Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 544, 20 January 1858, Page 4

Local Intelligence.

The weather during the past tejn days has been of a trying character. Ever since the arrival of tho Westminster, particles of mother Earth in cloudy columns luve been hurrying from the interior to the coast as if to give a welcome from the soil to the new-comers. Great as the treat may be to step ashore after a long voyage, it is by no means an agreeable form of enjoying the land to have its surface flying in one's face, impelled by a scorching north-wester. Such may be a warm and eager greeting to those sick of sea, but the manner of.it dees away unpleasantly with the ideas of solid earth and terra firma which have consoled the tossedabout one on the ocean billow.

The continued north-westers have given opportunities for testing the correctness of Captain Drury's theory of their origin as far as may be inferred from their effects; but we regret to say that these effects have not been solely conducive to philosophic enquiry. The crops, especially forward oats and barley (the harvest of which has just commenced), have been shaken very much to their prejudice. Had the. wheat harvest been as forward this year as last we might have had to report damages to a great extent, but fortunately there are not at present many fields in a condition to suffer.

_ Another branch of damage done is by the rivers, and Kaiapoi has suffered severely. The flood in the Waimakariri was higher than any before known, and has carried away large portions of land on the banks, swept away timber and other property from the neighbourhood, and placed a considerable extent of country under water, damaging more or less everything which U came near. Accounts received from the district state that the flood came down on Saturday, and was carried to its height by the tides of that and the succeeding days which were unusually full. Dudding's ferry punt has been washed to sea and broken, and the stockyard which stood at one of the approaches to the river has disappeared with the bank on which it stood. We are unable to enter into the particulars of the injury received by the settlers, but by all accounts it must have fallen severely upon some individuals. We trust such eccentricities of water power in that otherwise useful stream may not again occur to the detriment of settlers in its neighbourhood. . A piece of pedestrianism which will astonish, we think, those who know the country was achieved on Monday, by Mr. Hammond, of Okain's Bay, who left that place in the morning, and crossed to Akaroa harbour, whence he walked by Figeon--»ay.».-a^„3D^^T J g VV to p u . rau, where he arrived at 4 o'cloclT'p.mT * "mere are _nofc many who could attempt such a feat. I It is useless to talk about mileage, though that j is considerable; the hills and the character "of j the road make the point of the achievement. The news which we get by this opportunity is important; it will be seen from an advertisement in another place that Mr. Cuff of Le Bon's Bay, Member of Assembly for Akaroa, declines to attend the next session at Auckland, and resigns his seat. There are thus two Canterbury seats vacant for the first month. From Akaroa we learn that the first vessel has been launched there on Saturday last. She is a large cargo punt, about 40 feet long by 11 feet wide, and is turned out by Mr. Etevenaux, with the appropriate name of " Alpha." There is no doubt she will prove a valuable acquisition, as a vessel of her kind has long been wanted in Akaroa Harbour. We heartily wish her spirited owners and builder success.

Mr. Harman has returned from the Peninsula, having been engaged upon the survey of the road lines now in process of formation. Our theatre was open again on Monday night for the second representation of the Hunchback. The house was fairly filled, and we were glad to notice among the audience a large number of visitors from the Plains and the Peninsula. The performance of the Hunchback was scarcely so good as we witnessed on its previous production, though the essential weakness of the piece, being more evident on a second represention, might alone produce the effect of inferiority. The life and movement of almost every scene, and the contrast between the passion of some and the humour of others, doubtless renders the Hunchback a lasting favourite; but the general effect is to our mind entirely spoilt by the inanity of the plot. The well wrought passion is thrown away upon us when we know that it is caused only by a good natured old man's ruse; a ruse of no apparent origin or purpose, forwarded by contrivances of; manifest inefficacy to the result. The language too, is absurd, and the closing scene clumsy in. execution like the plot. But Julia, Clifford, Master Walter, and we may add Helen, with Thomas and Fathom, are, each and all, characters so graphically drawn that the play never lacks life, from first to last. The acting, as we | have mentioned, struck us as being not equal to the first performance. During the progress of the piece and in the centre of its interest, some individuals in the house, careless of their neighbours, began to make a noise. Slight as it was at first, the whispers might have grown into a disturbance if Mrs. Foley had not stepped forward herself and administered a pointed rebuke; the greater body of the audience encouraged her and the house was afterwards still. Mrs. Foley however felt the annoyance and interruption so much as to be unable for some minutes to proceed with the fpiece, but after a short interval it was brought successfully to a conclusion. The farce ' How to Settle Accounts with your Laundress' followed, an intensely amusing farce; we think the beet specimen of its sort that has been produced here. Mrs. Foley and Mr. Bradwell sang and were encored; and

every turn of the piecewat received with inextinguishable laughter. In the interval it was s announced that the next performance would „ take place on Friday, which would be the last r but one before the final close of: the theatre in , this town. We should speak again of the unI pleasant delays and want of punctuality if we t did not know that Mrs. Foley is as conscious r of this defect as we can be, and does her utmost f to remedy it. ■-■''. ■■ - \ EXPLORATION OF THE WEST COAST. , TO THB EDITOB OF THK "tTTTELTOK TIMES."" i Sib,—Having just returned from an ezpedii tion to the West Coast, which I undertook in company with Mr. Loch and four Kaiapoi natives, I send you the following extracts from ■ our journal, as they may perhaps bo of some mii terest to your readers. i ' I am, Sir^ . Your obedient servant, t ,«,., ,«,„ LEONARD HARPER. Jan. 18th, 1858. ft™ the mof Nov *» ™ •ta^d vX, Mr- T Masori» o^-atation in the Waitohi Sthr^^'V g?od,!>ridl«-path which C nf TH S 6 Mao. r,e«"ey *long the south bank of the^Hurunm. Through this w* proceeded without any difficulty,* tossing fi\ Seward and the Otira (or south' branch If the HurunuiL until we reached Loch Katrine, a SnmLl akew o, rneC^t by a with Lake Sumner. We found here a canoe in which w* placed our packs while we proceeded on foot by an easy path along the western side of the lakeuntil we arrived at the N.W. extremity of Lake buraner. Here eastern Teramakau runs into the Lake from that part of the western range of hills which is generally called theSaddlothrough an open valley of considerable width bounded^on the E. and S. by, high hills and heavily bushed. This valle/gradually narrowed as we approached the Saddle, till it was reduced to the river bed, consisting of larir* loose shingles with a rapid stream about kne© deep flowing through it. Higher up the hill it assumed^the character of a mountain torrent, impracticable for horses, being in fact a succession of small waterfalls, closely shut in by the bush on either side. After about half a day's scrambling we found ourselves on the top of the Saddle or watershed line, a mossy swamp, covered at the time we passed it with meltingsnow. It was a clear day when we arrived at the point, and we could see thence the bed or channelof the western Teramakau, extending to the distance of about 20 miles between bhrh snowy and thickly wooded ranges, narrow at first as on the eastern side, but gradually widening out until the View was intercepted by a diStionf i^^sr rfr^ the side of the hilL o nM^n^M& worlnng our way through thick bush, partially'"' covered with snow, until we reached the stream • it runs over large boulder stones and waterfalls,, and is thickly bushed on either bank like that on the eastern side. Near this spot we were fortunate enough tofind a bag of rice and a bottle of curry, left by Messrs. Tonge and Wilson, an agreeable Addition to our scanty supply of provisions. Up to this time we had lived upon the flour and meat ™. T Wflh? d brought with us, but from this date, November 14, up to the time of our reaching the coast, November 26, we were compelled to depend mainly upon the birds we killed - the ingenuity ofthe Maories in this pursuit astonished us. Rice and curry lasted akouiu***days, and contributed not a little to our comfort. Having fairly descended into the stream, our course continued in it for. about 6 miles when the river bed, gradually opening out", afforded better walking on the shingles. About 12 miles from the saddle we crossed the Otira, a deep rapid river running from the southern range of hills into the Teramakau. This river (Otira) rises in the same spot with that of the same name running east, and known as the south branch of. the Hurunui. The natives affirm that out of this Eastern Otira the river Waimakariri takes its rise, and not from a lake as it has been supposed to do.' A few miles before we came to the Cross Range I have before mentioned, the hills on the north side are intersected by an open flat> good grassed land, but of inconsiderable extent; this flat is bounded on the north by a large lake, of which I just caught a glimpse; out of this lake, as the natives informed me, a small stream, navigable for canoes, flows' into the Grey or Mawhera River. On reaching the Cross Range, the river Teramakau takes a sharp turn in'a northwesterly direction, and the bed opens out into s large shingly flat.covered with Tutu and Flax bushes, and bounded on the-western and northern sides by low bushed hills. -We found it impossible to follow on foot the windings of the river; and, as the river itself had become too de^p to ford, we made a mogihi in which we expected on the following day- to reach the coast. But during the night the river rose, and we found ourselves in the morning on a sort of island in the midst of what seemed a large lake, and unable to distinguish the river channel. We committed ' Ourselves, however, to the mogihi, after some hesitation on the part of the Maories who seemed to consider it an act of desperation, and were whirled rapidly down tho stream, in company with trees and bushes (torn away by the torrent), until we landed, not altogether with our own consent, upon another island of bushes. Here we remained for the night, during which time the river fell as rapidly as it had risen. Accordingly we started again in the morning to our mogihi, and after following the winding of the stream through this flat for a short distance, suddenly entered a narrow channel running through the bush hills, and

every now and then quite overhung with the bush. About three hours brought us to the coast, a distance of perhaps 20 miles. Owing to delays occasioned by bad weather, •now, and want of food, we were altogether 23 days in accomplishing our journey from Mr. Mason's station to the coast. The return journey occupied 14 days, of which only eight were actually spent in travelling. There is a small village at the mouth of the Teramakau, containing nine natives. The River Grey, by far the finest river on the coast, is about'six miles north of the Teramakau. There is sufficient water both on the bar and inside the bar to perhaps the distance of half-a-mile inland to float a vessel of considerable tonnage. Both sides of the river are steep and covered with bush, as far as the eye can reach. The stream is rapid, but apparently navigable for a short distance. The.natives said it would take five able-bodied men three or four days to Sole a canoe up to the country which Mr. tackay has mentioned as available for sheep. It would seem therefore that a more easy access to this country might be found from the interior, probably by following down the Grey from its source; certainly not by the route over which we travelled, which is not only rough and precipitous, but also entirely bare of grass. There are about ten. natives living at the mouth of the Grey. After resting a few days, I returned southward and proceeded along the coast about 90 miles, crossing several large rivers at, their mouths, up some of which the natives said there were patches of open country. The last riv«r I crossed is called by the natives the Waitangi, and is said by them to be the corresponding river to the eastern Waitangi. Up this river, according to their account, there is a road to the East Coast through open country. There were about twenty natives living here. The whole extent of Coast line from the Grey to the Waitangi- consists of low hills thickly covered with bush to the water's edge, the bush -appearing to extend inland, without a break, to the Snowy ranges known as the Southern Alps. The timber of the bush is of a mixed character, containing black and white pine, birch, totara, manuka, and rimuin abundance; particularly fine on the banks of the different rivers.

, There were many wild dogs in the bush, -which the natives in some instances succeed in taming and use for catching birds. They have no pigs, nor do they grow wheat; potatoes maori cabbage and fern, with eels and other fish, form the whole of their ordinary fare; and of course formed ours as long as we continued among them. All the. natives I met with .profess Christianit}*, and some of. them have been baptized; they seem to have regular communication with the Nelson Maories,by..the •€oast, and to obtain then<«.« **.rrit«*er tonacco and bUnfc"«t*, giving payment m green stone, •which is.found on the coast and in the river beds. ;