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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 49, 29 February 1864, Page 2

We publish the following communicatia received from one of the men returned fron prospecting expedition to, the West Cm "after an absence of eleven months. He stal — " The coast from Thomson's Sound is noif ■ward as far as \V liitoto. Not known or nii perceptible on the chart, the above being «i» miles north of Jackson's Bay. No pa)i gold being got up'to our arrival down thf Blythc's sound, thirty miles as "the crow & -inland E.S.E. Nothing but an" hnpasai chain of mountains, the one on top of anotli and having wide-spreading vivers impossible! cross. Milford Sound — Impassable barria and nothing but snow-capped mountains do to and as far as the oye can reach — avaland from the mountains quite the order of the f Northward of Milford Haven, as far as Jai son's Bay, nothing known, as no place of ssfi offered/itself to. our.; view. ."We havebeeisj several livers, names . junlcnown, Jbtitwefc^l I above-mentioned places. Whitoto Rivpr tiu marked oil the chart, which is. incorrect &i as to position and-' distance, '.from. M3f« northward. : j!Ls;it <is; for ? the; benefit : of ti public, parties, going round .there will de w to take warning, and not trust too nmebt their charts. It is our opinion that if threw gold to pay found on th^^est Coast, itwoti be a mere impossibilityrfoiF 01 '^ as onedij day in fourteen v isl rabdui*ihe ratio of tl weather. The coimtry, taking it throughout is nothing; .but ' mountains,^ and riot so 1 mid level la^id as to pitch a tent upon. That i the Canterbury Province is more level; bi we came upon ' nothing but swamps . ra heavily timbered. Whitoto Eiver, we belien is one of _the largest rivers in the island. I is situated eight miles to the northward! Jackson's Bay. One of the party, name Henry Cowell,- was drowned crossing <1 Jackson River." "5 ' - " TJie coznecly of " Used-, Up," -nliich to played on Saturday night at the Thcafc Eoyal, and ■which, was selected for the purpos of introducing Mr. Greorge Fawcett, in h character of Sir Charles Coldsiream, to > Invercargill audience, can hardly be term one of the most brilliant or sparkling ( modern comedies. It neither possesses fa witty. -and racy dialogue, nor, in its pre grass; does it interest an audience by fflj well sustained plot or incidents, -nhich, i many other modern pieces of the class, are to be found. _ There is "but one prominent am I 'striking character throughout the piece— ti> 1 of Sir Charles Coldstream, and the interests ' an audience lias to be sustained by the tm different phases ■ which the actor of the eh« racter has to impersonate — in the fir3t porttffi of the comedy, that of a used up, blase ma of fashion ; listless, apathetic,- yith hai^ enough animation to crave for something «■ and " sensational ; " and in the second, ft man transformed into the very antipodes 0 the above-mentioned character — a ploughmaa enjoying robust healtK and, hard work T« naturally represent two such- extreme ci* ractcrs, requires an actor of some" ability, a^ in saying that Mr. Greorge Fawcett presents a picture, true and natural, of each of & two opposite'eharacters, w only to pay hip l justly-e"arncd compliment. . ,Mr. Harry Jai' son's JSir , Adonis Leech was on the whole J very creditable performance, and divested 01 a little too much of low comedy would bs« been a greater success. Mr. Tom Fawcett, i" the part of John Jronirace, very feiHj rendered the character of the bluif, hone» and impetuous , blacksmith. Miss Juno, B Mary Wurzell, and Miss Kate Grant, as L^i Clidterbuck, Tvere ■ equally successful." Of tfe; concluding piece — the burlesque of^"^'* derella" — we cannot say much. Tho acting of Mr. Greorge Fawcett, as Clorinda** 11 ludicrous enough to elicit great laughter && the audience. Such a class of performance* as these burlesques— so crammed with tortured puns, and suchingeniousplayingo ll^ English language require to be played yi^ 1 / "approach' to sruobtlinessV which is r ouly to « effected by every character beiug " letter-p* l " feet" in Iris, orxher'partj 'but when the con* traiy is the case, the atrocious puns becom* unbearable. A. second representation ts3» "". doubt, however; show a more c ol3l^^!' 'acquaintance with their 'parts by thcseTeHj; performers.' It 'is' but just to the prin* 3 ? 8 *; performer, ,!&•. Greorge Fawcett, to say*" 13 his very humorous acting, dancing, and sing 11 * —in the lajtte)* iutro'ducing a new local wu? -^-keptthe burlesque from flagging-

lHio benefit of ytt. J. Small at the ttheafcue . lldydli on Friday night, was, despite the tin* 1 favorable and stay-at-home weather., very well attended. The principal featuro of the everU iffg's- entertainment was the first appearanco of the benejiciare in the Irish character- of O 1 Callaghan, in tho oomedy of " His L,ast legs." The experiment by Mr. Small m playing a character which Mr. Gh V, Braolco ha 9 wndored so familiar to ninestonths of the playgoora of tho Colonies, and naturally fcau&rdhig comparisons, vus wrliiinly a courageous one i but Korovtholona Mr, Small did flat ruffe* bo mvioli by tho oompari^on, and {f he had only boon bettor" " played up to" by . aaittd of tho other chnraotevs, his . oitwtfnoly humorous acting would have had a bettor ohanoe of success. As it was, his impersonation of the character of G 1 Callaghan has made another favorable impression on the public liere— -always ready to recognise and appreciate histrionic talent. v " One of the three men who recently returned from the West Coast, named Richard Ross, is at present an inmate of the Provincial Hospital, suffering from a severe attack of scurvy, complicated with rheumatism. A peculiar feature of this ca3e, which is only to be met with in cold and tvet cKmates, 13 the fact that it is attended with rigidity of the sinew 3 of the leg, sufficient to prevent the extension, but not the flexion, of the limb. From the success which has attended the treatment of similar cases in "the Provincial Hospital, it. is to be presumed he will not long remain on the books of the Institution. : The WaJcatip Mail of February 24th, states — " Mr. Hill has already commenced the line of electric telegraph which is to connect us with the metropolis and the different goldfields of this Province. The posts will be twenty feet out of the ground, and will answer' all the purposes of the •" snow-poles," and thus save a repetition of, many of the disastrous accidents j of last season. The first part to be completed j is from here to Tokomairiro, where it will join the line from Gabriel's and Wetherstone's to Dunedin." An accident occurred a few days ago to a man named James Walker, who was employed at the Waimatua cutting, on the Bluff Railroad, which resulted in a fracture of the thigh bone (femvs). It appears that he was employed taking a fall of earth in the face of the cutting, when the Jbank giving way before he could get dear, a large mass of earth fell on him, and broke his leg. He was conveyed to the Provincial Hospital, and is now progressing favorably. From the Wakatip Mail of February 24th we take the following -. — " Another boat accident has..o ccurred .at, the head of the Lake, wbichhas.no doubt proved fatal. The following are the particulars :- — It appears that a man named M'Donald, and another named Hugh Morgan, obtained a boat from Allen Brothers, for boarding the yacht, Pearl, bound for Queenstown. Morgan states that they got on board* and remained there for some time. Subsequently they landed, and had drinks at Barratt and Sabine' s store. Morgan was then drunk, and has no perfect recollection of what occurred till next morning, when he found himself adrift in the boat alone, many miles down the Lake — M'Donald missing. He immediately returned and reported the occurrence to the police. Constable Winter has been indefatigable in his endeavors to obtain all particulars of the affair, and through the assistance of Messrs. M'Kinnon and Sabine has been enabled to make a thorough search along the shores of the Lake for the missing man, but has not succeeded in obtaining an tidings of him. Mr. Sabine states that the two men were together a little before daylight, arid asked him for drinks ; M'Donald said he was going to Mr Ree's hut, but he heard them talking a long time after that on Mr. Ree's jetty." In order to show the value of agricultural land in this Province, we may record the following fact : — On the farm of Mr. John Ross, at Roslyn Bush, about seven miles from Invercargill, is a splendid field of oats, one seed of which was found, on examination, to have produced, from the parent stem, seventyone stalks, each stalk having 151 seeds, thus giving a total of 10,721 seeds from the one originally sown in the ground. The stalk from which the examination giving the abovementioned results was selected indiscriminately, the remainder of the oats in the field looking' equally prolific. • The Scotsman relates the following rather curious freak of a sailor in Greenock Harbor : — "A few days since a sailor, the worse for liquor; accompanied by his mother, engaged a boat, for, the purpose of being conveyed to Helensburgh. Shortly after the boat had left the landing-place he became dissatisfied with the manner in which it was managed, and proposed to jump into the water, and take the boatintowv Accordingly he jumped in, but j the boatmen, becoming indignant at the slight j "Jack "cast on their seamenship, refused to throw - him a rope, and after considerable trouble he was taken on board, but nothing would satisfy him but that he would act as " a tug,", and'; again he jumped in.- Being -an excellent swimmer, he set off round the harbor, a regular " duck hunt" ensuing, A second time ie was caught, and taken on board, but again he jumped out of the boat. - Upon coming to the surface, and; haying secured his cap upon his head, he struck out for a raft of wood which was moored inside the harbor. Climbing iipon the logs he com-; menced dancing " Jack ' a Tar," to the 'great, mirth of hundreds of eye-witnesses. Having given full vent to his exuberance of spirits, he quietly submitted to be again taken on board, and proceeded to Helensburgh." , ■ •