The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1863.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 6, 20 November 1863, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1863.

jGrOS&ikg thd ;l|^lpr^dut;es an 'effedtl on the moralitydf ah Englishman whioh I at first -i'i The xtipxchAaatumhoj ' in <7thfc' : ;oJd l would look^-fef^ird^^^Uaire wiih, horror and shame, ia ithe colonies anticipates frith wt»^l^htty~a s ¥e"B^)ectabje bankruptcy, '^.newspaper '^arrogating, to its^jdw, -proud, title of being the leader of public o|)inibri, at 'home, ijn making statements, takes good care (jo assure itself i>f the correctness of what it issues 7^oyih]as i 'factk, " and 'carefully ayoids .;printfng^bare/a^ed falsehoods^ In the colonies, accurate in fotm ation is of little coji^qflehbe, 7»'bU6 a good thumping jlse* ;T£: 4t answer Ttfieypurpose '; for the"*mb'meiifc*"'is : ">J6ok"ed" pn'as rather clever r't^'^'^o^^^doJ^i^^fi^reasont probaSly j7'fer .'this is * the< fluctuations; unsettledness, in colonial matte^,,^:^he7;.ban.kr«j^.■^flif•■' to-day starts somewhere else, and if with the proceeds' 'tff' Ms; 7 "ia'st bankruptcy he ach ie ve stile ;. ; .hand •<©*£ ;' friendship, is again .-expended; -the grasp of coiv • diality accorded — tho lie; published in to-day's paper is fo¥»6tten^nd swallowed up in the lie of % to- morrow; in faclj, in the colonies the new -fcading elf Shakspeare is aj^'l^ble- 1 ' ''■He v ''w*K6'Healsl*my"'^oo£f'i»ome steals ? trysJi.i shut ; he o isteals-ctmy. spuiHse, steals that whieh mot enricheth him, but makes 'me J pobf indeed,'""" We have before us an article fiom the /LrAgous oii ; tbe' -West "Coa'stV and thie log-book of thOcutter . ju«|i: returned frbm whence*' having Spent two htfftdred and 's'e^n^days:;ih ; i;it..'j'.iShe &rst crawls— if we may use the expression^ — ; _with errors__an<i misstatements^ the latter is a simply record of .hardships e^durod,'ahdvßchlel^M'e^tM .pferfcwned^ in their un'ucc s's ful endeavors to discover gold cg\ t^e f West "XJpasf^ f "While - We -can no tr feel* miich' sufprise^ at thi^ singular production ofthe Argus, seeing that a strict adherence/to truth is not amongst its weaknesses, particularly when a good falsehood is likely either to injure New Zealand or benefit MeU bourhe, we f 4cinndt refrain/from s'orily noticing one or two of the most glarings ... < Whether the Argil* got a garbled report of Dr Hector's, expjor.atioris,:d^, having got the correct ' one> garbled it for its own ;purpose, we cannot say ; whether Dr Hector found the way smooth, the road easy, the Argus has Smoothed it for hita with 9 vengeance— > has conjured tip "beautiful savannas, tiavigable rivers, lakes, &c, and all but a macadamised road to the Wakatipu ; sees, indeeds, the Aldinga and Alhambra steaming within a stone's throw of the Lake, haying left Melbourne the ,f|ay before, , and calls on the Melbourne merchants to ..establish a' sucktng •''"Astoria " in this land ot Goshen, and even rude Boreas is to re*spect this favored! clitee- 1 — > ' „ " And. S^"^° wi^ds sn<l)>watjer near, 'M?ike l miisic to the lovely ear." With all this we have nothing to do, we cannot object to any little scene. painting in which the Argiis may feel inclined to indulge, it cannot do us harm, atid we have nothing to do with 'the' people in Melbourne whom it* ttiay mislead ; but rWe real ly^ naust object- to tlie in formation that the road from Invercargill to the foot, of the, Wakatipu Lalfe js a rugged One; ana* -tj^C^,have tpgb' all round by the Dunstan to get there ; this stater ment shows ' suleh* profound ignorance oi" . the country t^pi,. jirgm professes to dispose of, .th.at-we. canaotobut" imagine is inteqtional ;-■ surely there must be.some Jfewjvpersons rr better acqu'dinte4 with the route, who . pnight.h.avje been [ consulted i soine maps' more c irrect ; than the *' best maps tof the, fiddle i Island 5 * -consisted by tjb_t g^o^t a^tbo4 riiy. H?o"w t&&Argffs has tr^nimogri fied a dead;t^Vel» Aiidln a, straight * [ ftyelm%s,;ipi9 the tprtupus,;io"pg. and '■< ruggeCro^ yia.fche Dun-iitan^sv^carßaot : say; we.only^ishiwe'wwtJe? get to the Du^tan. . . Af^, a11 ? ,,ko r wpvef,, .the Ariftcs'e halfrjcihation is' ( not ' a matte j: ! of /^auch 7laome'ni T 'W.' ; usV* w ,. , '^»? 'ftJaii _ said 1 'when his "friends' „rempn- ! 1 's* *raie4"'. w|th^ *&im *for wingTjjiS' ,: Wife t^be^tEim^'Vwliy should sjj.e, not? it pleasds her," and .don't hurt me...' The : 'i^^o^ : ot^e^ cutter"'^^^^! 'is' a matter ' ; <*>? more ' momerit, here we havefaetatodgai witfe : , 'truth to invest tigate. A party- was formed in Invercki£itr*n MardhJ ; 1863f foV^the purposje _o,f pr^spf^ti/^^ij^piyihl^ v^pa §t.j Jjb^j^^jfonsisted of t<esn;mqßi, each baving ian equal share m.the,.boat and outfit. 0«-tlie 27th of April the Nugge^. i le I % T^^^ftA^:fl^^^ We^t. f Ooast- on the llth May anchored ih 'Nancy'''Sottu& '" ; "Pour one of the mountains at the head of the bay, and found it was impossible to andiprectpuoosness pf ithe ij^miiiii^ they proceed on, "and wh,ile anchore *! '-. va i Bliffh's Sound,, a hea«^ . : galofdrßg'gi»jg-hoth anchors; and drifted on stioter tli^u^gli -mtftoTat^ to the i softness of Jtite beach. Six of the .party Ywith thi'ee ; week^ ( .prpvi^|^r^.tA prospect tliecountry'; oh thei $ Ist ihey returned, reporting tbat they had followed up -the river 1 5 miles; trying its banks and the low ranges without, getting the colour, further than this *■' nothing living without wings could get inland from this place.'' They then proceed to Milford Sound ; on the sth Juue one party is

" — '. ,;'*".' '*£*■ —^' /^ "~ T land^^^.the Bayict Ffesjb Water Basin to tr^-rahd ge£ inland, .which seeiftHs doubt&l^from rliilly patiire-'of the county^ Next day, No. 2 party is landed at Harrison's Bay, and the first, brought back, not been able to get into the interior ; on the 12tli, the party returned, having tried several creeks, ' and not obtained tlte color. On the ;• JU £hj.d&§7 "^ntex . lawson's -Bay ; in one ofthe creeikßr tin h ing into, the Bay they, cut a dock for the'-cu^iSr^ an_d hauled, her np, intending to stop sojne tim^. 7tb«"cou*%^ bettefihdieatioris of igoldJ/'i Owing to "the roughness of the weather^ "tjieV did nbi -kfaVt* pir-spfeCtinjgr till the _4tli, in; i twa parties — now" comes a tale, of exertropa and' hardships;, dragging the boat up the rivei£*gainst a current of seven, ,k,qpt«"^^"ll, tKe, v'tiipe up to tbje, waist" in 1 "wafer; tearing through thb bush j whichr ia described ;•' as'one' icomplete masf of n^t .work7 of runtiers, creeper's, ' su^plk-jacks, ' and bush,lawyers," prospecting all the way ; some- ' limes obtaining -a' few -Specks tb this dish, at- others" not „ey,^n. the .color, . wadiijg ri v.qrs, . then two parties, try ih aU' ! directions, failure meets them eye^y wher^j and on the 7th J r ul) ..the.y rei- '' turn to'tjig ciittei; fbrprpyisiOnSi /Oa^h e 30th JsJt[r tihey Start jn the boat tp prospect the Awarua and its vicinity, got into Jackson's river, and crossed the Wai tp|6. ; '.''the surf at Ajtie : mouth of' Jasksbn*3 river, on. the 2nd August, is describecl as terrific — reached the AwarUa on the 7th, could riot 1 enter it with the boar owing to the $.urf, Iso tfi«*y liad.', to swag their.', 'provisions, from uthe, :> T^aiiojio.: Having made a canoe, they start up the rive^r with twV^mbntfis provision^; Again recurs the* *" dragging up ' the river, oyer rapidsV, S^ffi'itiveliitxg slowly from six to eight miles a day. The party , divide 9n > the7liM;; ; "Stjptembef to prospect, one Jg6ihg? up the Clark, on thie . rightT-^theofher up the Haast," the latter came on Dr Haast* s camp. At the junction jof the, Burke, and Haast rivers, sunk hoJ.es in all directions^ " but?in np one lnstan'ce could we obtain the color.'' Following . up the West v^arik pf the Haastj they reach the Wills, and sink a ; ■large paddpckj : f he "wate'f too' strong for them,* the'y could not bottom or fincLthe color. Starting np' the Burke, they sink'on the bars,:and' bottom_ without • finding gold. On the 14th, the party which had gohe up the Clark joins the other, .with . the, . same., tak. ; The rivers were confined, run through precipitous banks oi rock, waterfalls and catracts abound, but no gold to pay. "',' Nothing daunted, on tbe 16th they proceed up the Tliomas eight miles; sink seven holes, — no g01d.., Camped on the Waitoto, they find what had bnce been a good entrance to the river, completely blocked up by a bat?, which had evidently shifted, a seemingly common occurrence in »,he Wept Coast rivers, for on the 25th September on returning to Jackson's River, the entrance had changed quarter of a mile to the South. Here particular attention is drawn to the abundance of sand-fiies. To use the writer's words: "I don't think seriously, that any white man could possibly live for them." On the |jth October, with a fortnight's provisions each, nin.2 of thera start for Cascade Point and the Awarua, leaving two to prospect a likely looking gully, where up to that time the best prospect had beep obtained ; prospecting in this direction and sinking numerous holes, they still "'met with disappointment, the water not enabling them tp bottom. October 18th, the Cascade party join their mates at Jackson's Bay, having rtrachedihe pascade riyer, sunk several holes with the same success, some as •deep as 16 Feet, when they were driven ; out by water, ' others which they had : bottonied on the banks of creeks rtfnnitig into the river, without getting the : color. : \ytfch'dut boots; A\ cjpthep, ; ,and stores*, tfie party now lum their thoughts onf retarmiigV still; as a last chante, four of thfctti* start oti thie 20th to^try again, the,, creek in whicli they had got the best prospect ; this party return on the, ,27th7 v havjng SUnk several boles rwithput getting it in sufficient quantity to pay. In going over the mountains t^y..saW.Al^e..lu^jCe enclosed in precipitous mountains about east from Barn ;BaylV'!Oii tlie^3othWe-Vutter : was tfeady for sea, and- after some: delay in getting out,, owing to the.. strong winds*- reached 't^J(idyerc'a/gl'ije't^'pn. the I.Bth, halving •been awa^ tw > hundred and seven days;. Hgre7iW*"tb^poY^ f * thp remits of thiji^exploratipn we ,ro<*y^■summarise as f©lh3w"<WXW 3Vest Coast is hardly of .the -drgu^,. as^ to ' v Ciimatie';t Ol j^ctprdiog7to7the ",!#£,: bne ; oif, tji^:pasTty W;ho had kept ian, account > of- the number of wet«*daysf states ? tbat up<t9'.fche 10th N*ovember-~'having been out two hundred days—one hundred : had-feeen wefc7 ** St¥6Hg }r fi^u^nt, n 4nd long-coh ! tinued gales' prevail'; when, the weathc^ t^ pne is, eaten up by sapd : flies. . The surf on the 'bars at the 1 entrances of the i; ritersi im^kes it always : a- dangerous smarter 1^: ent]e*r T , which. the constantly shifting Bature of those bars -byjao mesas, lessens. That it-has been well prospected, any oue who r^ads the I con&efis^d logTajs' pfitited in this day's issue.'^anh'bt doubt $; undeterred by h ardship,'or.priyat^on,ibravingdangerdaily iin fording* rapid .unknown rivers, they spread over the *country; in all directions, and when driven home by scarcity of e!V^j^h'irrg", ;; 'tb l ey ihake a last attempt \vlier4^Tlhey had found the best prospect; i|^they hate failed, it is not through want of energy and perseverapce. As far as gold is concerned, the • prospects we have heard obtained in the Wikivi ind r Puni Creeks a-e quite as good as the best' they got, and the old Mataura Diggings much auperior. * •'*" ■ * • ' * ' ..