The important point was the frank admission by the Superintendent of the moral liability of the Province to compensate the city for the sale of its reserves.
It was at first intended that the Government, as soon as it had obtained the necessary power, should reserve 10,000 acres of rural land as an endowment to the city, and also set apart reserves on both sides of the river. Prior to the Provincial Council session of November, 1862, certain proposed country reserves were selected by the Town Board of Christchurch, and provisionally reserved by the Superintendent, but the grant of rural lands was opposed in the Provincial Council, on the ground that such reserves would block settlement, and The money grant would be more practical. The result was that only Town Reserves were at first granted, and a cash subsidy of ₤3,000 was paid about April, 1862, and other monetary grants were made in later years. A list of the city reserves will be found in the Appendix, with notes on the special objects to which they were to be devoted.
In November, 1862, the Provincial Council passed the Christchurch City Council Ordinance, granting the city its own constitution. The first meeting of the City Council under this ordinance took place on March 23, 1863, when Hon. John Hall, R.M., was re-elected, as chairman.
The most pressing matters with which the Town Board, as it was at first styled, had to deal, were water supply, drainage and lighting.
In February, 1862, the discovery was made of the magnificent artesian water supply which underlies Christchurch, and has since proved such a boon to the community. (A reputed discovery of artesian water was reported on February, 1858, at Mr. Taylor's brewery on the north side of the Avon, but, as the depth at which it was tapped was only about twenty feet, it is probable that the well sinkers chanced upon a spring.) The
