QUEENSTOWN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 147, 3 September 1872, Page 6

QUEENSTOWN.

(From our own Correspondent.) August 31, 1872. The month of August has not been prolific in events worthy of record by " your own." However, I will try to find sufficient news to render my epistle interesting. Our new Municipal Council held their first meeting on the 6th, and proved anything but a happy family, the Mayor differing in opinion from the Councillors on the subject of the Town Clerk's salary. His Worship brought the squabble to a climax by refusing to sign the minutes. The Council hinting that in that case they would manage without a Mayor, his Worship at length signed the important records. I see by the papers that the Mayors of Dunedin and Cromwell have also had some disagreements with their Councillors, so we are not singular in this respect. The Wakatip steamer has at length been brought safely to land,—a large hole alongside the sternpost sufficiently accounting for the difficulty experienced in trying to pump her dry. The great mining case, Eagar v. Grace, has at length been settled by the defendants paying the plaintiffs L.4000. This result was brought about in a great measure by the selling at auction of the defendants' claim, which was bought for L.4500 by the plaintiff and others. The taking possession would doubtless have been attended with bloodshed, so that everyone was glad to hear that the matter was amicably settled. The lawyers will probably get between L.3000 and L.4000 amongst them.

The winter has been unusually prolonged and severe, and mining operations have been at a dead stop. This week, however, the weather has been milder, and miners are again at work, so we hope soon to see a little more bustle in the town. For the past two | months, business has been almost at a standstill, there being scarcely any ready money visible in the place, except coppers, which | have just begun to circulate, —a sign of bad | times. Farming is at a low ebb : oats to be i had at 2s. a bushel, a price that will scarcely pay the cost of growing. It is contemplated to erect a new stone English Church here. The money is being raised by lottery, an idea copied from our Roman Catholic brethren. The prizes range jin value from L.101) to L.5, the aggregate I amount being L.450. TUo tickets are us. each, and the church will probably cost someI thing over a thousand, so that a goodly num- ! ber of tickets have to be disposed of. So far, j they are going oil' very rapidly, and doubtless ! our friends at Cromwell, Clvde, and Alexanj dra will lend a helping hand. The two principal hotels in the place, the I Queen's Arms and Powell's Family, are j about being rebuilt in stone. It is to be | hoped the banks will follow suit, and Ball larat-street will then have reason to be proud iof its appearance. The Town-hall and Athej nißUtn is completed as far as it is likely to be until the summer, the ornamental cement i work having yet to be done on the front. | The hall is a tine one, but its accoustic pro- ! perties are not so good as they might be, the ' projecting beams and open lantern lights ma- ! terially lessening the volume of sound as it travels from the one end to the other. In this respect, the Clyde hall has a decided advantage, though its unpretending front cannot compare with the elaborate exterior of j ours.

A Philharmonic Society has been organised, and progresses most satisfactorily, the usual number present atpractice being nearly fifty. The first organ imported into the district has just arrived, having been made to order in England for the R.M. and Warden here, Mr Richmond Beetham. It is a beautiful instrument, of exquisite tone, and is altogether a perfect gem of its kind. It is to be hoped Mr Beetham may be induced to place it in the Church, where its many excellencies over the concertina-like squeaking harmonium would be appreciated by all church-ijroers.

The Californian quail introduced some eighteen months ago are thriving well, and have increased marvellously, as many as forty having been seen in one covey.