QUEENSTOWN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 132, 21 May 1872, Page 5

QUEENSTOWN.

[PROM OUR OW.V OORFvESPOKDEXT.] May 18, 1872. Last Monday everyone here was astounded at learning, bv telegram from Mr Innes, M.P.0., that Mr James Mtoassey had presented a petition to the Provincial Council praving that Mr Beetham, our Warden and R.M., might be removed, the petition in q'ie3tiou being signed by BJJ Chinamen. Tae charges alleged a;.iinst Mr Warden Beetham are partiality, prejudice, oppression, &3. «&3.,—charges which, to anyone acquainted with that gentleman's conduct as a Magistrate, must appear utterly absurd. The matter had been kept a profound secret from the European miners, and altogether got up in such an underhand way, that it is very generally stigmatised as a spiteful attempt of the defeated candidate at the last election, aided by one or two persons (unknown) in the district, to inju/e Mr Beetham's character.

Public indignation culminated in a crowded 8 meeting held on Thursday evening in the theatre, Mr M. J. Malaghan, the acting:" Mayor, in the chair. Were 1 to rrjap't date the terms applied to the projoedin,' and the instigators of it, I fear y ni would have to stand a series of actions for libel. The j \ speakers were Mr M. .1. Mahghan, the Rev. D. Ross, the Rev. It. Coffey, Dr Douglas, Mr R. Johnston, and others. The Rev. Mr Cofl'ey attributed the petition to political j causes, the vexation an 1 nmrtilb ition of a defeated candidate, and altogether made a capital sp3ech, though he said he considered clergymen out of place at a meeting of that description. Resolution.!wove pissed unani- t mously expressive of ah'aorrenee of the under- j s hand, sneaking way in which the petition had • f> been got up, an 1 of confidence in Mr Ueetham , { as our Magistrate, this last being followed by i ' j three hearty cheers for the Warden. The i'" Rev. Mr Coffey's resolution, "That memorials ' •' b) signed and forwarded to Government I j against the removal of Mr Wardci Beetham," | was carried with applause, and a memorial ■ laid on the table at the close of the proceed-1 fc iugs was signed by all who could reach it. : s One of the speakers, a miner, said that the ■" Chinamen in his portion of the district denied e knowing anything about the petition and attributed it to some European. He also su"- s gested that the signatures had probably been ,'" obtained from the last shipload of Chinese v j when they lauded, as a Sum Men or an Ah } Chee signed in Dunedin would look just as I I well on paper as similar names signed here. The great law case, Eigar v. Grace, claim , £12,000 for enoroaclniKm 1 , in which the asses- \ sors awarded £801)1) damages, is shortly to b■• ( I heard in the Supreme Court. The costs ivill t soon assume a respectable figure. ] The Town Hall was to have been opened with a grand concert and ball on tlie Queen's \ birthday, the 24th, but the opening has been i ■' now postponed until the 18th June. Great ' preparations are being made to render (lie I' concert a thorough success. As it is. we are to have a ritle match of the resuscitated Wakatip llitle Volunteers on the 24th, and a dramatic . entertainment in the evening. The " Jane j Williams" steamer is also advert"sed to make j I an excursion trip up the Lake on that day. I hear a new method of dredging is about ■ to be tried on the Shotovcr, the floating ' dredge being dispersed with and the opera- j tions conducted from either bank. The most important advantage claimed for the invention is that the depth of water in the river is unimportant. The weather latterly has been a mixture', of rain and sunshine, frost and snow. As we progress further into the middle of winter I we may hope to experience the frosty nights ' and bright calm days for which the winter j weather of our Lake district is so famed.