house, on the site of the present Clarendon Hotel; Dr. Barker’s, nearly opposite (where the Gas Company’s Office now stands), and the Land Office.
The first Church service in Christchurch was held in the surveyor’s map room, a little wooden building at the northern end of the Land Office. This room was used afterwards as a meeting place for the Municipal Council. During his visit in February, Bishop Selwyn had conferred with the Bishop-designate, Dr. Jackson, regarding the need of a church in the town, and it was decided to erect a building to serve as a church and schoolroom. The Rev. Henry Jacobs preached the first sermon in the completed building (St. Michael’s Church) on July 20, 1851.
The Land Purchasers’ Council afforded the settlers an official means of communication with the Canterbury Association, and enabled them to voice their complaints; and there were a good many. All through this trying period, the tact displayed by Mr. Godley was the salient feature of the life of the young settlement. He met every complaint fairly; sometimes he was able to remove the difficulty, sometimes he appealed to reason and patience, particularly in regard to those first difficulties of transport and accommodation, arising from the simultaneous arrival of the first three ships. With all his genius for conciliation, he could be firm and even despotic, and never shirked taking the fullest responsibility, particularly in “interpreting” the instructions he received from London. Still without one saving clause his control must have failed, and it did not fail—he possessed the confidence of the settlers.
Mr. Godley’s handling of the squatting regulations forms a good illustration of his methods. By these regulations, only land purchasers were permitted to take up runs, and as land purchasers had to be members of the Church of England, the plank was an important one in the Association’s platform. Mr. Godley’s cor-
