TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1397, 9 May 1865, Page 4

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

The Bank of New Zealand.—The contract for the new building of this Bank in Christchurch will, we believe, be signed to-day, and the work will commence forthwith. The building will be erectel under the superintendence of Mr. R. Speechly. . Thk Museum.—We learn that the award of the Government upon the competitive designs sent in, some four months ago, for the Museum building in Christchurch, has at last been made. The delay has been principally due to the difficulty of bringing together a sufficient number of independent gentlemen competent to form a satisfactory decision. The result is, that of all the designs two only comply fairly with the conditions of competition; and that there is so little ground to prefer one of these to the other, that the premium is divided between the two. Mr. Speechly and Messrs. Bury and Mountfort are, we believe, the successful competitors. Lecture.—A lecture was given last night at the Baptist Chapel, Lichfield street, by the Rev. T. Thornton. The subject was " Common Sense." The attendance was rather a numerous one, and the lecture was fluently and amusingly delivered. A vote of thanks to the reverend lecturer terminated the proceedings. Punch in Canterbury.—'This little humourist goes on improving. The cartoon of Saturday's issue, with, perhaps, less attractive personality in it than last week's, has a deeper meaning, and expresses it well. The Government fish-cart has got on to the line of the Southern Railway, and is about to be overtaken and run into by the express train, driven by Moorhouse. The drawing of the picture is excellent, and the artist is clearly developing very fast a power of seizing the characteristics of the faces of our great men. The letter-press of the number is varied, plentiful, and, we think, as good as can possibly be expected. A ballad, on the old story of the Kawau prisoners, written in a fair imitation of Hood's manner, has had, already, the honour of being reprinted in our contemporary the Press, and is good enough to deserve reproduction throughout the colony. On the whole, Punch in Canterbury is acquiring a position among us, and will, no doubt, soon become a " Saturday want." Princess' Theatbe.—The more we see of Mr. Dillon's" Belphegor," the more we like it, and the better we can understand the long-continued success with which the piece was presented to a London audience. Mr. Dillon has a very varied tragic ability. Tb.e range of his characters includes the classical, the romantic, the sentimental, and the purely domestic tragedy, without mentioning light comedy, which is often inextricably interwoveu with the two last-named varieties. It is in these, we think, that Mr. Dillon appears to the greatest advantage. He is easy in the expression of the feelings of every-day humanity, because he thoroughly understands them, and " Belphegor " gives him an admirable opportunity of displaying his power. As the simple-hearted mountebank, cheerfully exercising his humble profession; as the contented bread-winner, the centre of a loving household; as the anxious, and then agonized husband, bereft of wife and child; as the heartbroken outcast ; as the daring but still simple plotter for the recovery of his wife; and, finally, as the accepted son and heir of a wealthy nobleman, we see a thousand changes of feeling, but only one character. The guileless, plain-spoken, warm-hearted street performer is before us from first to last. He goes through all the shades of emotion which the author depicts or suggests, but he never loses the identity, not with Mr. Charles Dillon, but with Belphegor, Mr. Dillon makes much of his characters. He knows the springs of human emotion, and the various forms in which it may be expressed; and he does not spare himself or the audience, but gives them utterance to the full. We do not know whether the author of the piece wrote all that Mr. Dillon plays, or whether Mr. Dillon has filled up or cut out from the piece in order to do justice to his conception of the principal character. At any rate, so far as Belphegor himself is concerned, little is left to be desired. The last act, however, is by comparison slow and tedious. The action of the piece hangs, and the plot is complicated to distraction. Would it not be possible to condense the denouement iu point of plot, dialogue, and personages ? There is nothing to make these gentlemen and ladies eager to appear on the stage, or the audience eager to see them there. Miss Rosa Cooper, as the opera ' Professor,' Mr. Fawcett as the Duke, Mr. Richardson as his nephew, played well on Saturday, of course; but their talents have often been turned to better purpose.. Mrs. Dillon requires no praise of ours for her touching presentment of Madeline. But we must say a word of compliment to Miss Wiseman, who, as Henri, won such deserved applause from the audience as she has never yet obtained, when playing the tragic or comic gentlewoman. The Saturday's bill included " Medea," over the production of which a few nights before we had to lament. This time it was better; the other principal parts were taken with something like knowledge, and, as a consequence, the burlesque went well. But how is it possible that six new dramas, and six new burlesques in the week can 'go' as they ought? "Medea" is a burlesque of a very: high order. It is but the oue step from the sublime which constitutes the ridiculous. If there should be another representation of this piece (and should the evening happily be fine), we recommend our readers to fill the house to see it. Last night the play chosen was the famous "Duke's Motto," which was played all the year round at the Lyceum theatre, in London, by Mr. Fechter, a couple ; of years ago. It is, of course, impossible to get up I a play of this character, as it ought to be, for a i single night's' performance, and at short notice, i But, all tilings considered, it was very fairly put on 1 the stage and acted by all the performers. Mr. 1 Dillon's representation of the hero, Lagardere, was ' masterly ; and was the more agreeable in not pro- ] voking a comparison with Fechter, whose pronuncia- ] tion and general style places him in a class by 1 himself. The play is somewhat difficult to under- « stand, and the audience were scarcely roused to i sympathy until the last act, in which, indeed, the • main interest of the piece centres. This act was » set off by a brilliant new ball-room scene, painted i by Mr. Willis. The " Duke's Motto " will be re- I peated to-night. The after-piece was " My Precious i Betsy." To-morrow, Wednesday, Mr. G. Fawcett's ' benefit is announced, when " No Name," an adapta- 1 tion by Mr. Fawcett himself, from Wilkie Collins' ' famous story, will be produced. Champion Race Meeting.—;lt has been at last 1 determined that the next Champion shall be run in 3 Melbourne, under the auspices of the Victoria ■ Racing Club, on Now Year's Day, 1866. The regular spring meeting of the Club takes place on ! the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of next November, but the 1 Champion is to have a day to itself, with three other I events—The New Year's Gift, a sweep of 5 sovs., I with 100 sovs. added ; & Grand National Steeple- J chase, being a sweep of 10 sovs., with 300 sovs. « added ; and a Flying Handicap of 5 sovs., with 100 > sovs. added. The Champion Race is worth putting < good horses in for, and it is not unreasonable to I expect a large field. We append the published con- t ditions:—" Champion Race—A sweepstakes of 50 i sovs., half forfeit, with 1500 sovs. addad. Three- 8 years-old, 7 st. 1 lb.; four years, 9 St.; five years, 1 0 st. 9 lb.; six years and aged, 9 st. 13 lb. Mares and geldings allowed 3 lbs. Second horse to receive ® 100 sovs.. and the third to save his stake. Three t miles. Nominations, with 10 sovs., to lie forwarded I to the Secretary of the Victoria Racing Club, 50 t William street, Melbourne, before 4 p.m. on the sth a of July, 1865 ; the remainder of the stakes (40 n sovs.), or of tho forfeit (15 sovb.), to be made good i on the day of general entry. N.B.—No entries will 8 be received on any pretence whatever after the r hour above named. a Inquest.—An inquest was held on Saturday last, at the Foresters' hotel, before J. W. S. Coward, Esq., o M.D., the coroner for the district, on the body of 1< Benjamin Carter, who lost his life in consequence of n

a fall from his cart, as mentioned in our impression 1 of Saturday. After hearing the evidence, the jury i returned a verdict of "Accidental Death." The < deceased, who leave# a widow and some young children, was buried in the cemetery on Sunday last.. i Latest Tblkoram».—By one of Reuter's telegrams from London, dated March 3rd, we Observe i that it is reported that the Government have ordered < the troops home from New Zealand. Another telegram, dated March 20, states that Confederate Bonds declined l£, in consequence of the adverse American news. ' The Australian Maritime Register.—No. lof : this publication has been sent to us. It is, as its i name implies, a journal exclusively devoted to the i shipping interests of all the Australian colonies and ; New Zealand. The proprietors propose to issue the [{emitter weekly} and when it is considered what an. immense amount of shipping intelligence is condensed In its pages for easy reference, we think that merchants and others interested in shipping intelligence cannot fail to appreciate and give it their Nos. 2J and 24 of the Provincial Gazette are before us. The former contains th# annual report of the Board of Education. Tne latter contains the assent of the Superintendent to the levying of a rate of one shilling in the pound by the Municipal Council of Kaiapoi. The following appointments at the West Canterbury golaflelds are notified—Mr. A. E. Tennant, to be Commissioner's Clerk; Mr. 0. C. Schaw, to be a Temporary Warden; and Mr. J. Rochfort, to be Assistant Surveyor. The resignation of Mr. W. Bowler, as a member of the Provincial Council for Lyttelton, is notified. The returp of Mr. Stewart, as a member of the Provincial Council for the Kakaia district, is published. The following reserves are temporarily made under the Waste Lands Regulations:—No. 3&5, in red—One hundred acres, more or less, bounded on the northward by section No. 7125 ; on the westward, by the tramway reserve; on the southward* by the lowwater line of Lake Forsyth ; and on the eastward, by the low-water line before mentioned, and the River Kakerikawai—for native purposes, and other purposes of the Provincial Government. No. 386 in red—All that track of land, being ten chains wide on each side of the River Bealey, extending from Reserve No. 378 fin red), to the source of that river, for Provincial Government purposes. No. 387, in red —320 acres, more or less, commencing atLakePearson, and extending southerly along the road towards Porter's Pass, a distance of about 80 chains, and extending back westward of the road a distance, on the average, of 40 chains, for the purposes of a township. Notice is given of the intended application to the General Assembly for leave to introduce a Bill for the Prevention of Accidents and the Punishment of Offences on the Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway. The Gazette concludes with the monthly list of arrivals and departures of shipping at Lyttelton, and certain extracts from the General Government Gazette, which we have already given.