of their grazing area—it was quite sufficient to purchase twenty acres, and that stayed proceedings, and the whole machinery, application, notice and the rest, had to be started again, taking some months, and even then the squatter had only to buy another twenty acres, to ensure a further respite.
The “Amended Regulations” were intended to put a stop to this practice, but the squatters were in a majority in the Provincial Council, and so amended the “Amended Regulations” as to make themselves fairly safe. It was this debate which was described in “The Song of the Squatters,” by Mr. Crosbie Ward, in the “Canterbury Rhymes.”
It is only fair to the squatters to say that there was some reason for protecting homesteads and valuable improvements from being taken by land selectors, since no compensation was provided,
The next meeting of the Provincial Council, September 29, 1859, was held for the first time in its own premises on the site which had been originally reserved for a Public Hospital.
It therefore became necessary to find another situation for the Hospital, and a Bill was passed, taking about five acres of the Public Domain for that purpose. This was the last serious encroachment made on the public reserves of Christchurch, though several attempts at diverting portions of them to special purposes were subsequently made. For instance, in March, 1867, there was a strong agitation to induce the Council to grant a site for a cattle market in Hagley Park, near the Carlton Bridge. Happily, however, Christchurch citizens have been always very sensitive about any interference with their reserves. The Hospital Bill passed, and the Hospital was built, and for some years administered by a Board of Governors. Eventually the usual difficulty arose—a lack of funds for administration, and in August, 1864, the Government, at the request of the Board,
