place. The sale was by auction, Mr. Alport being the auctioneer, and was held on Wednesday, April 16, on the upper floor of the Association’s store at Lyttelton, the upset price being £24 per section. The highest price realised for a Christchurch section was £40, but the bidding for Lyttelton sections was more spirited, many of the lots fetching double, some three times the upset price.
During the first year of colonisation, the Canterbury settlers were naturally engaged in making their homes. For the first six months after their arrival, they enjoyed a typical New Zealand summer, during which they made a sort of encampment at Lyttelton and another at Christchurch, After the selection of their land, in February there followed a strenuous period occupied in building, fencing and planting.
The framework of some houses had been imported in sections, and were on sale at Lyttelton and Christchurch, and the enterprising contractor was already advertising his willingness to build houses on reasonable terms. The Canterbury Association had imported a large quantity of building material (Tasmanian and New Zealand timber, Tasmanian palings, shingles and laths), which were on sale at “The Bricks” in March, also nails, bricks, slates, pumps, etc. Sawn timber, including kauri, cost in Lyttelton 18/- to 20/- per hundred feet. Timber could be obtained from the Riccarton Bush, the Peninsula or the Papanui Bush, but the cost of haulage was enormous, and one of the first works undertaken was the construction of a road to the Riccarton Bush. The first bridge over the Avon was a temporary footbridge near the Land Office, nearly on the site of the present Worcester Street bridge. This bridge was completed in February, and soon became very shaky, and later in the year, a cart bridge (also temporary) was built in Market Square.
The most prominent buildings then were Mr. Brittan’s
