The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-09 00:00:00

STONE could not be induced to repeat his oration.
His honour was fully satisfied, and he reposed
gracefully on the laurels which he had then
acquired. He, however, held out a faint hope to
his opponent. In accordance with a suggestion
which fell from Mr. CAYLEY, he professed his
willingness to " consider the question during the
recess." The supporters of the resolution, who
clearly saw that on a division they would be left in
a considerable minority, eagerly grasped at the
plank charitably thrown out for their relief, and
floated off in the tabula in naufragio which so op-
portunely came to their assistance. The motion
was accordingly negatived without a division for
the present session.
But what will be the result of the promised
consideration ? That is the question. Will it
accomplish the wishes and satisfy the sanguine
anticipations of the claimants ? Will any scheme
be devised, any means adopted, by which farmers
may be enabled to consume the produce of their
own lands on the spot, by which the inferior
barley, not worth malting, may be turned into
food for the stock, and the hearts of the sturdy
labourers be cheered by their being authorised
"to be drunk on the premises," without sa-
tisfying the demands of the tax-gatherer
if a plan could be
There can be no doubt that,
devised to meet these objects—if the odious visits
of the Exciseman could be dispensed with—it
would have a very beneficial effect on the con-
dition of the agriculturists, their labourers, and
stock. Speaking seriously, Mr. BALL is entitled
to much credit for his suggestion. If he can
establish its feasibility—if he can show that it
may be adopted without injury to the revenue,
or without acting as a direct incentive to fraud,
he will entitle himself to the thanks and gratitude
of his rural brethren, and establish his claim to
the title of " the farmer's friend."

A remarkable pamphlet* has recently been
issued from the press, which must in due course
of time act as destructively as a literary bomb-
shell to the Canterbury Association. It requires
only a comparatively brief interval to elapse—
time enough, as one may say, for the fusee to
burn down to the socket—before we behold the
explosion inevitable from a projectile formed out
of materials so peculiarly detonative and combus-
tible. We have seldom witnessed an exposure
more complete—more clearly established—more
unanswerably demonstrated. Already it may be
declared that to all intents and purposes the
bubble has burst—this bubble of the Canterbury
Settlement. Fortunately, the credulity of those
who listened to the syren-songs of its projec-
tors, though lamentable enough, as far as
it was extended, was not by any means
so wide-spread as might at one time have
been dreaded. Nevertheless, that cannot in
any respect render the ill consequences of the
enterprise less arduous to those luckless persons
who were unhappily induced to embark in the
scheme from the brilliant nature of the prospects
held out to them by way of inducement. Ruin,
it is true, has not been scattered indiscriminately
among all classes of society, as was the case with
the South Sea Adventure—but deception quite as
disgraceful has been practised. Happily, too, we
have not witnessed in the present instance any
terrible mortality from famine and pestilence as
was the result of the ill-fated Darien Expedition.
Neither have we seen with that, as with the noto-
rious Mississippi Scheme, the engendering among
all ranks of the community of the most villanous
passions and the most deplorable embarrassments.
But, while the ill effects may have been more
restricted in number, and less injurious in opera-
tion, they have originated in a venture quite as
unjustifiable as the one and quite as bungled as
the other of those famous enterprises. It is from
our deliberate and dispassionate conviction that
such is the veritable blame to be attached to them,
that we are solicitous to point the finger of repre-
hension thus directly at the members of the Can-
terbury Association. Every one who has listened
to the alluring prospectus of that society, has up
to this time suffered lamentably from his mistaken
confidence. Icarie was not a more notorious illu-
sion than this Canterbury Settlement. As well
might the purchasers of land in that quarter, who
have emigrated thither in quest of health, riches,
felicity, and a variety of other boons needless to
be here enumerated, because already familiar to
the majority of the sufferers from a certain
cuckoo-iteration in all the documents issued
by the Canterbury Association, —as well say
we, might the hapless emigrants here men-
tioned have danced over a quagmire, in the hope
of catching and bottling up, in a Leyden jar, a
genuine will-o'-the-wisp—as have dreamt of the
possibility of ever attaining the exquisite joys,
and realising the beatific visions, of the oft-men-
tioned Canterbury Settlement. They might as
lief have anticipated a sojourn in the golden
realms of PRESTEII JOHN, floating down the auri-
ferous flood of Cathay, or sauntering over celestial
paths, " strewn with rubies thick as gravel," in the
ideal regions of Cipango. Equally rational would
it have been, supposing they had gone in quest
of some of the gorgeous palaces and incalculable
treasures of El Dorado. Nay, their search could
scarcely have been more futile had it been directed
towards the imaginary charms of Utopia,
or the fanciful delights of Arcadia, or
the supposititious blessings accruing to the
voyagers wrecked on the hallowed shores of
Atalantis. For everywhere, in their most confi-
dently-cherished hopes of comfort and remunera-
tion, they have encountered nothing but chagrin,
annoyance, loss, and disappointment. The Eden
of the mendacious SCADDER was not more deplor-
able " a delusion, a mockery, and a snare" to
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, than to these emigrant pur-
chasers of land in New Zealand has been this
unhappy Canterbury Settlement.
Scarcely any intelligent man in the United
Kingdom remains to be informed now for the first
time that the scheme here mentioned originated
with a cluster of eminent noblemen, clergymen,
and gentlemen, who announced themselves publicly
as a corporate body, selling land in New Zealand
under the authority and with the title of the Can-
terbury Association. So far, we take it, the facts
of the case are sufficiently notorious. Equally
well known is it, we presume, that land
is sold by the society in that particular
portion of the southern archipelago at the rate of
31. per acre, with a perfect understanding of cer-
tain stipulated advantages. Purchasers, in fact,
were solemnly assured from the outset of the pro-
ceedings, that in compensation for this exorbitant
charge of 3/. an acre, they were to have admirable
roadways, and religious benefits almost incalcul-
able. They were to have " free communication
between different parts of the settlement," and,
above all, they were to possess " a Church Esta-
blißliment) and collegiate arrangements for the
education of their children, equal to the wants of '
a superior
indeed,
in
.Church(3 community." It was intimated,
otherwise bed
ua.:Ty o s
foroefs ;
other
thene -
,In charter of incorporation, that the
moneys entail:led b
y the sale of these lands, or
were to be clistribgutetoathe Canterbury Association,
the newly-organised eel follows for the benefit of
be dedicated exclusively colony :—Two-sixths were to
to church and educational
New Z
purposes; two-sixths to emigration
sixth to the
land itself ; and the
miscellaneous purposes, . such as
g one sixth to
the construe-
tion of roads, and the arrangement
ewareumaineinipp
desirable preparations. In Plainer terms
" block of rich land" in possession of the casntthe
bury Association was to be sold for 3/.
per acre
to respectable purchasers, on the proviso that the
said 3/. were to be thus distributed--
"Land provided with all necessary roads and
port facilities, per acre
Church, bishopric, corresponding church £0 10 0
establishment, and college
1
1 Emigration for every 100 acres, passage of
1 0 0
I 0 10 0 purchaser and three labourers ..........
New Zealand Company, for the land