the world; and where, on the other, every man who exercises ordinary industry and intelligence may acquire property in a very short time; a moderate property qualification is peculiarly applicable as a test of fitness to possess political privileges. Nor do I think that its adoption at the first introduction of self-government would lead to discontent in any class of the population, although I do think it would be impossible to raise the franchise after an opposite system had been page 191in operation. This question of franchise seems to me the only one of detail which it is very important for the home Government to decide. If the constituent body were formed, and if proper powers of local self-government were given to it, all other local questions would naturally and finally he decided here—such matters, for example, as you allude to with respect to the formation of Hundred Courts, &c., which it seems to me altogether out of place to consider and settle in England, where the habits of this people and the circumstances of this country are very imperfectedly known, and excite very little interest or attention.