ARROWTOWN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 691, 16 July 1875, Page 3

ARROWTOWN.

—o—(from our own CORRESPONDENT.) The approaching Mayoral elections, so fai as public interest is concerned, is almost a dead letter. Who is to be the coming man, or who is not ? appears to bo matters of in moment whatever, and one would almosl fancy that Municipal Institutions were fast becoming to he thought little better than a burlesque, so slight an interest is ,being taken in them. Still, things may, perhaps become enlivened up a little towards tin last, and quite a new aspect of affairs pie seated to the public gaze. However, pend ing the advent of any greater luminary, wi can get along pretty well with our old Mayor, and to give, him credit, it must he said of Mr Lines that he has pulled thr nigh exceedingly well, ami ho deseivts auotlnr year’s trial, I might say servitude, or per haps, sentenced to another twelve month, labor would he more appropriate. To bo a Mayor of one these small mu lieipalitie must either he a labor of love, fully, or selfglorification, there can positively bo noihii g else in it. About mud and muddy roads I could write sufficient to fill a newspaper, but, 1 fancy you know plenty about that detestable aqueous admixture without my tellhiv you more about it. It is now, however generally acknowledged by all who travel that the only remedy for the unsatisfact un state of our highways and by-ways is to substitute a system of contracts for tin wasteful and extravagant one of diy labor. It is greatly to be hoped that our Road Engineers will see the necessity of adopting this means of keeping the roads in repair. At- Queenstown there is some little excitement onent the coming contest tor the Mayoralty. The present occupier of the office, your old Dunstan friend, Mr Thomas Betts, has doubtless had a very hard time of it, and is blamed for doing nothing, when there were no means to do anything with, good, bad, or indifferent. To be constantly dunned by creditors, and to have an empty exchequer, and thou expected to achieve great things for the ratepayers, is sufficient to drive any reasonable being, ho he a Mayor, or not, mad. Who can therefore wonder that now and again lie fell foul of the Town Clerk, and “ blowe l” him up accordingly ? Mayors, like other mortals, must give way to their pent-up feelings sometimes, and who could be better selected to pour down upon the vials of civic wrath than a Town Clerk, is not ho paid for it ? Mr William Warren is the gentleman mentioned in the Queenstown paper as likely to contest (the honor with Mr Betts, but by the reading of the Mail I take its meaning to be that it is not sufficiently i .formed such will be the case, its only authority at present being a rumor, Mr Warren not having positively conveyed his intentions to the editor of that journal. I think in all fairness that Mr Betts should be permitted to hold the office another year, that he may have a chance of doing something, to give a man “ a show” is only fair play. Mr Betts has doubtless weathered the worst of the storm, and now that the horizon presents a clearer aspect, he might be permitted to steer the municipal ship into less troubled waters. The removal of Wardens’ petition still exercises the Queenstown mind, that is, the minds of the clique who are terribly annoyed at the audacious document which threatens the destruction of their hopes and schemes or self-aggrandisement at the expense of the district. But the miners and farmers hold quite different opinions, they are opposed to having the place turned into a sheep walk, notwithstanding that wool is high. Queenstown goldfields officials have been there too long is confessed on all sides, and where Jcliquism is rampant society becomes corrupt, and there is no cure for the cankerous wound hut an infusion of new blood into the system. The body politic cf the Lakes City has outlived itself, and there must he a change to make things healthy again.