The Committee have so repeatedly done me the honour of requesting that I would give them my opinion freely upon the political and social questions with which this Settlement is concerned, that I hope I need make no apology for writing to them at some length and with considerable freedom on the most important of those questions, namely, the relation which now exists, and which ought to exist between the Association and the colonists. I do so in the full recollection of the minute dated May 24, 1850, which treated of the same subject, and my object is rather to press for a speedy and complete application of the principles therein contained, than to suggest any important change in or abnegation of them. To the objection that may possibly be raised, that in mooting a question so delicate and so momentous I am unnessarily disturbing a quiet and satisfactory state of affairs, I answer that my main reason for mooting the question now is that everything is quiet and satisfactory; that so far as I know no complaints have been as yet made with respect to the administration of the colonist's affairs; and that, consequently, it may be considered in a calm, impartial, and friendly spirit. I also think it infinitely better that the discussion should originate with me than with the colonists. If it had been otherwise they would have found it very difficult to avoid at least the appearance of complaint and opposition, whereas, coming from the agent of the Association, the discussion will appear in its true light as one on the practical details of carrying out a principle on which both the parties are fully agreed.

You will see from the various dispatches and documents which I have sent home that I endeavour, as far as circum-page 194stances will permit, to act in concert with and subordination to the Council of the colonists, as it was constituted immediately after landing, and, pending the constitution of a better system of relations, I intend, by laying my accounts and estimates before them at stated periods, and requiring their approval of them, to bring the administration of business as far as I can within the sphere of their responsibility and control. But I cannot conceal from myself that this submission on my part will not be by any means satisfactory in its practical results so long as it remains voluntary. The colonists will never apply themselves with real earnestness to the conduct of public affairs, until they feel their power over it to be paramount; until they know that if they do not look after their own interests no one else will, above all until they have the privilege and the burden of appointing the officers by whom their affairs are to be conducted. While I and the subordinate agents of the Association are practically independent of the colonists as regards our appointments and salaries, and while we are in the habit of receiving instructions from a distant and irresponsible authority which no opposition on their parts can prevent us from carrying into effect, I believe it is not in human nature that they should be satisfied with the mere privilege of having their advice asked without any guarantee that it would be taken. Indeed I should be very sorry if they were so satisfied, for I should consider their satisfaction as a symptom of unfitness and inability to do for themselves what they were content to let others do for them. Every day, too, I feel more and more strongly the inexpediency, not to say absurdity, of the attempts which are made in one form or another at home to direct the government of colonies from a distance, and in ignorance, and without either personal interest or the part of the governors, or responsibility to those who have it.

That the detailed regulations for the disposal of land and pasturage, the statutes of colleges and schools, the arrangements of courts of justice, the investment and distribution of page 195church funds, and a thousand other similar matters, should be sent out from England ready made and fixed beyond the power of alteration on the spot, is to my mind utterly fatal both to the judicious management of those matters, and (what is perhaps still more important) to all confidence in the management of them on the part of the colonists. Every thing that goes wrong (and of course as we are all human, things will be perpetually going wrong) will under such circumstances be attributed to the distant governing power; the fact of emanating from that power will be sufficient to condemn the best and wisest measures, and discontent and dissatisfaction once sown will rapidly become habitual, traditionary, and paramount to every other feeling of the colonial mind. All this has been said repeatedly before. Indeed it is only another expression of opinions similar to those which the Members of the Committee themselves have always entertained and advocated; but I assure you that what I see daily occurring around me illustrates its truth so strongly, that I do not like to lose any opportunity of impressing it on their minds.

That the state of affairs at Canterbury should continue to exemplify the evils of distant government would be felt by me as peculiarly humiliating. We are deeply pledged to the principles of local administration, and we have no right to forget that those principles are violated quite as much by the Canterbury Association as by the Colonial Office. I am aware that the financial position of the Association, complicated as it is by private guarantees, has hitherto afforded a valid reason for preserving in the hands of those who have provided pecuniary resources a control over their expenditure. But I am anxious that the Association should recognise and avow that as the sole ground for the maintenance of a distinct Government, and resolve that at the very first moment when its public assets shall cover its liabilities the Charter shall be transferred to the colony. Its mission was to found the Settlement, not to govern it; to constitute sources of revenue, but not to administer or dispose of that revenue. In short, from the page 196moment the Settlement can provide for its own expenses, its authorised representatives ought to possess the virtual management of its affairs. As to the mode in which the transfer ought to be effected I do not anticipate that there will be any difficulty or difference of opinion; it has been already suggested in a very precise and distinct manner in the minute referred to. I presume that some kind of municipal constitution will almost immediately be given to the colony, and if it be of such a kind as that it ought to be accepted for general purposes, then I cannot doubt but that the Association will see the desirableness of transferring at once its powers and duties into the hands of the regular government which such a constitution may establish. That the two authorities should go on together without clashing is utterly impossible. If there were any government machinery in active operation here now, the existence of such a body as the Canterbury Association within its jurisdiction would be an anomaly too great to endure for a month. It is only enabled to do its work by the wisdom and considerateness of Sir George Grey, who has hitherto practically given to its officers nearly the whole administration of public affairs. Everybody feels that its privileges and position would be found quite incompatable with the due supremacy of a regular and effective Government, and I earnestly trust that the experiment may never be tried even for the shortest period.

It is unnecessary for me to show how easily the transfer of the Association's powers to a local Government would solve the financial complications to which I have alluded should they unfortunately still exist at the time of such transfer. The property of the Canterbury Association in the Settlement alone, independently of the valuable privileges which it would have to give up, is quite sufficient to meet its own liabilities; and the local government would most willingly discharge all the liabilities in consideration of obtaining the property and the privileges. If for any unforeseen reason the establishment of a municipal constitu-page 197tion be unhappily delayed, or if though formally established it be one which the colonists shall refuse to ratify or accept, I still think that the Charter of the Association ought to be immediately transferred to the colony, and placed upon the basis of property and residence; and I also think that in such case also any difficulty with respect to private guarantees can be easily met by making available the colonial property of the Association. In either case it would, of course, be necessary to provide for a continuance (during a stated period) of that appropriation of the land fund on the faith of which the first colonists have come out: for this, I think, that if the Act of Parliament already passed does not provide sufficiently, it might be made to do so by a very slight alteration.

I feel sure that in considering this vital question the Association will not be led away by the notion that the colonists are not ripe or fit for self-government. This is a delusion which cannot too soon be got rid of; they are perfectly fit to manage their own affairs now, at least infinitely more so than a London corporation can possibly be, whatever may be the talents and goodness of its members; but I think it very probable that they may become comparatively unfit for it if left long without it. The same evils which have become so fatally notorious in all dependencies governed under the central system will not fail to appear here; indeed I see already manifold signs of their approach. We shall be divided into factions of a kind peculiar to colonies (if a complete change of system do not take place), in spite of every effort on my part to avoid giving ground for such a division. We shall see the old drama enacted of an irresponsible party in place on the one hand, and on the other an opposition gradually enlisting the great mass of the people in its favour; so that when the ultimate abdication of the central power, which circumstances must render necessary, takes place, it will be, if postponed, compulsory and ignominious, instead of being, as it would now be, the spontaneous assertion of a great principle.

In writing on the general question of self-government, it is page 198necessary that I should not omit referring to a point of great importance which is intimately connected with the subject of the foregoing remarks;—I mean the ecclesiastical and educational endowments provided for in the Canterbury scheme.

It is plainly out of the question that the General Government should become the trustee of these endowments, as we can have no assurance that it would, in its corporate capacity, have any sympathy with the Church, or evince any care of its interests. If, therefore, the Association could find no better assignee of its present powers and duties relative to the Church In the Settlement, it could have no alternative but to retain them in its own hands even after the abdication of its secular functions. But it seems to me that the time of such an abdication should form a most fitting opportunity for effecting a great and practical reform which has become essentially necessary on other accounts, namely, the establishment of an independent ecclesiastical corporation with a proper constitution. There will be here, if nothing unforeseen occur to prevent it, a very considerable, perhaps a very large amount, of property devoted to church purposes, the disposal and control of which will carry with them a corresponding influence, not only in ecclesiastical affairs, but in every part of our social system. If things remain as they now are the whole of this influence will practically reside with the Bishop of the Diocese. The only person competent to exercise any check upon his absolute will is the agent of the Association; and I entirely agree with the Committee in considering that, except as regards the amount of expenditure permitted by disposable means, it would be highly improper for the agent to interfere in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs. The only ground upon which he could, in my opinion, attempt to justify such interference would be the assumption of his representing the body of Churchmen in the Settlement in the absence of any better representative; and this assumption would, I think, be entirely unfounded while the relation between the Association and the colonists remains on its present footing. It is only, therefore, page 199so long as the Association provides means for defraying current ecclesiastical expenses, i.e. so long as the expenses exceed the revenue derivable from fixed ecclesiastical endowments, that the agent of the Association will or ought to have any voice or right to interfere in Church matters at all. Ultimately I repeat, and I hope soon, the disposal of funds and the exercise of patronage, in other Words, all the influence accruing to the Church from secular sources, will be in the hands of the Bishop alone, because he will be the only organ or representative of the Church. But I am perfectly certain that a regimen involving permanently this result would be iminently unsatisfactory to the colonists, and very prejudicial to the welfare of the Church. Nearly all the reasons which induce me to wish that the administration of secular affairs and the disposal of the miscellaneous fund be immediately handed over by the agent of the Association to the settlers themselves, enforce the desirableness of giving to the Churchmen among the settlers a corresponding control over Church affairs and Church revenues. Of course in any scheme for carrying out this view, care should be taken to give the Bishop a large, perhaps the largest, share in the government of the Church. I am arguing not against episcopal authority but against episcopal absolutism, and in doing so I am actuated quite as much by a regard for the interests of the Episcopate itself, as by a jealousy for the rights of those subject to its jurisdiction. It is exceedingly satisfactory to me to feel convinced that the general views which I have here attempted to express are approved of by the Bishop of New Zealand and by the Bishop Designate of Lyttleton, both of whom have seen this dispatch and expressed their approval of its contents. Not only, therefore, as a necessary incident to any plan for transferring the Charter of the Association to the colony, but as an urgently needed measure of internal Church Reform, I would impress on the Association the extreme desirableness of procuring for the Church in Canterbury a Charter of ecclesiastical liberties. For so doing, as I before said, the surrender of the Associa-page 200tion's powers, privileges, and property to the local government, would seem to afford a peculiarly fit opportunity. It ought, I think, to be made a primary condition of such an arrangement that the Church in the Settlement should he constituted by the Legislature an independent corporation with the full power of making bye-laws for itself, and disposing of its own property like any other corporation. Of course the settlement of a franchise, or the test of Church membership, as well as the appointment of power among the various orders in the Church, would be essential parts of that arrangement; indeed it appears to me that they would constitute the only questions incumbent on the Association and the Government to settle with relation to the Church. Every thing else might safely and ought properly to be left for the Church itself when constituted to settle. If any difficulty such as I have before alluded to should occur to prevent the establishment of a local authority competent to make such an arrangement as I have supposed, I cannot but think that a makeshift or temporary plan might be devised, based upon the principle which I have been advocating, which would at least be an improvement on the present system, and which might be ratified and carried into effect by the voluntary agreement of the parties concerned. The subject matter of such an agreement would be primarily the disposal of that portion of the land fund which belongs to the Church; but indirectly it would affect to a great extent the management of all the ecclesiastical affairs in the Settlement. Thus a division would practically be effected of the Association's functions into two parts, the Secular and the Ecclesiastical. Such a division as it would in fact be necessary, or at least very desirable, to make if the Association remained on its present footing; because there is nothing in the constitution to guarantee its preserving a Church character, nor is it in any way fitted to administer Ecclesiastical affairs. That the Committee feel this is evident from the delegation they have already made of practical control over their ecclesiastical fund to the Bishop Designate: the only page 201question, therefore, which remains is whether the body of churchmen in the Settlement ought not properly to have a share of that control.

An incidental advantage of great importance which would accrue to the Settlement from placing the land fund under the control of the local Government would be, that thereby the system and regulations now governing the disposal of land within the Canterbury Block might in that case be extended over the whole Province of which Canterbury would be centre, and which would of course embrace very much wider limits than those of our district. I already feel the inconveniences and evils of the narrow scope within which our jurisdiction prevails, and as the district becomes filled up our operations will be very seriously impeded by the immediate neighbourhood of land administered and disposed of on totally different principles. In order that this anomaly may be removed, if for no other reason, it is highly desirable that a constitution of our Province should be made, and uniformity of land regulations established over it, before the land outside and adjoining our block shall have found its way to any considerable extent into the market.

In the foregoing observations I have abstained from offering any suggestions as to the precise form or mode in which the transfer of the Association's powers ought to be made. In fact, without more legal knowledge than I possess, suggestions on this head would be of little value. I will just remark, however, that the plan apparently contemplated in the "Minute" of keeping the Association in existence after the constitution of a local Government, for the purpose of watching over the application of it's land fund to their proper objects by the Government, does not appear to me the best plan that could be devised for effecting the object aimed at. It would involve, in the first place, the preservation of a cumbrous and expensive machinery; and in the second, the existence of that discretionary power in the distant authority which I have before remarked as operating so prejudicially on the reality page 202and earnestness, as well as on the harmonious action of local self-government. I cannot hot think it would be far better to procure, if possible, an Act of Parliament whereby the local Government would be directly invested with the powers, and saddled with the liabilities, conditions, &c., which, according to the Canterbury Settlement Act, the Association now has. The powers of supervision, now exercised by the Crown over the Association, might apply to the local Government; in fact the new Act might be a repetition of the present one, with a mere substitution of the words "Local Government" for "Canterbury Association."

With respect to the case of transfer to a local body not being a government, the best plan perhaps for such a temporary and provisional arrangement would be that of simply making all land purchasers members of the Association, and allowing them to hold their meetings here instead of in London. The Association would then continue to exist precisely as it does now as regards form, only that the seat of management would be local instead of distant. This plan, however, though it might answer for a time, would be liable to grave objections, inasmuch as it would tend to produce a very dangerous antagonism between the land purchasers and the other inhabitants of the Settlement: the only satisfactory mode of removing all difficulties will be to merge the Association in the Government. In either case the constitution of a trusteeship for Church purposes ought to form an essential part of the scheme.

In conclusion, I have only to repeat that I consider the immediate and complete settlement of this question the most pressing want of our young colony; more pressing, indeed, even than that of political Government, inasmuch as the funds administered by the Association, and the power exercised by its officers, are greater than those which the Government possesses, or is likely to possess, for some time to come.